Not playing the better QB can bite ya right in the butt sometimes? I've give it to you that Whitt made the wrong decision for whatever reasons he played Brewer but once the change was made, Utah did a lot better against those weak PAC teams you beat so while Utah destroyed a full $C team that you snuck (having 3 weeks to prepare for while they missed their QB and 1 Rd WR) by so could be said that Utah would've destroyed UAB!
Point is, you can't read much into last years defense in a bowl when both were missing so many players. Difference is that our depleted team hung with tOSU 4-5* talent a lot better than yours did against UAB, that is some serious player development you got going on down south.