Scalley steps in as Utah's coach for the Las Vegas Bowl after Whittingham's departure

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Morgan Scalley is getting a one-game head start as the coach at his alma mater.

Scalley expected to take the reins next season, but then Kyle Whittingham became Michigan's coach on Friday.

That meant Scalley suddenly found himself in charge of No. 15 Utah (10-2) for Wednesday's Las Vegas Bowl against Nebraska (7-5).

“I'm fired up,” Scalley said. “There's going to be learning on the go. At the same time, I have complete trust in our coaching staff and our players. They're dialed in. You see in that first team meeting. Guys are intent on finishing this season off the right way — 11 wins. We've only had that three times in University of Utah football history.”

Scalley has quite a challenge in following a coach largely responsible for the Utes being a Power Four program. They went 177-88 in 21 seasons under Whittingham, who also won the Pac-12 Conference championship in 2021 and 2022.

“You never want to be the guy that follows the guy and, unfortunately, that's me,” Scalley said. “He got me into the profession. He got me to switch from offense to defense as a player. I've been with him since 2001, so I'm just grateful for everything he's done for me personally, everything he has done for the program. The biggest thing I've learned from him is it's all about the players. You can't let your ego get in the way, and he never did that.”

Scalley was the Mountain West co-defensive player of the year in 2004 for the Utes and an Associated Press second-team All-American.

He was named head coach in waiting in July 2024, so his ascension from defensive coordinator was expected. Just not this quickly.

“Coach Scalley's been coaching at Utah forever,” Utes linebacker Lander Barton said. “It's going to be an easy transition. Even for guys next year, it'll be smooth.”

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule wasn't thrilled Big Ten Conference media days in July were in Las Vegas.

"I don’t think college sports should be in Vegas,” Rhule told a Nebraska radio station at the time. “So I wish (media day) was back in Indianapolis. But it’s nice.”

After making a return trip to Las Vegas, this time for the bowl, Rhule said he didn't properly express himself. In making that point, Rhule said one of his highlights of the year was being in Las Vegas to watch Omaha, Nebraska, native Terence Crawford beat Canelo Alvarez at Allegiant Stadium.

“We love it here,” Rhule said. “I didn't mean (those comments) that way, but it came off that way. The Italian sometimes comes out and I have to live with it.”

Utah went 5-7 in 2024 for its first losing record in 11 years.

The Utes more than turned it around this season and even had a shot at making the College Football Playoff.

“It's going to be corny, but in spring ball there was a different feel with the team,” Barton said. “Guys were a lot closer than they've been in the past. Everyone felt like one big, true family.”

Utah is a two-touchdown favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook, but Rhule pointed out that four of the Cornhuskers' five losses were to ranked teams.

Nebraska is trying to return to the glory days of a program that routinely competed for national championships, and this is the first time the Huskers have posted consecutive winning seasons since 2014.

“We've made ourselves respectable, but we want to get over the hump,” Rhule said. “This is a great opportunity for that.”

A strong performance could help Nebraska freshman quarterback TJ Lateef to make a strong impression heading into the offseason.

Sophomore Dylan Raiola broke his fibula on Nov. 1 against Southern California and has since entered the transfer portal.

Lateef started the final three regular-season games. He passed for 205 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over UCLA, but didn't produce the same kind of numbers in one-sided losses to Penn State and Iowa.

Rhule said the Huskers are “fully committed to his future."

“All I'm worried about is winning the bowl game against Utah,” Lateef said.

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FILE - Nebraska quarterback TJ Lateef (14) passes against Iowa during the first half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)

FILE - Utah offensive lineman Tanoa Togiai (73), quarterback Devon Dampier (4), offensive lineman Caleb Lomu (71) and running back Wayshawn Parker (1) line up for a play during the first half of an NCAA college football game between Baylor and Utah Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule disputes a referee's call after Nebraska made a safety against Iowa during the second half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House cannot lapse in its funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal district court judge ruled on Tuesday, only days before funds at the bureau would have likely run out and the consumer finance agency would have no money to pay its employees.

Judge Amy Berman ruled that the CFPB should continue to get its funds from the Federal Reserve, despite the Fed operating at a loss, and that the White House's new legal argument about how the CFPB gets its funds is not valid.

At the heart of this case is whether Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget director and the acting director of the CFPB, can effectively shut down the agency and lay off all of the bureau's employees. The CFPB has largely been inoperable since President Trump has sworn into office nearly a year ago. Its employees are mostly forbidden from doing any work, and most of the bureau's operations this year has been to unwind the work it did under President Biden and even under Trump's first term.

Vought himself has made comments where he has made it clear that his intention is to effectively shut down the CFPB. The White House earlier this year issued a “reduction in force” for the CFPB, which would have furloughed or laid off much of the bureau.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the workers at the CFPB, has been mostly successful in court to stop the mass layoffs and furloughs. The union sued Vought earlier this year and won a preliminary injunction stopping the layoffs while the union's case continues through the legal process.

In recent weeks, the White House has used a new line of argument to potentially get around the court's injunction. The argument is that the Federal Reserve has no “combined earnings” at the moment to fund the CFPB’s operations. The CFPB gets its funding from the Fed through expected quarterly payments.

The Federal Reserve has been operating at a paper loss since 2022 as a result of the central bank trying to combat inflation, the first time in the Fed's entire history its been operating at a loss. The Fed holds bonds on its balance sheet from a period of low interest rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, but currently has to pay out higher interest rates to banks who hold their deposits at the central bank. The Fed has been recording a “deferred asset” on its balance sheet which it expects will be paid down in the next few years as the low interest bonds mature off the Fed's balance sheet.

Because of this loss on paper, the White House has argued there are no “combined earnings” for the CFPB to draw on. The CFPB has operated since 2011, including under President Trump’s first term, drawing on the Fed’s operating budget.

White House lawyers sent a notice to the court in early November, where they argued that the CFPB would run out of appropriations in early 2026, using the “combined earnings” argument, and does not expect to get any additional appropriations from Congress.

This combined earnings legal argument is not entirely new. It has floated in conservative legal circles going back to when the Federal Reserve started operating at a loss. The Office of Legal Counsel, which acts as the government's legal advisors, adopted this legal theory in a memo on November 7. However, this idea has never been tested in court.

In her opinion, Berman said the OLC and Vought were using this legal theory to get around the court's injunction instead of allowing the case to be decided on merits. A trial on whether the CFPB employees' union can sue Vought over the layoffs is currently scheduled for February 2026.

“It appears that defendants’ new understanding of “combined earnings” is an unsupported and transparent attempt to starve the CPFB of funding and yet another attempt to achieve the very end the Court’s injunction was put in place to prevent," Berman wrote in an opinion.

“We’re very pleased that the court made clear what should have been obvious: Vought can’t justify abandoning the agency’s obligations or violating a court order by manufacturing a lack of funding,” said Jennifer Bennett of Gupta Wessler LLP, who is representing the CFPB employees in the case.

A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Berman's opinion.

FILE - Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought speaks to reporters at the White House, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)