The Holiday Bowl has been a graveyard for disappointed teams from both the Big 12 and the Pac 10 for years, and now Cal and Texas get to settle their differences in San Diego.

Texas. Cal. Holiday Bowl. It’s tough to read those four words without thinking of the 2004 season, when Texas and Cal both finished with 1 loss apiece (to unbeaten Oklahoma/USC) and it was Texas chosen by the narrowest of margins to play in the BCS. (Keep in mind that these kids were in middle school back in 2004…)

Vince Young and the Horns went on to win one of the best Rose Bowls ever played (until, you know, their win the following year) while Aaron Rodgers and Cal were embarassed by Mike Leach’s Red Raiders in… the Holiday Bowl!

This year, both teams limp into this game at 7-5 with 4-5 records in their respective conferences. Texas has struggled mightily down the stretch, winning just one of their last 4 games, while Cal finished with a boom (3-1) with only a narrow loss to highly-ranked Stanford. But that may be a matter of schedule ordering – neither team won a game in conference against a team with more than 6 wins. Read the rest of this entry →

The Holiday Bowl has had a lot of interesting matchups and shocking upsets during the BCS years. When neither conference gets a BCS invite, it matches up the #2 team in the Pac 10 against the #3 team in the Big 12. Often times this has been a team on the cusp of playing in a BCS game, perhaps a loss away from the championship game, and we’ve seen some teams like 03 Texas, 04 Cal, and 05 Oregon come into this game perhaps focused on that a little too much, only to leave San Diego with their tail between their legs. Since 1998, only twice has either conference claimed this game in back-to-back years, and just three games have been settled by 14 or more points. Many times this has ended up being arguably the best December bowl game of the season, perhaps most notably Major Applewhite’s classic comeback performance in 2001. Read the rest of this entry →

The Holiday Bowl was my #1 selection on the “Fantasy Bowl Draft” for three reasons – One, my objective intellect saw this as one of three bowls not in the BCS that put two ranked teams in opposition in what looks to be an offensive orgy. Two, I have been adopted into the Oklahoma State family since marrying the Outstanding Senior of 1995. Three, as a uniform junkie you have to appreciate two teams that aren’t afraid of a little color…

(Word is that OSU will be in all-white, Oregon in the model that #10 Dennis Dixon is sporting)

Please do not think for a moment that I am disrespecting Oregon in the least. Ducks are on a roll – only Cal kept them under 35 points since Halloween and Oregon put up 50+ in three of their last five. Also you have to appreciate a coach like Mike Belotti (and coach in waiting Chip Kelly) who can get a team pointed in the right direction after playing four quarterbacks in a season.

This is truly a matchup of amazing offensive firepower (both squads in top ten in rushing) facing average defensive corps, likely leading to enough scoring for the whole family to enjoy. You just can’t get enough O tonight.

SPECIAL: TeamRankings.com has the Holiday Bowl as one of its teaser giveaway games – witness the awesome power of their statistical services. Check it out here.

Stats, trends and cool conversation starters for the girls at the party/bar after the jump… Read the rest of this entry →