Holiday Bowl

Not to be confused with the unrelated Holiday Bowl played in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1957–1960.

Holiday Bowl
Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Pacific Life Holiday Bowl logo
Stadium	Qualcomm Stadium
Location	San Diego, California
Operated	1978-present
Conference Tie-ins	Big 12, Pac-10
Previous Conference Tie-ins	WAC (1978-1997) Big Ten (1986-1994)
Payout	US$2,300,000 (As of 2008[update])
Sponsors
SeaWorld (1986-1990) Thrifty Car Rental (1991-1994) Plymouth (1995-1997) Culligan (1998-2001) Pacific Life Insurance Company (2002-present)
2008 Matchup
Oregon vs. Oklahoma State (Ore 42-31)
2009 Matchup
Pac-10 vs. Big 12 (December 30)

The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978. The game is currently sponsored by Pacific Life Insurance, so it is known as the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl; previous title sponsors have been SeaWorld, Thrifty Car Rental, Plymouth, and Culligan.

The bowl was founded in 1978 pitting the Western Athletic Conference champion against an at-large opponent. In the early days, that champion was invariably Brigham Young University. In the inaugural game on December 22, The Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy came in with an 8–3 record and a Commander-in-Chief's Trophy and then capped the remarkable season with a 23–16 comeback victory over the highly favored BYU. BYU played in the first seven Holiday Bowls, and later competed in an additional four games, prompting some to call it the "BYU Bowl." Fans remember the 1980 game as having one of the most exciting four minutes in NCAA history when BYU erased a 20 point Southern Methodist lead to win on the final play of the football game. BYU fans simply call the game "The Miracle Bowl."

Four years later, the Cougars, led by their coach, LaVell Edwards, won the national championship in the Holiday Bowl by defeating the University of Michigan, coached by Bo Schembechler, 24–17. It was the first — and only — time that the title was won at the Holiday Bowl, or any other December bowl game. Because of the WAC's contract with the Holiday Bowl, BYU, #1 ranked and the only undefeated team in Division I-A going into that season's bowls, was obligated to play in the mid-tier Holiday Bowl against a mediocre (6–5) Michigan squad, a state of affairs that did not go unnoticed by the so-called major bowl games and the five (at the time) top-tier football-playing conferences. A series of bowl game structure changes over the next twenty years served to prevent a repeat of the 1984 Holiday Bowl scenario.

The game currently features the 2nd place Pac-10 team and the 3rd place Big 12 team. The game has recently become a type of "upset" bowl. For the past three years, teams rejected by the BCS have lost to heavy underdogs. In 2005, a 10–1 Oregon team (favored by 3 points while ranked 6th in the nation) playing without its star quarterback Kellen Clemens lost 17–14 to a surging Oklahoma squad that had won six out of its last seven. In 2004, one-loss California was blown out by Big 12 Texas Tech, 45–31. In 2003, Big 12 third-place Texas was knocked off by Pac-10 second-place Washington State, led by Matt Kegel.

In the fall of 2009, the Holiday Bowl announced that the Pac-10 second-place team will now take part in the Alamo Bowl. ^[1] Between 2010 and 2013, the Holiday Bowl will feature the third choice from the Pac-10 and the fifth choice from the Big 12 because the Alamo Bowl offered $3 million payouts, compared to the Holiday's $2.35 million offer. According to Bruce Binkowski, the Holiday's executive director, average ticket prices for the Holiday Bowl would have had to have been increased from $60 to $100 to match the Alamo Bowl's offer.^[2]

One of the more popular (yet unusual) events associated with the Holiday Bowl is the Wiener Nationals, the national championships for the U.S. dachshund racing circuit.

Game results

Texas Tech on offense at the 2004 Holiday Bowl

MVPs

Most appearances

Media coverage

Television

Radio

References

1. ^ Tim Griffin (August 28, 2008). "Valero Alamo Bowl, Pacific-10 Conference agree on deal starting in 2010 season". http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4429272. Retrieved 2009-08-31. 
2. ^ "Holiday Bowl drops down in the pecking order". http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/13/holiday-bowl-now-lower-team-selection/?sports/college&zIndex=182099. 
3. ^ Game ended in a tie. [1]
4. ^ "Bears Blast Aggies To Win Holiday Bowl - Lynch's 111 yards and two touchdowns pace a 45-10 Golden Bears win.". CalBears.com (University of California at Berkeley). December 28, 2006. http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/122806aaa.html. Retrieved 2007-11-08. 
5. ^ "McCoy fumbles four times, but Texas still routs Arizona State in Holiday Bowl". espn.com (ESPN). December 27, 2007. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=273610251. Retrieved 2007-11-08. 
6. ^ http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=623029
7. ^ httphttp://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=221423
8. ^ http://members.tripod.com/z3roadstar/college04/holidaybowl04.html
9. ^ http://wsucougars.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120703aab.html
10. ^ http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121202aaa.html
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bogi6gajJ2s

External links

• Official Website of the Holiday Bowl
• "Wiener Takes All" - a documentary about the Holiday Bowl's "Wiener Nationals" event
• Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary at the Internet Movie Database