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Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Dec. 30, 8 p.m.
San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium
Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31
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 in a 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.
As of 2007, the game 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, an Oregon team playing without its star quarterback (10–1) lost to a battered Oklahoma team, 17–14, solidifying many people's opinions that Oregon was unworthy of a BCS bid. In 2004, one-loss California was blown out by Big 12 middleweight Texas Tech, 45–31. Sonny Cumbie, Tech's quarterback, had one of the most memorable performances in Holiday Bowl history, quite an accomplishment after following BYU's long line of All-American quarterbacks. In 2003, Big 12 third-place Texas was knocked off by Pac-10 second-place Washington State, led by Matt Kegel.
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.
The Holiday Bowl is not to be confused with an unrelated game called the Holiday Bowl which was played in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1957-1960.
Football Betting News
Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans 8:30 ET
Posted on 11/20/2009 12:00:00 AMby North Shore Sports, INC
Monday Night Football betting action heads to Reliant Stadium, where the Tennessee Titans (3-6, 4-5 ATS) will take on the Houston Texans (5-4, 5-3-1 ATS). The final game on the Week 11 NFL betting slate is arguably the most intriguing game on the schedule for Bookmaker Sportsbook customers to dig into. QB Vince Young will return to the Lone Star State, where the crowd will certainly be on his side considering that he led the Texas Longhorns to a National Championship. But the Texans are the upstarts of the league, and they'll want to kick off the second half of their season in a strong manner after their bye week.
The host Texans currently sit as 4.5-point home favorites with the game ‘total set at 48-points at Bookmaker.com for tonight’s MNF betting AFC South battle.
Since their bye week, the Titans have won and covered three straight games. HC Jeff Fisher's decision to change quarterbacks has apparently worked, as Young has led the Titans to 30+ points in each of their L/3 games. However, the game plan may be a large part of that as well. Young hasn't been asked to do much with his arm. He has only thrown for 507 yards in his three starts. Instead, the onus has fallen on RB Chris Johnson.
The East Carolina product is already a 1,000+ yard rusher this year, as he has rumbled for 1,091 yards and eight TDs. He also has 262 receiving yards on 30 receptions. The second-year back has turned himself into an MVP candidate very quickly, as he has accounted for 623 rushing yards and six TDs over the L/4 games. Johnson will be salivating at the idea of facing a Houston defense which he absolutely torched in Week 2, as he ran for 197 yards and received for another 87, accounting for three TDs in the process.
QB Matt Schaub and WR Andre Johnson had fantastic games against these Titans in Week 2 as well, though. Johnson caught ten passes for 149 yards and two scores, while Schaub won AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for going 25/39 for 357 yards and four TDs without throwing a pick. There's no doubt that Houston can throw the ball around the field, as Schaub is pacing the #3 passing attack in the NFL at 283.7 yards per game.
The biggest question is whether an improving defense can figure out how to contain Johnson and keep Young in the pocket. Before taking their bye week last week, the Texans had gone 3-0-1 ATS and 3-1 SU in their L/4, and they came as close as any team has come to knocking off the Colts when they lost 20-17 at Lucas Oil Stadium two weeks ago.
The 34-31 victory for Houston in Week 2 marked the second straight win for the Texans in this series. The underdog has covered seven of the L/2 clashes between these two squads. The home team has won three straight. Last year at Reliant, the Texans used a stifling defensive effort and 207 receiving yards by Johnson to capture a 13-12 victory.
Tensions will be high between these division rivals, as playoff positioning is also on the line. You're not going to want to miss all of the NFL betting action under the bright lights of Monday Night with Bookmaker.com!
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