The Holiday Bowl came calling and the Texas Longhorns wrapped it in a warm embrace. The Horns will take on the California Golden Bears at 7 p.m. December 28th in San Diego.
Texas finished the season ranked No. 24 in the final BCS standings, an amazing feat for a 7-5 team, and a tribute to the strength of the Big 12. The team has a long history with the Holiday Bowl, having played there now five times in the last 11 years. It's also been the scene of some of their most memorable post-season games.
Texas is 2-2 in Holiday Bowls. They played there most recently against Arizona State in 2007. The 52-34 Longhorn victory was the start of the Longhorns National Championship run which ended at the Rose Bowl in January of 2010. Other games include:
2003: Washington State 28 - Texas 20
2001: Texas 47 - Washington 43
2000: Oregon 35 - Texas 30
“If Texas is available, how do you not take the Longhorns?” said Bruce Binkowski, the Executive director of the Holiday Bowl. “They always get great fan support. They’re an institution in college football. We’re just thrilled to have a team of their stature.”
The Longhorns hardly finished the season well, losing three of their last four. That lone win though came against Texas A&M, ending with a Justin Tucker field goal on the last play of the game. Outside that bright spot, Texas has looked very average, and at times, not good at all. Getting invited to the Holiday Bowl is really a credit to the Longhorn faithful who travel well to bowl games.
"It's always an exciting game and playing Cal will be a fun challenge for us," said Texas Head coach Mack Brown. "Jeff Tedford is a great friend who is a tremendous football coach. He's the winningest coach in Cal history, so he's had the Bears playing at a consistently high level for a long time, and we look forward to playing them."
In other BCS news, Oklahoma State's huge win against OU was not enough to vault them over Alabama. So we get a rematch of 'Bama vs. LSU in the National Championship game.
Here's the BCS Bowl picture:
BCS National Championship Game, January 9, New Orleans, LA, 7:30 pm: Alabama vs. LSU
Rose Bowl, January 2, Pasadena, CA, 4:00 pm: Oregon vs. Wisconsin
Fiesta Bowl, January 2, Glendale, AZ, 7:30 pm: Oklahoma State vs. Stanford
Sugar Bowl, January 3, New Orleans, LA, 7:30 pm: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech
Orange Bowl, January 4, Miami, FL, 7:30 pm: Clemson vs. West Virginia
