NCCA Football Holiday Bowl Betting Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
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NCAA Football Holiday Bowl betting odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
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 Sea World, 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. BYU played in the first seven of their record eleven Holiday Bowls 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 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.
Today, 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.
An unrelated game called the Holiday Bowl was played in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1957-1960.
Previous results
| Date Played | Winning Team | Losing Team | notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 22, 1978 | Navy | 23 | BYU | 16 | |
| December 21, 1979 | Indiana | 38 | BYU | 37 | |
| December 19, 1980 | BYU | 46 | SMU | 45 | |
| December 18, 1981 | BYU | 38 | Washington State | 36 | |
| December 17, 1982 | Ohio State | 47 | BYU | 17 | |
| December 23, 1983 | BYU | 21 | Missouri | 17 | |
| December 21, 1984 | BYU | 24 | Michigan | 17 | |
| December 22, 1985 | Arkansas | 18 | Arizona State | 17 | |
| December 30, 1986 | Iowa | 39 | San Diego State | 38 | |
| December 30, 1987 | Iowa | 20 | Wyoming | 19 | |
| December 30, 1988 | Oklahoma State | 62 | Wyoming | 14 | |
| December 29, 1989 | Penn State | 50 | BYU | 39 | |
| December 29, 1990 | Texas A&M | 65 | BYU | 14 | |
| December 30, 1991 | BYU | 13 | Iowa | 13 | |
| December 30, 1992 | Hawaii | 27 | Illinois | 17 | |
| December 30, 1993 | Ohio State | 28 | BYU | 21 | |
| December 30, 1994 | Michigan | 24 | Colorado State | 14 | |
| December 29, 1995 | Kansas State | 54 | Colorado State | 21 | |
| December 30, 1996 | Colorado | 33 | Washington | 21 | |
| December 29, 1997 | Colorado State | 35 | Missouri | 24 | |
| December 30, 1998 | Arizona | 23 | Nebraska | 20 | |
| December 29, 1999 | Kansas State | 24 | Washington | 20 | |
| December 29, 2000 | Oregon | 35 | Texas | 30 | |
| December 28, 2001 | Texas | 47 | Washington | 43 | |
| December 27, 2002 | Kansas State | 34 | Arizona State | 27 | |
| December 30, 2003 | Washington State | 28 | Texas | 20 | |
| December 30, 2004 | Texas Tech | 45 | California | 31 | notes |
| December 29, 2005 | Oklahoma | 17 | Oregon | 14 | notes |
| December 28, 2006 | California | 45 | Texas A&M | 10 | notes |
MVPs
| Date played | MVP(s) | School | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 22, 1978 | Phil McConkey | Navy | WR |
| Tom Enlow | BYU | LB | |
| December 21, 1979 | Marc Wilson | BYU | QB |
| Tim Wilbur | Indiana | CB | |
| December 19, 1980 | Jim McMahon | BYU | QB |
| Craig James | SMU | RB | |
| December 18, 1981 | Jim McMahon | BYU | QB |
| Kyle Whittingham | BYU | LB | |
| December 17, 1982 | Tim Spencer | Ohio State | RB |
| Garcia Lane | Ohio State | CB | |
| December 23, 1983 | Steve Young | BYU | QB |
| Bobby Bell | Missouri | DE | |
| December 21, 1984 | Robbie Bosco | BYU | QB |
| Leon White | BYU | LB | |
| December 22, 1985 | Bobby Joe Edmonds | Arkansas | RB |
| Greg Battle | Arizona State | LB | |
| December 30, 1986 | Mark Vlasic | Iowa | QB |
| Todd Santos | San Diego State | QB | |
| Richard Brown | San Diego State | LB | |
| December 30, 1987 | Craig Burnett | Wyoming | QB |
| Anthony Wright | Iowa | CB | |
| December 30, 1988 | Barry Sanders | Oklahoma State | RB |
| Sim Drain | Oklahoma State | LB | |
| December 29, 1989 | Blair Thomas | Penn State | RB |
| Ty Detmer | BYU | QB | |
| December 29, 1990 | Bucky Richardson | Texas A&M | QB |
| William Thomas | Texas A&M | LB | |
| December 30, 1991 | Ty Detmer | BYU | QB |
| Josh Arnold | BYU | DB | |
| Carlos James | Iowa | DB | |
| December 30, 1992 | Michael Carter | Hawaii | QB |
| Junior Tagoai | Hawaii | DT | |
| December 30, 1993 | Raymont Harris | Ohio State | RB |
| Lorenzo Styles | Ohio State | LB | |
| John Walsh | BYU | QB | |
| December 30, 1994 | Todd Collins | Michigan | QB |
| Matt Dyson | Michigan | LB | |
| Anthoney Hill | Colorado State | QB | |
| December 29, 1995 | Brian Kavanagh | Kansas State | QB |
| Mario Smith | Kansas State | DB | |
| December 30, 1996 | Koy Detmer | Colorado | QB |
| Nick Ziegler | Colorado | DE | |
| December 29, 1997 | Moses Moreno | Colorado State | QB |
| Darran Hall | Colorado State | WR | |
| December 30, 1998 | Keith Smith | Arizona | QB |
| Mike Rucker | Nebraska | DE | |
| December 29, 1999 | Jonathan Beasley | Kansas State | QB |
| Darren Howard | Kansas State | DE | |
| December 29, 2000 | Joey Harrington | Oregon | QB |
| Rashad Bauman | Oregon | DB | |
| December 28, 2001 | Major Applewhite | Texas | QB |
| Willie Hurst | Washington | RB | |
| Derrick Johnson | Texas | LB | |
| December 27, 2002 | Ell Roberson | Kansas State | QB |
| Terrell Suggs | Arizona State | DE | |
| December 30, 2003 | Sammy Moore | Washington State | WR |
| Kyle Basler | Washington State | P | |
| December 30, 2004 | Sonny Cumbie | Texas Tech | QB |
| Vincent Meeks | Texas Tech | DB | |
| December 29, 2005 | Rhett Bomar | Oklahoma | QB |
| C.J. Ah You | Oklahoma | DE | |
| Anthony Trucks | Oregon | DB | |
| December 28, 2006 | Marshawn Lynch | California | RB |
| Nate Longshore | California | QB | |
| Desmond Bishop | California | LB |
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