'Horns to face Cal Golden Bears in Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl

http://www.bevoball.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/hbowl.jpgOn December 28th at 7:00 PM Central Time, the Texas Longhorns will match-up against the Golden Bears of California in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl.  The teams bring identical 7-5 records to San Diego with the Longhorns losing 3 of their last 4 games and the Golden Bears winning 3 of their last 4 games.  Critics of the mediocre Texas season think Cal has an advantage over Texas in the game because of Cal’s late season success.  Let’s take a closer look at Cal’s last 4 games: Washington State (4-8), Oregon State (3-9), Stanford (11-1) and Arizona State (6-6).  Of these, Cal won all except the game against highly ranked Stanford, which it lost 31-28.  Nice fight against the Cardinal but otherwise hardly stellar.

Conversely let’s take a look at Texas’ last 4 games:  Missouri (7-5), Kansas State (10-2), Texas A&M (6-6) and Baylor (9-3).  Texas lost to a pair of ranked teams and a good Missouri team in Columbia.  Unlike Cal with Stanford, Texas managed to beat its rival, Texas A&M, in College Station after a gritty performance by the Texas defense.  Doesn’t look pretty if you are a Longhorn fan but not one of these teams had a losing record.

Undoubtedly the Holiday Bowl will be entertaining and fun for players and fans of both programs.  Cal has an added “chip” on its shoulder because of the perceived lobbying Mack Brown provided in 2004 when the Longhorns earned a berth in the Rose Bowl.  Cal coaches, players and fans felt like Mack was wrong to be as vocal as he was, feeling like they would have otherwise been selected to play Michigan in Pasadena.

Texas is 4-0 vs Cal with the teams last meeting in 1970 in Austin.  Texas hammered the Golden Bears 56-15.  If Texas can manage to nurse running backs Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron back to health, Texas will be in great position to repeat its success against head coach Jeff Tedford’s squad.