It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, but the Holiday Bowl is right around the corner. No. 15 Oregon is set to play North Carolina in San Diego.
This will be the first Holiday Bowl since 2019 and the first one to be played inside Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres. This game was set to return last season, but Covid issues within the UCLA program cancelled its game with North Carolina State.
Since the game is going to take place in a supposedly baseball-only stadium, the configuration isn’t going to be the standard fare. One end zone will be in front of the Padres dugout down the first base line with the other side going out into the left field.
The Holiday Bowl will also feature a new television home. It had been on ESPN for many, many, years. But Fox bought the broadcast rights for the bowl game.
This will be the first meeting between the Ducks and Tar Heels in football. We all remember the 2017 epic Final Four matchup where the Ducks just missed out on defeating the eventual national champs.