The Holiday Bowl is not a high-stakes game. USC is ending a failed season. Louisville has already overachieved but missed out on both an ACC championship and a New Year’s Six bowl invitation due to the highly controversial snub of Florida State from the College Football Playoff.
If one team wins, it’s a moderately satisfying conclusion to the season, but a loss will not sting either program. The focus in many ways is already on 2024 for both the Trojans and Cardinals. What, you might ask, really matters in this game?
For USC, what counts is getting the quarterbacks some work with Caleb Williams likely to sit out. For Louisville, the developmental process for 2024 is also important.
Given that this game is not make-or-break in any larger sense for these two schools, why should you tune in to watch? The best answer: Two of the five or six best play-designers in college football will both be in this game.
Lincoln Riley and Jeff Brohm, the head coaches and offensive masterminds in this matchup, are simply elite play-designers. They draw up amazing plays with intricate components and wrinkles. Watching these men operate at the height of their powers — when Riley guided Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff, and when Brohm orchestrated upsets of top-five teams while he was at Purdue — is a profoundly enjoyable experience for the football connoisseur.
Riley versus Brohm is the best reason to watch this game. If D’Anton Lynn is actively coaching the USC defense, that might be the other top-tier reason to watch on December 27.
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