Tag: Holiday Bowl

Duke football draws former Pac-12 powerhouse in new USA TODAY Sports bowl projections

Ahead of the Week 8 college football schedule, USA TODAY Sports has the Duke Blue Devils penciled in for a bowl battle with Utah.

USA TODAY Sports’ Erick Smith updated his college football bowl projections on Tuesday, and he pitted the Blue Devils against a former heavyweight in the now-decimated Pac-12 Conference.

Smith put Duke in the Holiday Bowl alongside the Utah Utes, now a member of the Big 12.

With head coach Kyle Whittingham at the helm since 2005, Utah won the Pac-12 title game in 2021 and 2022 before joining its new conference. The Utes entered the 2024 season as the Big 12 favorites, but veteran starter Cam Rising continues to deal with injuries as he’s thrown just 66 passes. Utah lost its last two games to Arizona and Arizona State to fall behind the pace.

As has been the case for most of Smith’s projections this season, the Miami Hurricanes and Clemson Tigers are the only ACC teams in his College Football Playoff field. However, instead of rolling with the undefeated Hurricanes, Smith thinks Clemson will storm back to win the conference and clinch the first-round bye.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, now riding a four-game losing streak, were absent from Smith’s projected postseason field.

Notre Dame projected to make College Football Playoff, go to Rose Bowl

That’s more like it.

It’s funny how one quality road victory by Notre Dame can change people’s opinions.

Before the Irish beat Texas A&M in their season opener, many college football experts had them on the outside looking in when it came to the College Football Playoff. Brett McMurphy of The Action Network was one of them.

After the Irish’s victory though, McMurphy has jumped into the Irish believers camp. He released his latest bowl projections, and it’s definitely an improvements from his previous projection of Notre Dame playing in the Holiday Bowl.

McMurphy not only has the Irish making the playoff as the eighth seed, but he sees them making the trip to Pasadena on New Year’s Day:

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1830679017466536206

Losing to the top seed in the bracket would be nothing to be ashamed of and a positive step toward the future. If the Irish take care of business throughout the regular season though, we could be looking at even grander predictions for them.

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Another College Football Playoff projection leaves Notre Dame out

Stick this one on the bulletin board, too.

As we get closer to the 2024 season, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Notre Dame will need to prove a lot of people wrong. Even with the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, no one is going to just let the Irish in. Some expert predictions in recent days are evidence of that.

Days ago, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm left the Irish out of his playoff projection. Now, you can add The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy to that list. Instead, he has the Irish facing Washington in the Holiday Bowl, a bowl the Irish haven’t played in before:

So again, the Irish find themselves on the outside looking in of one expert’s bracket. The past few days have given them a heavy dose of reality that they’ll need to win almost every game to give themselves a shot at making it. Hopefully, all of this will give them the motivation to do just that.

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USC’s Holiday Bowl victory has set the tone for 2024

Lincoln Riley really does feel the Holiday Bowl changed the equation for USC.

USC earned more than another notch in the win column when the Trojans defeated the No. 15 Louisville Cardinals in the Holiday Bowl back in December. The team was forced to evolve with dismissal of its defensive coordinator during the season and veteran stars opting out to avoid risking injury. The talented underclassmen and a patient, veteran quarterback received valuable playing time and more importantly they forged an identity.

“It’s almost like we got two spring practices in a way,” Riley explained. “And not just the work on the field. I just think the vibe and the feel of this team started then. There was just something special about the way that group came together for that game.”

The Trojans had been through a disappointing season, a season many felt would be another trip back to the Pac-12 Conference Championship Game and possibly a College Football Playoff berth. The reality was a 7-5 regular season, losing five of the last six games, with losses to both rivals and the dismissal of defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. The young team had many of its star veteran leaders opt out of the Holiday Bowl against the Louisville Cardinals. Things could have really spiralled, but the young guys stepped up.

As the Trojans move into the Big Ten and prepare for a new challenge, they really think they found the pivot-point moment which has galvanized them for the difficult road ahead.

“We kinda just latched on to something there and it just feels like everything since then has been and extension of that,” Riley reflected.

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Trojans Wire takes USC fans’ phone calls after inspiring Holiday Bowl victory, Miller Moss triumph

We took your calls on the USC channel at The Voice of College Football. Tim Prangley hosted the show.

The 2023 Holiday Bowl, as one phone caller put it, was a seemingly meaningless game the Trojans turned into a supremely meaningful game. A night which, at its outset, felt like another blowout loss (after Louisville went up 7-0 and USC missed a field goal) turned into a hugely positive, hopeful, and transformative moment for this football program.

Other USC fans who called into our show with Tim Prangley at The Voice of College Football made a lot of other great points. We responded to our wonderful callers and took your questions for over two hours in a very long, information-packed season finale show. We will continue to have our Friday evening call-in shows throughout the offseason, but none will be as long as this bowl-game bonanza, with two hours and 15 minutes of USC football discussion.

Spend some of your holiday (bowl) weekend catching up on all the hot topics surrounding USC football, and consider joining the USC channel of The Voice of College Football as a member.

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Miller Moss’s Holiday Bowl performance is an all-timer in USC’s rich history

Miller Moss rose above several USC quarterbacks with his epic bowl performance against Louisville.

Miller Moss delivered a special and historic USC bowl performance this week. His six-touchdown display against Louisville in the Holiday Bowl is obviously one of the greatest bowl performances by a USC quarterback.

We can debate where Moss’s performance ranks, but we know it’s up there.

College Sports Wire’s Ryan Haley put together this collection of great and notable USC quarterback performances in bowl games:

“Since (Pete) Carroll’s departure in 2009, USC has still put together five 10-win seasons, still impressive for the average program. However, the time between Carroll and Lincoln Riley tends to be brushed aside for the All-Americans who came before and after, especially at the quarterback position. In the spirit of Miller Moss’s six-touchdown performance in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday, here’s a trip down memory lane for USC’s bowl quarterbacks since 2010.”

We hope you enjoy the gallery. We would point out that Sam Darnold’s comeback in the 2017 Rose Bowl against Penn State is hard to top as the best USC quarterback bowl performance of all time.

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9 photos of Lincoln Riley taking the inaugural egg nog bath after USC’s Holiday Bowl win

Lincoln Riley enjoyed some egg nog for the holidays.

You’ve heard of the Gatorade bath for winning head coaches, and you’ve even seen the disgusting mayonnaise baths delivered to coaches who win the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Now, I present to you the egg nog bath.

An almost perfect middle ground of the consistency between gatorade and mayo, egg nog was poured on the winning coach of the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl for the first time in 2023. That meant Lincoln Riley was the first coach to take nog to the noggin Wednesday after his USC Trojans beat Louisville.

Depending on your feelings about un-spiked nog, this was either the most disgusting thing you’ve seen, or something you’d be down to try.

These photos are guaranteed to reinforce whatever those feelings are.

Huge Miller Moss first half in Holiday Bowl changes the Will Howard situation for USC

This changes everything.

Be honest: You were not expecting Miller Moss to be that good in the Holiday Bowl for USC. You certainly did not expect Moss to throw four first-half touchdown passes. You did not expect him to throw for over 215 yards in the first half. You did not expect USC to score 28 points before halftime. This was with Caleb Williams and a number of other players out of the game due to NFL draft opt-outs or the transfer portal.

Moss surpassed everyone’s expectation. He made a very strong claim for the No. 1 quarterback spot at USC going into 2024.

Now what? Is Will Howard to USC no longer going to happen? Does USC need another quarterback in the transfer portal?

Reactions poured in very quickly after Moss lit up San Diego — and the Louisville defense — in the first half of the Holiday Bowl:

Trojans Wire talks to Card Chronicle about the Holiday Bowl

Card Chronicle wanted to learn more about USC.

The Louisville SB Nation site Card Chronicle reached out to us before the 2023 Holiday Bowl. USC prepares for a game Louisville is expected to win. The main story is Miller Moss, and the long-term impact of this contest is uncertain.

Here’s Card Chronicle’s interview of Trojans Wire. One small excerpt:

“Expect a lot of short, ball-control passes with Miller Moss to establish a rhythm and some confidence. Also expect USC to run the ball early and see if its offensive line can form a tougher identity. USC’s O-line disappointed this season. Lincoln Riley will want to test that unit and see if it can mash a little in San Diego. If USC can run the ball really well in this game, that would build confidence heading into the offseason and the Big Ten. If Louisville’s front four plays a great game, it’s hard to see how USC will win.”

There’s a lot more on this game, but also on the bowl system and Alex Grinch as well.

Our thanks to Card Chronicle for the conversation before USC’s last football game of 2023.

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Holiday Bowl memories: 2004

The 2004 Holiday Bowl contains widely recognizable figures.

With the USC Trojans and Louisville Cardinals facing off in the 2023 Holiday Bowl, the memories are beginning to come back for this bowl game in San Diego. The Holiday Bowl has featured a lot of exciting and colorful matchups over the years, making the game one of the better late-December (non-January) bowls.

One of my personal favorites is the 2001 game between Texas and Washington. Another favorite is 2014, when USC edged Nebraska. The 2000 edition between Oregon and Texas was spectacular, a delicious duel featuring Chris Simms of the Longhorns and Joey Harrington of the Ducks.

However, if I had to pick one Holiday Bowl above the others, it would probably be the Cal-Texas Tech showdown in 2004. The coaching matchup was fantastic: Mike Leach for the Red Raiders and Jeff Tedford for the Golden Bears from Berkeley.

Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch were on that 2004 Cal team, which engaged USC in a classic at the Coliseum a few months earlier. The Golden Bears had a 10-1 record entering the game amid a fantastic season, but they lost to the Red Raiders, 45-31.

Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie lit up the Cal defense, throwing for over 500 yards with three touchdowns and 40 completions on 60 pass attempts.

Even though Cal lost, seeing the Lynch-Rodgers pairing was a fun sight. The Mike Leach-Jeff Tedford battle was also a terrific one to watch on the Holiday Bowl platform.

Knowing that Aaron Rodgers and Jeff Tedford are still relevant football figures today, 19 years later, enhances the memory of that 2004 Holiday Bowl. In a certain sense, that game still lives today in ways that other past Holiday Bowls do not.

USC and Louisville will create a new Holiday Bowl memory on Wednesday in Petco Park.

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