2007 Holiday Bowl
The 2007 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 27, 2007 in San Diego. It was part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season and one of 32 games in the 2007–2008 bowl season. It featured the Texas Longhorns against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Texas won 52–34 and set Holiday Bowl records for the earliest score and for most points scored in the first quarter. Texas also set a school record for most points scored in a bowl game. A bizarre play involving Chris Jessee, a member of the Longhorn football operations staff and the stepson of the Texas head coach, has been cited as one of the strangest plays of the season.
2007 Holiday Bowl
Sports commentator Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman opined, “The truth of the matter is that the 17th-ranked Longhorns were everything most people thought they'd be in August as they bone-rattled a very good Arizona State team that came within an eyelash of a BCS berth. If Texas had been half this consistent all season, it'd be playing in a bowl game [after New Year’s Day]. But Mack Brown will settle for a better-late-than-never performance with an impressive 52–34 victory over the Pac-10 co-champion Sun Devils in a Holiday Bowl that was just shorter than the Bush years. Texas had made a habit of finishing strong with some spirited fourth-quarter rallies all season, but this time it started stronger than garlic breath and never let up. This Texas team knocked the ever-living stuffing out of ASU. This Texas team showed fire, showed passion and mostly showed up. These Longhorns finished the year with a fulfilling game that could possibly squeeze them into the top 10 and should titillate their fans for eight months and stoke a high 2008 preseason national ranking.”