Odds favor another Holiday Bowl shootout

SAN DIEGO – A matchup between No. 5 Texas and No. 15 Washington State would seem to make for a classic Holiday Bowl.

Which is precisely what Washington State coach Bill Doba hopes doesn’t happen tonight at Qualcomm Stadium.

“I’d like to see a 3-0 game, when both teams are playing hard, and of course we got the three,” Doba said.

Sorry Coach, but the Holiday Bowl has built a reputation of high-scoring games with white-knuckle finishes, with 17 of the previous 25 being decided in the final 2 minutes.

The Longhorns (10-2) are led by exciting redshirt freshman quarterback Vince Young, whose promotion coincided with a six-game winning streak. Matt Kegel, quarterback for the Cougars (9-3) and cousin of former NFL bad-boy quarterback Ryan Leaf, is determined not to let a sore throwing shoulder stop him. So both teams are capable of providing a wild finish.

“Yes, we could,” Doba said. “And so could they. They’re averaging 42 points a game. That’s why I don’t want it to be wild and wacky, because we don’t average that.”

With the Longhorns becoming Holiday Bowl regulars – they’re here for the third time in four years – coach Mack Brown knows all about the game’s lore, since Texas has helped contribute to it.

In 2000, the Longhorns lost 35-30 to Joey Harrington and the Oregon Ducks when a desperation pass from Chris Simms fell incomplete in the end zone as time ran out.

A year later, the Longhorns beat Washington 47-43 after Major Applewhite led a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback in his final college game. Trailing 36-20, Applewhite led the Longhorns to four fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the game-winner with 38 seconds left. Applewhite threw for 473 yards and four TDs, with three interceptions.

Brown likes wild games, “If we win. I don’t care if we beat Washington 47-43, it was one of the great games we ever played. Now, we go home and have long talks with the defense, but still, if you win the game, that’s the important thing.”

Doba doesn’t want to guess why the Holiday Bowl is so wacky. Brown figures it’s because the weather is usually nice and the game has had tie-ins with the pass-happy Pac-10 and, before that, the Western Athletic Conference, when Brigham Young was a member of that conference and a Holiday Bowl regular.

However, heavy rain is forecast for Southern California today, which Doba thinks would favor Texas’ running game over his team’s passing game.

The Longhorns are favored by 9 1/2 points, but Brown doesn’t buy the contention that Texas is supposed to win.

“If everybody was right, we’d quit having the games,” he said.

“Usually, in bowl games, half of them are won by the underdogs, and usually they’re won by the team that has the most excitement, the most passion, for the game,” Brown said.

Young became the starter after an embarrassing 65-13 loss to No. 1 Oklahoma on Oct. 11, and Texas’ running game took off.

Young has gained 948 yards on 126 carries and is the first Texas quarterback to rush for 100 yards three times in the same season. Tailback Cedric Benson has rushed for 1,277 yards, 919 coming in the last five games. He’s scored 20 touchdowns.

Kegel’s thrown for 2,744 yards and 19 TDs this year. But he also took himself out of the Cougars’ last two games because of the sore shoulder.

“It’s still sore and hurt, but in this situation, you do the best you can and let it rest after the season, I guess,” Kegel said.

While Texas is on a roll, WSU is coming off its sixth straight loss to rival Washington, in which it had seven turnovers.

“We’re going to have to play our absolute best game to play with these guys and get a win,” Kegel said. “At our best, we’re pretty hard to beat. This is one of the biggest games in school history for us, and will give as an opportunity to make a name for ourselves.”

The Longhorns are the highest-ranked team not in the BCS.

“If we lose this game, we’re going to get ragged on,” Benson said. “Everybody’s going to think we’re sorry and soft. There’s a lot of pride on the line for us.”