The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon Stadium; it was played at San Diego Stadium from 1978 to 2019 and at Petco Park from 2021 to 2023.
Historically, the Holiday Bowl had a long-standing tie-in with the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). During this period, the bowl hosted the game that clinched the national championship for the BYU Cougars in 1984, one of only two times a non-New Year's Six bowl game has done this. The bowl also previously had tie-ins with the Big 12 Conference and the Big Ten Conference.
History
The Holiday Bowl was founded in 1978 to give the Western Athletic Conference an automatic bowl bid after the Fiesta Bowl, which previously had a tie-in with the conference, ended its association with the WAC following the departure of Arizona and Arizona State (the latter of which served as the game's host) to join the Pacific-8 Conference in the summer of 1978, leading to the conference renaming itself as the Pacific-10. The Holiday Bowl inherited the Fiesta Bowl's former WAC ties and gave the conference's champion its automatic bid. For the first several editions, the WAC champion played an at-large team; from 1991 through 1994, the Big Ten Conference was given the second bid, provided it had enough bowl-eligible teams.
Beginning in 1995, the Big Eight Conference replaced the Big Ten and remained tied with the bowl as the conference expanded to become the Big 12 the following year. The WAC's automatic bid was split, with first choice given to the Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, and a team from the Pacific-10 was added as the alternate pick (meaning that, if the WAC champion played in the Cotton Bowl, a Pacific-10 team would play in the Holiday Bowl). The WAC ended its association with the Holiday Bowl after 1997, and the game became a matchup between the Big 12 and Pacific-10.
From 1998 to 2009, the matchup featured the No. 2 team in the Pacific-10/Pac-12 and the No. 3 Big 12 team, but the Alamo Bowl outbid the Holiday Bowl to feature that matchup beginning in 2010. Holiday Bowl Executive Director Bruce Binkowski stated that average ticket prices for the Holiday Bowl would have had to be increased from $60 to $100 to match the Alamo Bowl's offer of a $3 million payout (the Holiday Bowl was only offering $2.35 million). The Pac-12 and Big 12 retained their contracts with the Holiday Bowl, however, and the 2010–2013 matchups pitted the No. 3 Pac-12 team against the No. 5 Big 12 team.
Starting with the 2014 game, the Big Ten signed a six-year contract to return after a 20-year absence to the Holiday Bowl, regaining the slot that it had held from 1991 to 1994. With this agreement, the Holiday Bowl featured the No. 3 Pac-12 team and the No. 4 Big Ten team. In 2019, the bowl announced plans to host a Pac-12 team and an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) team during the 2020-2025 games.
Through 2019, the bowl was played at San Diego Stadium. The stadium was demolished beginning in the autumn of 2020, at which point the game was played at Petco Park. In 2024, the bowl returned to Mission Valley playing in Snapdragon Stadium, built on the site of San Diego Stadium.
On October 22, 2020, organizers canceled the 2020 edition of the bowl, citing complications from the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 edition was called off hours before kickoff on December 28, due to COVID-19 protocol issues within the UCLA program, and officially canceled the next morning, after organizers could not secure a replacement team to face NC State. In May 2023, organizers of the Holiday Bowl filed a lawsuit in San Diego County, seeking $3 million in damages from the Pac-12 and UCLA due to their withdrawal from the 2021 game. Organizers also stated that since reimbursement was not provided for cancellation of the 2021 game, the bowl withheld a $3.2 million payment to Pac-12 member Oregon for the 2022 game.
In 2025, Holiday Bowl organizers considered moving the game from San Diego to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The bowl's organizing committee met with Saudi officials in the spring of that year regarding the move and discussions about the proposal were communicated to the ACC, but the conference's athletic directors rejected it. The game itself was scheduled for January 2, 2026, still held in San Diego. It will be the first time the Holiday Bowl is played in the month of January. If the Saudi Arabia proposal had been approved, the 2025 Holiday Bowl would have been the first NCAA sanctioned bowl game held outside of North America.
Sponsors of the bowl game have included in order: SeaWorld; Thrifty Car Rental; Chrysler Corporation (through its Plymouth brand); Culligan; Pacific Life; Bridgepoint Education; National University; National Funding, a San Diego–based alternative lender; San Diego County Credit Union, which formerly sponsored San Diego's other bowl game, the now-defunct Poinsettia Bowl; and DirecTV. In December 2025, Trust & Will was announced as the sponsor for the January 2026 game.
Notable games
For the first seven games, Brigham Young University represented the WAC as its champion. In the inaugural 1978 game, the Navy Midshipmen came in with an 8–3 record and a Commander-in-Chief's Trophy and then capped their season with a 23–16 comeback victory over the highly favored Cougars. BYU has played in a total of 11 Holiday Bowls, more than any other team.
The 1980 game became known as "The Miracle Bowl" after BYU overcame a 20-point Southern Methodist University lead with less than three minutes remaining in the game. BYU tied the score as time expired, via a 60-yard Hail Mary pass from All-American quarterback Jim McMahon to tight end Clay Brown. BYU kicker Kurt Gunther added the game-winning extra point.
The 1983 game between BYU and Missouri had its own dramatic ending, as BYU rallied behind All-American quarterback Steve Young. With just 23 seconds left, Young gave a handoff to Eddie Stinnett. Stinnett then turned around and passed it back to Steve Young, who caught it and ran in for a touchdown, giving BYU a 21–17 win. Young achieved a rare feat in college football: one touchdown pass, one touchdown run, and one touchdown reception all in a single game. For his efforts, he was named offensive MVP.
In the 1984 edition, BYU secured the national championship by defeating the Michigan Wolverines, 24–17. Because of the WAC's contract with the Holiday Bowl, BYU, top-ranked and the only undefeated team in Division I-A going into that season's bowls, was obligated to play in the mid-tier Holiday Bowl against a mediocre (6–5) Michigan squad. Again, the Holiday Bowl came down to the final few plays. BYU drove the length of the field and scored on a pass from injured All-American quarterback Robbie Bosco to Kelly Smith with 1:23 remaining. Marv Allen, who had played in the very first Holiday Bowl as a redshirt freshman in 1978, sealed the victory with an interception. This game marks a rare example of a non-New Year's Six bowl game featuring a team later named national champion.
Game results Rankings are based on the AP poll prior to the game being played. Date Played Winning team Losing teamAttnd.Notes December 22, 1978 Navy 23 BYU 16 52,500 notes December 21, 1979 Indiana 38 #9 BYU 37 52,500 notes December 19, 1980 #14 BYU 46 #19 SMU 45 50,200 notes December 18, 1981 #14 BYU 38 #20 Washington State 36 52,419 notes December 17, 1982 #17 Ohio State 47 BYU 17 52,533 notes December 23, 1983 #9 BYU 21 Missouri 17 51,480 notes December 21, 1984 #1 BYU 24 Michigan 17 61,243 notes December 22, 1985 #14 Arkansas 18 Arizona State 17 60,641 notes December 30, 1986 #19 Iowa 39 San Diego State 38 59,473 notes December 30, 1987 #18 Iowa 20 Wyoming 19 61,892 notes December 30, 1988 #12 Oklahoma State 62 #15 Wyoming 14 60,641 notes December 29, 1989 #18 Penn State 50 #19 BYU 39 61,113 notes December 29, 1990 Texas A&M 65 #13 BYU 14 61,441 notes December 30, 1991 BYU 13 #7 Iowa 13 60,646 notes December 30, 1992 Hawaii 27 Illinois 17 44,457 notes December 30, 1993 #11 Ohio State 28 BYU 21 52,108 notes December 30, 1994 #20 Michigan 24 #10 Colorado State 14 59,453 notes December 29, 1995 #10 Kansas State 54 Colorado State 21 51,051 notes December 30, 1996 #8 Colorado 33 #13 Washington 21 54,749 notes December 29, 1997 #18 Colorado State 35 #19 Missouri 24 50,761 notes December 30, 1998 #5 Arizona 23 #14 Nebraska 20 65,354 notes December 29, 1999 #7 Kansas State 24 Washington 20 57,118 notes December 29, 2000 #8 Oregon 35 #12 Texas 30 63,278 notes December 28, 2001 #9 Texas 47 #21 Washington 43 60,548 notes December 27, 2002 #6 Kansas State 34 Arizona State 27 58,717 notes December 30, 2003 #15 Washington State 28 #5 Texas 20 61,102 notes December 30, 2004 #23 Texas Tech 45 #4 California 31 63,711 notes December 29, 2005 Oklahoma 17 #6 Oregon 14 65,416 notes December 28, 2006 #20 California 45 #21 Texas A&M 10 62,395 notes December 27, 2007 #17 Texas 52 #12 Arizona State 34 64,020 notes December 30, 2008 #15 Oregon 42 #13 Oklahoma State 31 59,106 notes December 30, 2009 #20 Nebraska 33 #22 Arizona 0 64,607 notes December 30, 2010 Washington 19 #17 Nebraska 7 57,921 notes December 28, 2011 Texas 21 California 10 56,313 notes December 27, 2012 Baylor 49 #17 UCLA 26 55,507 notes December 30, 2013 Texas Tech 37 #16 Arizona State 23 52,930 notes December 27, 2014 #24 USC 45 #25 Nebraska 42 55,789 notes December 30, 2015 #23 Wisconsin 23 USC 21 48,329 notes December 27, 2016 Minnesota 17 Washington State 12 48,704 notes December 28, 2017 #19 Michigan State 42 #21 Washington State 17 47,092 notes December 31, 2018 Northwestern 31 #20 Utah 20 47,007 notes December 27, 2019 #19 Iowa 49 #22 USC 24 50,123 notes December 2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic December 28, 2021 NC State UCLA December 28, 2022 #15 Oregon 28 North Carolina 27 36,242 notes December 27, 2023 USC 42 Louisville 28 35,317 notes December 27, 2024 Syracuse 52 Washington State 35 23,920 notesJanuary 2, 2026 SMU 24 Arizona 19 30,602 notes
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The NCAA ruled the 2021 edition a no contest after UCLA withdrew hours before the game was to start. Holiday Bowl officials awarded NC State the game trophy, and head coach Dave Doeren stated the Wolfpack were claiming a win via forfeit. Further litigation was pressed by game organizers against the Pac-12 in 2023.
MVPs
The bowl names offensive and defensive MVPs; in some instances, co-MVPs have been named, or two offensive MVPs in lieu of a defensive MVP.