College Football Viewer's Guide: Holiday Bowl

Tonight, one of college football’s most exciting bowl games takes center stage as the Holiday Bowl takes place. The Pac-10/Big 12 matchup has produced some instant classics over the years, and once again this year’s pairing is a juicy one. One of the nation’s most impressive surprise teams, the Arizona State Sun Devils (10-2), takes on the Texas Longhorns (9-3) to be crowned Holiday Bowl champions.

In his first season with the Sun Devils, Dennis Erickson has turned the tide of a program that had been stagnant for years prior to his arrival. Arizona State always possessed the talent to compete for conference titles, but could never properly utilize that talent. Erickson has changed all that, and led ASU to a share of the conference title, its first of any kind since 1996. An 8-0 start and a #4 ranking brought uncharacteristic excitement to the football program, something that Erickson hopes can continue into the future.

Junior Rudy Carpenter (right) has led the team nicely at quarterback, putting up a 101.2 rating while tossing 23 touchdowns. Arizona State has been hampered all season long by a below average offensive line when it comes to pass protection, but it hasn’t affected Carpenter’s play too much. Despite getting sacked 50(!) times over the course of the year, he has still found his favorite receivers, Chris McGaha, Michael Jones, and Rudy Burgess plenty of times. McGaha, the team’s leading receiver, still hasn’t been able to reach the end zone yet and hopes this bowl game is when that annoying drought finally comes to an end.

Even with their troubles protecting the quarterback, the offensive line has still opened up plenty of holes for the running game to take advantage. Behind a dual running back lineup of Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance, the Sun Devils have done a great job of keeping defenses on their heels with the running game.

Texas began the year thinking Colt McCoy would be their go-to guy and that he could contend for the Heisman Trophy. Instead, the sophomore suffered through an up and down year, playing miserably in several Longhorns games, especially in the team’s blowout loss to Kansas State. Coach Mack Brown finally made the adjustment, and put the team’s shoulders on Jamaal Charles (left). What a wonderful decision that turned out to be.

Charles became a man-child during the final four weeks of the season, putting up half of his 1458 yards rushing and seven of his 16 touchdowns during that span. His most memorable performance came against Nebraska on October 27 when he ran for over 200 yards in the 4th quarter of a 28-25 victory. Charles took runs of 25, 86, and 40 yards to the house in the final frame alone, and showed just how dominant he could be if he got the ball more often. He followed that up with another three-touchdown performance the next week, and will definitely be a big part of what goes down offensively for the Longhorns in San Diego tonight.

There’s not much separating these teams as they enter college football’s first real major bowl game. Dennis Erickson is working hard to make this program one of the elite, while Mack Brown is looking to sustain what he has built in Austin. There have been some heart wrenching finishes early in bowl season, and this game will continue with that trend.

The Pick: Arizona State stops Charles just enough to preserve a victory and clinch a remarkable 11-win season.

Update: Texas used a quick start to roll past Arizona state, 52-34 and secure the school's seventh straight 10-win season.
Overall: 4-4