Post Game Notes

Dec. 30, 2004

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Complete Post Game Notes and Quotes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Holiday History: The 27th meeting of the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl featured a pair of ranked opponents with No. 4 California facing No. 21 Texas Tech. Texas Tech defeated the Golden Bears 45-31 to finish the season 8-4. The game was televised live on ESPN with an official start time of 5:05 p.m. (PST) at Qualcomm Stadium (football home of San Diego State and the San Diego Chargers). Texas Tech made its first Holiday Bowl appearance and 28th all-time bowl appearance. California also made its first Holiday Bowl appearance and 15th postseason bowl in program history. After playing in the Insight Bowl (Phoenix, Ariz.) last year, Cal played in a bowl game in consecutive years for the first time since 1990 (Copper) and 1991 (Citrus). Texas Tech made its fifth straight bowl appearance and have been bowl-eligible in each of the last nine seasons. The game marked the first meeting between California and Texas Tech.

Attendance Marks: The sellout crowd of 63,711 is the second largest in Holiday Bowl history... the record is 65,354 set in 1998 when Arizona played Nebraska.

All-Time Bowl Records: California: 15th bowl appearance (6-8-1) - last bowl was 52-49 win over Virginia Tech in 2003 Insight Bowl. Texas Tech: 28th bowl appearance (8-19-1) - last bowl was 38-14 win over Navy in 2003 Houston Bowl.

Holiday Bowl Notes: The 60-yard touchdown by Joel Filani was the longest in the Holiday Bowl since 1996 when Colorado's Rae Carruth had a 76-yard TD reception (bowl record)... Texas Tech became the first team to score a touchdown in every quarter since Colorado State in 1997 (35-24 win over Missouri)... the 45 points are the most since Texas had 47 points in 2001... the 60 pass attempts by Sonny Cumbie set a Holiday Bowl record, besting the previous record of 59 by Ty Detmer (BYU) in 1989... the 60 pass attempts also set a single-game team record for the Holiday Bowl... the 30 first downs by Texas Tech were within five of the Holiday Bowl record of 35 set by BYU in 1989.

Visiting Score: Texas Tech scored on its opening possession with a nine-play, 59-yard drive that was capped with a nine-yard pass from Sonny Cumbie to Jarrett Hicks. The score marked the first time since 2001 (Texas 47, Washington 43) that the visiting team put points on the scoreboard first. The home team has scored in four of the last six Holiday Bowls dating back to 1999.

First Quarter Ties: California scored a touchdown with 30 seconds to go in the first quarter to take a 14-7 leads... it marked the first time since 2000 (Oregon vs. Texas) that a team has had a lead after one quarter of the Holiday Bowl... the 2001 (Texas vs. Washington), 2002 (Arizona State vs. Kansas State) and 2003 (Washington State vs. Texas) bowls each featured scoreless first frames.

First Half Offensive Explosion: The 38 combined first-half points are the most in the Holiday Bowl since 1993 when Ohio State and BYU combined for 42 points... TTU and Cal also combined for 566 yards of total offense in the first half, with 384 coming by way of the passing game... TTU QB Sonny Cumbie was 22-for-32 for 297 yards in the first half and wide receiver had seven catches for 113 yards... Cal's J.J. Arrington had 15 rushes for 107 yards (7.1 avg.)... in the 1993 game, Ohio State beat BYU 28- 21 as both offenses startled with only seven points in the second half... the 38 points barely eclipsed 37 combined points by Texas and Washington in 2001... Texas went on to defeat the Huskies 47-43 for 90 combined points (second most in Holiday Bowl history).

1984 BYU National Champions Honored: The 1984 National Champion BYU Cougars were honored by the Holiday Bowl at the start of the second quarter... the 2004 Holiday Bowl marks the 20th anniversary of BYU's 24-17 win over Michigan (Dec. 21, 1984) to cap a perfect 13-0 season... legendary BYU head coach and several members of the 1984 squad were in attendance at the game.

Arrington Sets Cal Rushing TD Record: California senior tailback J.J. Arrington set the Cal single-season record with his 15th rushing touchdown this season... he passed the previous record of 14 rushing TD's set by Russell White (1991) and Lindsay Chapman (1993)... with 173 yards rushing on 25 carries, he notched his 12th straight 100-yard game this season, setting the Pac- 10 record... the previous mark was set by Hall of Famer and former USC Trojan Marcus Allen in 1981... with his 81 first-quarter rushing yards he moved into the top 5 in the Pac-10 single-season record books, passing USC's O.J. Simpson (1,880 in 1968)... he also became the third player in Pac-10 history and first in Cal history to surpass 2,000 yards in a season, finishing with 2,018 yards... the other two 2,000-yard rushers (Marcus Allen and Charles White) each won the Heisman Trophy.
Pac-10 Single Season Rushing Leaders:
1. Marcus Allen, USC 1981 2,427
2. Charles White, USC 1979 2,050
3. J.J. Arrington, Cal 2004 2,018
4. Ricky Bell, USC 1975 1,975
5. O.J. Simpson, USC 1968 1,880

TTU Arial Attack: Texas Tech entered the game as the top-ranked passing team in the NCAA averaging 388.7 yards per game through the air... the Red Raiders did not disappoint as they had 297 passing yards in the first half alone en route to taking a 24- 14 lead. Senior QB Sonny Cumbie set a Holiday Bowl record with 60 pass attempts, completing 39 passing for 520 yards and three touchdowns.

Pass Happy Red Raiders: Texas Tech has turned into the premier passing team in the NCAA over the last few years... the top three single-season passing performances in TTU history have all come in the last three years - by three different quarterbacks... B.J. Symons (2003) threw for a school-record 5,833 yards in 2003, Kliff Kingsbury had 5,017 in 2002 and current QB Sonny Cumbie threw for 4,796 yards after his 520-yard performance tonight against California... over the last three seasons Texas Tech has thrown for 16,419 over the last three years (421 yards per game avg.). Texas Tech Passing Leaders Last 3 Years:
2002: Kliff Kingsbury (5,017)
2003: B.J. Symons (5,833)
2004: Sonny Cumbie (4,796)

Hicks Sets TTU TD Record: Red Raider sophomore wide receiver Jarrett Hicks set the single-season TTU record with 13 TD receptions... he entered the game with 11 TD's, but scored TTU's first two touchdowns to take a 17-14 lead... he passed the previous record of 12 set by Lloyd Hill (1992)... he finished the night with nine (9) catches for 69 yards.

Two Red Raiders Over 100: Trey Haverty and Joel Filani each recorded over 100 yards in the 45-31 win over Cal. Haverty had eight catches for 147 yards and Filani had five catches for 144 yards... nine Red Raiders had at least one catch and eight players had two or more catches.

Big Plays Lead TTU to Victory: Texas Tech recorded 18 passing plays of 10 or more yards and four passing plays of 35 or more yards in the 45-31 victory over California.

Cal Not Used to Trailing at the Half: California trailed 24-14 at halftime, marking only the third time this season the Golden Bears have been behind after two quarters... they also trailed 16-10 against USC (23-17 loss) and 27-21 against Oregon (28-27 victory)... the 10-point deficit was the largest for the Golden Bears since being down 10 at Stanford (11/2/03)... Cal won that game 28-16 with 28 second-half points.

California Notes: Junior QB Aaron Rogers threw only his eighth interception this season and 13th of his career... California gave up its most points this season with the previous being 28 points against UCLA (10/16)... the xxx passing yards given up are a season high for the Golden Bears, surpassing 328 yards given up through the air against Washington (11/13)... Cal also relinquished season highs in TD's (4).

Texas Tech Notes: Junior free safety Vincent Meeks recorded his second interception of the year and ninth of his career...

California Golden Bears Athletics

Related News

Related Videos