After a college football season marked by big upsets and even bigger questions, the Texas football team got a few answers on Sunday.
The No. 17 Longhorns (9-3) accepted their bowl bid around 3:30 p.m. and are set to face No. 11 Arizona State (10-2) in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 at 5 p.m. in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.
The Longhorns, who are still licking their wounds after finishing the regular season with a demoralizing 38-30 loss to archrival Texas A&M for the second consecutive year, will begin early-morning practices tomorrow and are expected to arrive in San Diego on Dec. 22.
"We're looking forward to getting out to San Diego and preparing for another great Holiday Bowl," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "The city and people do such a great job of welcoming the teams that it will again be a great experience for our guys."
Though Texas has no history with the Sun Devils - this is the first meeting between the two teams on a football field - Texas hasn't had many good experiences in San Diego.
The Longhorns have been to the Holiday Bowl, which annually pits a Big 12 team against a Pac-10 team, three times and hold a 1-2 record. Their lone win, a 47-43 shootout with Washington in 2001, was sandwiched by losses to Oregon (35-30) in 2000 and Washington State (28-20) in 2003.
But only fifth-year seniors had to suffer through a loss in San Diego, so spirits seem high among the coaches and players. Though the Longhorns - who began the year ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press preseason poll - wanted to be invited to play in one of the five Bowl Championship Series games Sunday, the team still seems fired up.
"I'm excited to be there, actually," senior defensive tackle Frank Okam said. "Obviously, it's not where you want to be. You want better things, but you're happy where you are."
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