Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post - season NCAA - sanctioned Division I - A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego , California , since 1978 . Beginning with the 2010 playing the bowl officially became known as the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl after Bridgepoint Education signed on to replace Pacific Life as the bowl ' s title sponsor . Previous sponsors have included SeaWorld , Thrifty Car Rental , Chrysler Corporation ( through its Plymouth brand ) , and Culligan . The Holiday Bowl was founded to give the Western Athletic Conference an automatic bowl bid after the Fiesta Bowl , which previously had a tie in with the game , ended its association with the WAC after Arizona and Arizona State ( the latter of which served as the game ' s host ) left the conference to join the Pacific - 8 Conference in 1977 . Thus , the Holiday Bowl inherited the Fiesta Bowl ' s former WAC ties and gave the conference ' s champion its automatic bid . For the first several years , the WAC champion played an at - large team in the Holiday Bowl . Beginning in 1986 and continuing until 1994 , the Big Ten Conference was given the second bid provided it had enough bowl eligible teams . For the first seven games , Brigham Young University represented the WAC as its champion . In the inaugural game on December 22 , The Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy came in with an 8 – 3 record and a Commander - in - Chief ' s Trophy and then capped the remarkable 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 was known as " The Miracle Bowl " as BYU erased a 20 point Southern Methodist lead to win on the last play of the game . Four years later , BYU , led by their coach , LaVell Edwards , won the national championship in the Holiday Bowl by defeating the University of Michigan Wolverines , coached by Bo Schembechler , 24 – 17 . It was the first — and only — time that the title was won at the Holiday Bowl , or any other December bowl game . Because of the WAC ' s contract with the Holiday Bowl , BYU , # 1 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 . Beginning in 1995 , the Big Eight Conference replaced the Big Ten and has remained tied with the bowl as the conference expanded to become the Big 12 . 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 Conference was added as the alternate pick ( meaning that , if the WAC champion played in the Cotton Bowl , the Pac - 10 ' s team would play in the Holiday Bowl ) . The WAC ended its association with the Holiday Bowl after the 1997 playing , and the game has since become a permanent matchup between the Big 12 and now - Pac - 12 . As of 2010 , the Holiday Bowl matches the third place Pac - 12 team and the 5th place Big 12 team . Previously , the matchup featured the second place Pac - 12 team playing the third place Big 12 team , but the Alamo Bowl outbid the Holiday Bowl to feature that matchup . The game has recently become a type of " upset " bowl . In 2005 , a 10 – 1 Oregon team ( favored by 3 points while ranked 6th in the nation ) playing without its star quarterback Kellen Clemens lost 17 – 14 to a surging Oklahoma squad that had won six out of its last seven . In 2004 , one - loss California was blown out by Big 12 Texas Tech , 45 – 31 . In 2003 , Big 12 third - place Texas was knocked off by Pac - 10 second - place Washington State , led by Matt Kegel . In 2010 , Nebraska went to the Holiday Bowl after losing the Big 12 Championship Game and faced a 6 – 6 Washington team that they had beaten 56 – 21 during the regular season , but lost the rematch 19 – 7 . According to Bruce Binkowski , the Holiday ' s executive director , average ticket prices for the Holiday Bowl would have had to have been increased from $ 60 to $ 100 to match the Alamo Bowl ' s offer of $ 3 million ( the Holiday Bowl was only offering $ 2 . 35 million ) . The now - Pac - 12 and Big 12 retain their contracts with the Holiday Bowl , however , and the 2010 - 2013 matchups will pit the # 3 Pac - 12 team against the # 5 Big 12 team . One of the more popular ( yet unusual ) events associated with the Holiday Bowl is the Wiener Nationals , the national championships for the U . S . dachshund racing circuit . The game is also celebrated with the Big Bay Balloon Parade , organized by the Port of San Diego and currently sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union .