The Holiday Bowl typically shoots off a fireworks display at halftime each year, but its matchup this season promises to unleash a few more.
No. 15 Oregon, the second place team from the Pacific-10 Conference, will play No. 13 Oklahoma State, the third-place team representing the Big 12 Conference, on Dec. 30 at 5 p.m. in the 31st annual Holiday Bowl in a game that promises to be high-scoring, if nothing else.
The Ducks (9-3) and the Cowboys (9-3) are the seventh and eighth-best scoring teams in the nation, averaging just under 42 points per game for both team. Running the spread offense is key to the teams’ ability to run the ball better than most teams in college football. Oregon’s 277.8 yards per game rushing is led by Jeremiah Johnson, who has scored 12 touchdowns this season and ran for 219 yards against Oregon State in his last game. The Cowboys’ featured running back is none other than Kendall Hunter, who has 1,518 yards on the year.

The quarterbacks provide a similar look to one another, with Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson accounting for 270 yards per game of total offense, including 508 rushing yards this season. Oregon’s Jeremiah Masoli averages 190 yards of offense per game, and he has been the sparkplug in all of Oregon’s last three wins, leading a game-winning touchdown drive against Stanford, throwing for nearly 300 yards against Arizona, and his early passing against the Beavers opened up the running game for the Ducks. On the year, he has 612 rushing yards.
“It’s interesting that the two teams have run the ball very, very well,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said in a media release.
Did we mention there would be offense?
It’s not a surprise that Oklahoma State is built to score playing in the Big 12 Conference. Its only losses of the season have come at the hands of Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, who are a combined 34-3 this season. Oklahoma State came within four points of knocking off then-No. 1 Texas on Oct. 25. A little more than a month later, the Cowboys scored 41 points in their last game, a Nov. 29 date with Oklahoma – and still lost by 20 points.
Their coach knows a thing or two about scoring points at Oklahoma State. Mike Gundy was the quarterback in the Cowboys’ only other Holiday Bowl game, a 1988 game that was a 62-14 beating of Wyoming. Gundy threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns in the game, while NFL Hall of Fame running back and Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders ran for 222 yards and five touchdowns.
“It was a tremendous experience for me as a player, and I’m happy our team will get to enjoy San Diego and the festivities that surround a great bowl game,” Gundy said.
The last time the Ducks were in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl, Oregon lost 17-14 to Oklahoma after throwing an interception on the final drive of the game.
“But probably the team that plays the best defense will be the one that wins the game,” Bellotti said. “So we’ll probably be talking about the offenses going in (into the game) but probably be talking about the defenses going out.”
Neither team is nearly at the same level of its offense on the other side of the ball, having been able to outscore its opponents all season. Both defenses are porous in the red zone, allowing teams to score an average of 90 percent of the time.
The Ducks average three sacks a game, the sixth-best total in the nation, while Oklahoma State ranks 108th in the nation.
The story of the game seems to point toward the offenses, however much the coaches want to preach defense.
“Historically, these two teams have scored a lot of points,” Bellotti said.
So much so that it might be important to remember one statistic among the rest: 91, as in the bowl record of total points scored.
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