The 2019 Holiday Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on December 27, 2019. Kickoff was at 8:07 p.m. EST (5:07 p.m. local PST). The game was aired on

FS1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed (TV network), Speed on August 1 ...

. It was the 42nd edition of the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

, and was one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. This was the third season in which the

was held at the

SDCCU Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadium ...

. The game was sponsored by

San Diego County Credit Union San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) is an American financial services company headquartered in San Diego, California. The credit union is San Diego's largest locally owned financial institution and the fifteenth largest credit union in the U.S ...

and officially known as the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. This game also marked the last Holiday Bowl with a conference tie-in with the Big Ten, as starting in 2020, the bowl will have a conference tie-in with the ACC. This is also the last game played at

as the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and due to the site being demolished to make way for a new stadium.

Teams

The game featured the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. This was the 10th meeting between the two programs, with USC holding a 7–2 edge in previous meetings. This was Iowa's fourth Holiday Bowl, going 2–0–1 in previous appearances in 1986 (won against

SDSU Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

39–38), 1987 (won against

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

20–19) and 1991 (tied against

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

13–13 – this was the last time a postseason game was tied in the NCAA). This was USC's third Holiday Bowl, going 1–1 in previous appearances in 2014 (won against

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

45–42) and 2015 (lost against

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

21–23). The teams had previously met in the

2003 Orange Bowl The 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl was the 69th edition of the college football bowl game, played at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Thursday, January 1. It matched the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference and t ...

, where USC won by a score of 38–17.

USC Trojans

The Trojans entered the game with an 8–4 record (7–2 in conference) and ranked 22nd in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. The Trojans finished in second place in the Pac-12's South Division. USC was 2–3 against ranked teams.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes entered the game ranked 19th in the AP Poll (16th in the CFP poll), with a 9–3 record (6–3 in conference). The Hawkeyes finished in third place in the Big Ten's West Division. Iowa was 1–3 against ranked teams.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Media guideGame statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Iowa Hawkeyes bowl game navbox

Holiday Bowl USC Trojans football bowl games Iowa Hawkeyes football bowl games