The 1981 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 18 in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the fourth edition of the Holiday Bowl. The Friday night game was the third of sixteen games in this bowl season and featured the #20 Washington State Cougars of the Pac-10 Conference, and the 14th-ranked BYU Cougars, champions of the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2013 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team, coached by fifth-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, was a member of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. Sarkisian left the team to become the head coach at USC following the Apple Cup. The team was led by quarterbacks coach Marques Tuiasosopo following Sarkisian's departure. The Huskies played their home games at their on-campus home of Husky Stadium.
The 2011 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached during the regular season by fourth year head coach Rick Neuheisel and played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Mike Johnson was named the interim head coach for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl after Neuheisel was fired.
The 2012 Oregon Ducks football team represented the University of Oregon in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team played their home games at Autzen Stadium for the 46th straight year, and was coached by Chip Kelly in his fourth and final year at Oregon. They are a member of the Pac-12 Conference in the North Division.
The 2012 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by first year head coach Jim L. Mora and played its home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. They were members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. The Bruins won the conference's South Division and played in the Holiday Bowl, where they lost 26–49 to Baylor. UCLA finished the season 9–5, including 6–3 in conference play, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 482 to 386.
The 2012 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 67th year of season play for Houston. The season marked the last for the Cougars as a member of Conference USA as they moved to the American Athletic Conference in 2013. In addition, it was the final season for the team to host its home games at Robertson Stadium as the university announced plans to begin construction on TDECU Stadium in December 2012—following the conclusion of the season. The 2012 season was the first full season under head coach Tony Levine as he took over for Kevin Sumlin after his departure following the 2011 Conference USA Football Championship Game.
The 2012 California Golden Bears football team represented University of California, Berkeley in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Bears were led by eleventh-year head coach Jeff Tedford and played their home games at Memorial Stadium after having played at home the previous season at AT&T Park due to reconstruction on Memorial Stadium. They were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2012 Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by first year coach Todd Graham and played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium. They were a member of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 5–4 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for second place in the South Division. They were invited to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl where they defeated Navy.
The 2012 Rice Owls football team represented Rice University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by sixth year head coach David Bailiff and played their home games at Rice Stadium. They were a member of the West Division of Conference USA. They finished the season 7–6, 4–4 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they defeated Air Force.
The 2013 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinal were led by third-year head coach David Shaw. They played their home games at Stanford Stadium and were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2013 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This was Cal's first year of being led by the head coach Sonny Dykes. Cal's athletic director Sandy Barbour stated that it was his emphasis on offense that was the primary factor in the decision. Dykes was hired from Louisiana Tech, and was known for his reliance on the pass heavy and high scoring Air Raid offense, that utilized a shotgun formation with four wide receivers. Cal finished this season with a 1–11 record, with Dykes becoming the first head coach since the University began playing football in 1886 to fail to defeat a single D-1 opponent in a season that has lasted at least five games. The Bears lost to Stanford by 50 points, the largest margin ever in the 119-year history of the Big Game. During the season, the team was featured on The Drive, a weekly documentary series on the Pac-12 Network.
The 2013 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by second-year head coach Mike Leach and played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. They were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 6–7, 4–5 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the North Division.
The 2013 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by second-year coach Todd Graham and played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium. They were a member of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. The Sun Devils had their best season since 2007, finishing 10–4 and earning a spot in the Pac–12 Championship Game. They also increased their win total and played in a bowl game for the third consecutive season. During the season, the team was featured on The Drive, a weekly documentary series on the Pac-12 Network.
The 2013 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by first-year head coach Mike MacIntyre, the Buffaloes played their home games on-campus at Folsom Field in Boulder and were members of the Pac-12 Conference. Head coach Mike MacIntyre was hired after the firing of Jon Embree concluding the 2012 season.
The 2013 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by second year head coach Jim L. Mora and played its home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. They were members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. The Bruins finished the season 10–3, including 6–3 in conference play to finish second in the South Division, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 480 to 301.
The 2013 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. They played their home games at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and were members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for second place in the South Division. They were invited to the Las Vegas Bowl where they defeated Fresno State.
The 2013 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was headed by ninth year head coach Kyle Whittingham and played their home games in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2013 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Hokies were led by 27th-year head coach Frank Beamer and played their home games at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. They were members of the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the Coastal Division. They were invited to the Sun Bowl where they lost to UCLA. The team's 93 game consecutive sellout streak ended on September 7, 2013 against Western Carolina with an announced attendance of 61,335.
The 2013 New Mexico Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The eighth annual New Mexico Bowl, it featured the Colorado State Rams, representing the Mountain West Conference, against the Washington State Cougars, representing the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at 12:00 noon MST and was televised on ESPN. It was the first of the 35 2013–14 NCAA football bowl games that concluded the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Sponsored by Gildan Activewear, the game was officially known as the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The Rams won 48–45 after they were down 15 points in the final minutes of the game; they scored a touchdown, Washington State lost two fumbles, after both of which, Colorado State scored, and after the latter of which, as time expired, they kicked a field goal to win the game.
The 2014 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears were led by second-year head coach Sonny Dykes and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. When compared to 2013, Cal improved to 5–7, starting out with a 4–1 start, but losing six of their last seven games. It averaged 38.3 points per game, second-best in the Pac-12 and 11th-best in FBS, generating a program-record 459 total points for the season. However, the Golden Bears lost 367.2 passing yards per game along with 42 total passing touchdowns, both of these numbers ranked last out of 128 FBS teams. From Week 3 to Week 5, the Bears played three consecutive high-scoring games that were won or lost in the final seconds. The Bears lost on a Hail Mary to Arizona 49–45, but beat Colorado 59–56 in double overtime in their next game. The following week, Dykes faced his former Air Raid mentor Mike Leach and the Washington State Cougars. California allowed an FBS record 734 passing yards to Cougars' senior quarterback Connor Halliday, but still won 60–59 when WSU missed a 19-yard field goal with 15 seconds to play. They finished 3–6 in Pac-12, in fourth place in the North Division.
