The Washington State University Cougars and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will meet in the 39th National Funding Holiday Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 27. Kick-off is 4 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium.
Both teams are 8-4 on the season. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Washington State has seven San Diego County players listed on its roster, including four from East County.
The Washington State University Cougars and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will meet in the 39th National Funding Holiday Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 27. Kick-off is 4 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium.
Both teams are 8-4 on the season. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Washington State has seven San Diego County players listed on its roster, including four from East County.
Helix High graduates Jahad Woods (linebacker) and Mason Vinyard (rushing linebacker) are both freshmen, as are Patrick Henry alumnus Desmon Patmon (wide receiver) and Valhalla grad Danny Bender (defensive lineman).
Redshirt senior Eduardo Middleton (offensive lineman) and redshirt freshman Cedric Bigge-Duren (offensive lineman) both represent Oceanside High School while redshirt senior wide receiver C.J. Dimry is an alumnus of La Costa Canyon High School.
Woods and Vinyard were both members of the Highlanders San Diego Section Open Division championship team in 2015. Helix’s 44-30 championship game victory over St. Augustine marked the final game coached by Scotties head coach Troy Starr.
Woods ranked third on the team with 58 tackles his senior year while Vinyard had 27 tackles. Woods and Vinyard each had 5.5 sacks, tied for second on the team.
Woods also had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries; Vinyard had four fumble recoveries.
On offense, Vinyard caught a 55-yard touchdown pass his senior season; he had three TD receptions as a junior.
Vinyard was ranted the No. 25 tight end prospect in the country by ESPN.com and the fourth best tight end in California by Scout.com.
A three-star prospect by ESPN.com, Rivals.com and Scout.com, Woods earned recognition on the all-state fourth team by Cal-Hi Sports and All-San Diego Section first team honors as a senior at Helix. He scored three defensive touchdowns – one on an 86-yard interception return and two more on fumble returns.
He had 10 tackles and one interception in the Open Division championship game.
Bender earned recognition on the all-section first team as a senior. He also earned accolades on the all-state medium schools team as selected by Cal-Hi Sports.
As a junior for the Norsemen, he made 64 tackles with 21 for a loss, broke up eight passes, recovered three fumbles and scored on touchdown.
As a senior, Bender recorded 74 tackles, nine sacks, forced four fumbles, broke up eight passes and returned one interception for a touchdown.
Patmon caught 14 touchdown passes as a junior and five as a senior (to go with five interceptions) for the Patriots. He has made two pass receptions for 19 yards as a freshman at WSU.
The contest will mark Minnesota’s first bowl game in California since it defeated UCLA 21-3 in the 1962 Rose Bowl. The Cougars will be making their third appearance in the bowl game but first since 2003.
This year’s game will feature the ultimate pregame fan experience: theNational Funding FanZone, which will boast a craft beer garden, local food trucks, interactive football skills challenges, a sports lounge and more, all free with a game ticket.
“This game has the makings of yet another exciting and memorable National Funding Holiday Bowl,” said Mark Neville, executive director of the bowl game. “I think the scoreboard is going to get quite the workout as these two teams have a history of putting up some big numbers. I’m ecstatic that our fans are going to get an amazing game and an incredible experience.”
This is the 19th consecutive appearance by a Pac-12 school in the National Funding Holiday Bowl. The Big Ten Conference will be making its third consecutive appearance in San Diego.
Minnesota finished 5-4 in Big Ten Conference play this year; Washington State finished 7-2 in Pac-12 play.
The teams have not met since 1988.
The Golden Gophers are playing in their fifth consecutive bowl game, 19th overall in program history.
The Cougars are making their second straight bowl game appearance and third in head coach Mike Leach’s five years with the team. Washington State defeated Miami, 20-14, in last year’s Sun Bowl.
“We are thrilled to be going to the Holiday Bowl,” Leach said. “It is going to be a great matchup between two great teams. The last time we were in the Holiday Bowl we had a tremendous experience and expect the same this time around.”
Let’s go bowling: SDSU tops Houston to win Las Vegas Bowl
San Diego State picked up its 11th win of the season by defeating the Houston Cougars, 34-10, in last Saturday’s Las Vegas Bowl. Las Vegas native Donnel Pumphrey rushed for 115 yards and scored one touchdown to help lead the Aztecs to the victory.
SDSU (11-3) was playing in its seventh consecutive bowl game.
The Aztecs rallied from an early 10-0 deficit by piling up 34 unanswered points. John Baron got SDSU on the scoreboard by kicking a pair of field goals. Pumphrey then put his team ahead on a 32-yard touchdown run with 3:14 left in the third quarter.
Ron Smith upped the score to 20-10 on a 54-yard interception return and teammate Curtis Anderson then caught a 28-yard scoring pass from quarterback Chris Chapman to increase the Aztec advantage to 27-10.
Juwan Washington closed out scoring for SDSU on a seven-yard touchdown run with 1:11 remaining in the game.
The Aztecs outscored Houston 28-0 in the second half. The Cougars finished the season 9-4.
Pumphrey set a new NCAA career rushing record in the game with 6,405 yards to pass previous record-holder Ron Dayne’s total of 6,397 from 1996-99 with Wisconsin.
SDSU became the first team in NCAA FBS history to produce a 2,000-yard rusher (Pumphrey) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Rashaad Penny) in the same season.
The Aztecs set single-season records for rushing yards (3,680), rushing touchdowns (34), rushing yards per carry (5.8), touchdowns (62), points (493) and field goals (21).
The back-to-back 11-win seasons are the first for the program in its 94-year history.
SDSU won last year’s Hawaii Bowl.
