Please. This is the University of Texas in the 6th year under Mack Brown. We're competing with OU and LSU not the Sisters of the Poor. The Holiday Bowl is crap. Both are playing in the Sugar Bowl for the national title. Saban - 4 years - 2 SEC Championships, 1 BCS Bowl win Stoops - 5 years - 2 Big 12 Championships, 2 BCS Bowl wins, 1 national championship
The Holiday Bowl pays as much as as any eligble bowl for the Horns outside the BCS--it is a good bowl (= to the Cotton). Personally, I don't get the hoopla about a non-NC BCS bowl. Either you are in a NC game or not, the conferences mainly split up the money anyway. It probably worked out great for UT. Insead of getting pummeled by USC or Michigan or LSU (which all looked likely scenarios before last weekend) they get a reasonably ranked, very overrated WSU squad. WSU is among the weakest of the #10-18 ranked teams from major colleges IMO. If you are not in the NC game, you might as well finish with a win and a top 5 ranking for recruiting sake. I don't think recruits would rather see a a blow out loss in a non-NC BCS bowl--and UT probably could not have gotten an easier path to the former.