The 2019 Holiday Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

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. It was the 42nd edition of the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

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

SDCCU Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, United States. Opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium; it was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium for sportswriter Jack Murphy from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadium's namin ...

. The game was sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union and officially known as the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. This game marked the last Holiday Bowl with a tie-in with the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, as the bowl replaced its Big Ten tie-in with an

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) tie-in. This was also the last Holiday Bowl played at

, as the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and the venue was subsequently demolished to make way for a new stadium.

Teams

The game featured the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. 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 in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

and

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 20 sports, 7 for men and 13 for women; The teams participate in Division I of the Nati ...

of the

. 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 intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, pri ...

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 Big 12 C ...

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 competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

45–42) and 2015 (lost against

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

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

2003 Orange Bowl The 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl was the 69th Orange Bowl, edition of the college football bowl game, played at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Thursday, January 2. It matched the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football rankings, thir ...

, 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 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 2019 in San Diego USC Trojans football bowl games Iowa Hawkeyes football bowl games