Snapdragon Stadium

This year’s Holiday Bowl pitted two high-powered offenses in Southern Methodist and the University of Arizona.

Both teams cannot only light up the scoreboard but also are equipped with tough defenses. The University of Arizona finished the season 9-3 and on a five-game winning streak, while SMU went 8-4 with an impressive win over Miami in overtime.

Each coach was eager and excited to compete in such a storied bowl game ass the Holiday Bowl.

“I want to thank everybody at the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl and all the Sports San Diego red coats” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said ahead of the big game, “It’s been a great week for our guys, and I said this a few weeks ago at our press conference: this is a big-time bowl experience, a big-time bowl game, and an opportunity for our program that we haven’t had in a long time. We’re really excited to be here.”

Amid the normal number of players sitting out of bowl games, both quarterbacks suited up for the contest. Arizona’s Noah Fifita had an impressive year for the Wildcats, throwing for 2,963 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. The Mustangs have a strong arm as their leader as well. Kevin Jennings, who led the team to a college football playoff appearance in 2024, passed for 3,363 yards, 26 touchdowns, and ten interceptions.

Not only are the offenses locked and loaded to do damage, but the defenses hold their own. The Wildcats play tough against the pass, and SMU has a smash-mouth defense as well, but it is less impressive in the secondary.

Both team seasons ended over one month ago, but the players pre-game looked lively and ready to go.

“With a month off, you’re really trying to focus on the process. It sounds simple and sounds cliché, but it’s not,” Said Arizona head coach Brett Brennan ahead of kickoff. “It’s that time that’s between playing, which also gives you a really great chance. That’s one of the huge values of a bowl game: to get some other guys a chance, to get meaningful reps and get coached, and to get some competition out there. That part of it has been fun. How do you keep the practice environment enthusiastic and energized when you have all these practice opportunities with the game so far away? That’s a challenge.”

Despite the time between the games, both teams were ready and under a cover of clouds with surfing snowmen in the endzone, the Trust and Will Holiday Bowl kicked off with the Mustangs receiving the opening kickoff.

Jennings, in the SMU blue jerseys with white pants, took his offense on the field against the all white Arizona squad. After a short gain off a screen, a reverse flea flicker allowed Jennings to find his tight end, Matthew Hibner, down the sideline for a gain of 80 yards to the one-yard line. The pass completion was a Holiday Bowl record longest completion. The next play, running back T.J. Harden scored to give SMU a 7-0 lead 1:02 into the game.

Both teams exchanged punts. On the following two drives. Neither offense could get into a rhythm, but Wildcat running back Ismail Mahdi had two solid rushes of 20 and 19 yards.

The Wildcats again failed to get anything going as they were forced to punt for the second consecutive time.

Southern Methodist put together another solid drive that was boosted along early by a 31-yard reception by Jalen Cooper to put the Mustangs into Wildcat territory. Another pass to Knight for 21 yards set them up in the red zone. After a third-and-nine stop by Arizona was negated due to a pass interference, Harden found the endzone for the second time of the night to extend the lead to 14-0.

Arizona was finally able to move the ball for the first time on a drive covered in yellow flags. A pass interference call helped move along the drive, but a blind side block against the Wildcats really stalled the offense as it pushed them back into their own territory, setting up 1st and 25. Arizona failed to dig itself out of the hole and convert a 3rd and ten, and sent out punter Isaac Lovison for the third time in the first quarter. 

The Wildcats ended the first quarter with only four passing yards and 67 rushing yards, and Mahdi had been the only bright spot on a few explosive runs.

The SMU offense ended the first quarter with 187 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, and a 14-0 lead.

Jennings and his squad continued their drive from the end of the first quarter, and three plays later were in Wildcat territory. Harden continued his downfield dominance, and the offense was able to score for the third time against the Arizona defense. Tight end Stone Eby, who caught a pass earlier on the drive for a gain of 18 yards, scored the one-yard rushing touchdown, and the Mustangs added to the total 21-0.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve repped it so many times,” Jennings excitedly explained of the double reverse flea flicker that kicked off the game. “It’s amazing to see how we execute the play because we don’t run it much, but each time we run that play, we execute it at a high level.”

Arizona’s first drive of the second quarter was its longest thus far as they drove 40 yards just into Mustang territory before failing to convert a 4th and 2. A few big plays seemed to get the momentum going for Fifita and his offense, but they couldn’t keep it going.

Jennings kept the offense rolling as it only took eight plays to get into the red zone for the fourth time of the night. The offense was held short by the Wildcats and settled for a 24-yard field goal, and SMU went into halftime up 24-0, after Arizona tried to put together a few big plays to try and get anything going.

At halftime, it was obvious SMU’s offense was too much to handle for Arizona, and the Wildcats would need to come out of the gates hot and figure out how to slow down the Mustangs. SMU had 328 total yards of offense, with 248 being through the air.

“We couldn’t have played much better in the first half,” Coach Lashlee explained of his team’s huge first half. “I mean, nobody has done that to them on their defense all year. Obviously, the second play of the game, with them making that big play, I think Jordan did a great job blocking for him to get down there.”

Arizona had also struggled to get the ball moving, as its longest drive was only 41 yards in 4:10. Neither the running nor the passing game was working against the Mustang’s tough defense.

The Wildcats started with the football to start the third quarter, and after picking up one first down, failed to convert a 4th and one, and SMU took over on downs inside Arizona territory. 

For the first time of the night, the SMU offense blinked, as Michael Dansby intercepted a deep pass attempt by Jennings.

The Arizona drive began at the four-yard line. Seven plays later, the Wildcats faced another 4th, and one situation, and this time Fifita picked up the first by a couple of feet. A few plays later and Fifita completed a deep post to Javin Whatley from 28 yards out to get the Wildcats on the scoreboard. After a pass interference on the first two-point attempt, the second try was smothered at the line, and Quincy Craig lost two yards.

After a personal foul against SMU, set up Arizona on the 11, Fifita threw two incompletions and attempted to run, setting his team up for a 4th and six. Not in a position to take a field goal, they attempted to hit a hitch in the endzone, but the ball sailed too high for Kris Hutson.

The failed 4th down attempt ended the third quarter.

SMU failed to pick up a first down and went three and out to begin the fourth, a much-needed stop for Arizona. 

On the following drive, Fifita hit Cameron Barmore for 24 yards to set up Arizona in the red zone. Two plays later, the Wildcats found themselves in another fourth-down situation. On fourth and two, Fifita found Tre Spivey in the back of the endzone for six. Again, Arizona failed to convert the two-point conversion, and SMU’s lead was cut to 24-12.

After driving six plays and 41 yards into Arizona territory, Jennings threw his third interception of the night to linebacker Riley Wilson. 

Wilson spoke on the team’s ability to keep grinding despite being down.

“That’s what this program is built off of, and coach B and his staff have done a great job establishing that foundation.”

Despite the turnover for Arizona, Fifita gave it right back to SMU to seal the game.

In the end, Arizona was able to drive down and score one more touchdown to narrow the margin to 24-19.

With a kneel after recovering the onside kick, SMU won the Trust and Will Holiday Bowl. 

“We’re just very thankful to get a win here in the Holiday Bowl, the first bowl we’ve won in a while here at SMU, Coach Lashlee said of his team’s 24-19 win. “And we did against some guys we have a lot of respect for, and we were just very thankful to get that win at the end of the season.”

Overall, the Mustangs got out to a hot start, and Arizona’s offense never heated up enough to do any damage. The Wildcast offense was able to make it appear closer in the final score, but SMU was the much better team tonight.

Johnny Olivieri

Johnny is born and raised in San Diego and a diehard fan of all his hometown teams. He is an avid collector of sports memorabilia that help paint a picture of the history of sports in San Diego. He spends a lot of his time attending sports games across San Diego county and enjoys studying the history and spreading knowledge of San Diego’s diverse sports.