2023 Holiday Bowl
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| 2023 DirecTV Holiday Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 44th Holiday Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 27, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Petco Park | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | San Diego, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP |
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| Favorite | Louisville by 7.5[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Lee Hedrick (SEC)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 35,317 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Fox | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2023 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2023, at Petco Park in San Diego, California. The 44th annual Holiday Bowl featured the Louisville Cardinals from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the USC Trojans from the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at approximately 5:00 p.m. PST and was aired on Fox.[5][6][7] It was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. Sponsored by multichannel video programming distributor DirecTV, the game was officially known as the DirecTV Holiday Bowl.
Louisville Cardinals
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Pac-12 Conference. This was the first-ever game between Louisville and USC.[8]
The Cardinals entered the game with a 10–3 record (7–1 in ACC play) and No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Louisville finished second in the ACC but lost to Florida State in the ACC Championship Game, 16–6.
This was the Cardinals' first appearance in the Holiday Bowl.
USC Trojans
The Trojans entered the game with a 7–5 record (5–4 in Pac-12 play). USC finished tied for fourth place in their conference.
This was USC's final game as a member of the Pac-12, as the Trojans committed to move to the Big Ten Conference for the 2024 season.
USC made its fourth appearance in the Holiday Bowl, having previously won the 2014 edition and lost the 2015 edition and 2019 edition.