Arizona State-Texas

the Holiday Bowl Thursday, December 27th, 8:00pm San Diego, California
Arizona State (10-2)_____Pac 10____241.74				Texas (9-3)_____Big 12____275.96
Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score	Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score
4	Oregon State	209.72	W, 44-32	3	@ Central Florida	266.42	W, 35-32
11	@ UCLA	117.96	W, 24-20	11	Texas Tech	195.22	W, 59-43
2	@ Colorado	93.37	W, 33-14	2	Texas Christian	152.78	W, 34-13
9	California	87.95	W, 31-20	10	@ Oklahoma State	112.55	W, 38-35
14	Arizona	69.56	W, 20-17	9	Nebraska	29.14	W, 28-25
6	@ Washington State	31.17	W, 23-20	1	Arkansas State	-63.38	W, 21-13
7	Washington	-9.10	W, 44-20	8	@ Baylor	-139.20	W, 31-10
5	@ Stanford	-46.40	W, 41-3	7	@ Iowa State	-155.31	W, 56-3
1	San Jose State	-53.89	W, 45-3	4	Rice	-221.20	W, 58-14
3	San Diego State	-84.17	W, 34-13	6	Oklahoma	409	L, 21-28
13	Southern California	321.57	L, 24-44	13	@ Texas A&M	130.38	L, 30-38
10	Oregon	251.78	L, 23-35	5	Kansas State	43.11	L, 21-41

This is a great matchup between top-tier teams from the Pac 10 & Big 12. Schedule strength is about even, with both teams beating some solid opponents.

They started out on the same track, then split when Texas lost in week 5, and basically came back together at the end of the season. The Horns are looking up though, while the Sun Devils are trying to get back to their pre-November status.

Intangibles: Arizona State was passed up for a BCS bowl bid - will that fire them up or make them fold?

The Line: Arizona State +2.5

The Story: I don't expect a blowout in this game - both are very capable, but both have some flaws which can really be exploited.

The Call: Texas by 7

The Result: Texas 52-34 = The score doesn't indicate a blowout, but the Sun Devils were overmatched all night.