{"id":119196,"date":"2026-01-04T00:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/119196\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:15:09","slug":"the-holiday-bowl-had-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/119196\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holiday Bowl had it all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0.egg_.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0.egg_.jpg\" alt=\"A man surrounded by happy football players raises a trophy above his head against a backdrop of empty stands after the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.\" class=\"wp-image-361986\"   fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/a>SMU\u2019s coach Rhett Lashlee raises the Holiday Bowl trophy during the post-game celebration on Friday Jan. 2, 2026. (Photo by Kristos Zafiropoulos)<\/p>\n<p>It was more than just the moments from the Holiday Bowl itself that made the night memorable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A nearly sold out crowd was in attendance at Snapdragon Stadium for the <a href=\"https:\/\/holidaybowl.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">game<\/a> between Southern Methodist University and the University of Arizona. SMU, after a strong first half, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofsandiego.com\/sports\/2026\/01\/02\/smu-beats-arizona-holiday-bowl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">emerged vicorious<\/a>, but other moments before and after the contest stood out.<\/p>\n<p>From the surfing snowman cruising the perfect San Diego wave in the end zone to the \u201cEggnog Dump\u201d \u2013 with a daring trick play in-between \u2013 the Holiday Bowl was entertaining from beginning to end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the first minute of play, SMU successfully fooled a well-coached Arizona defense with a reverse flea flicker, resulting in an 80-yard gain and a touchdown one play later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SMU\u2019s mascot, a black pony named <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Peruna\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Peruna IX<\/a>, stole the show by making an appearance after all three of SMU\u2019s first-half touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona fought to get back into the game, but SMU\u2019s strong start was too much to overcome as the Wildcats fell 24-19.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During the award ceremony, SMU wide receiver Yamir Knight took offensive MVP honors. He finished with seven catches for 104 yards. Ahmaad Moses\u2019 13 total tackles and a pass deflection earned him the defensive MVP title. <\/p>\n<p>SMU\u2019s Head Coach Rhett Lashlee donned the Holiday Bowl sweater, a tradition for the winning head coach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The traditions didn\u2019t stop there, as Brian Baumgartner, known best as Kevin Malone from the Emmy Award-winning sitcom The Office, made an appearance for the Holiday Bowl \u201cEggnog Dump.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He attempted to soak Lashlee, but Lashlee and the Holiday Bowl sweater stayed surprisingly dry as the actor missed, primarily hitting a group of photographers instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Baumgartner was undaunted by his eggnog mishap, saying \u201cIt was awesome.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SMU ended the season by snapping their bowl game losing streak, securing a victory for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hadn\u2019t won a bowl game, we hadn\u2019t finished the season with a win,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cAnd to get to do it here in San Diego at a bowl as prestigious as the Holiday Bowl against Coach (Brent) Brennan and a great team. It\u2019s just a great way to cap off the season,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SMU\u2019s coach Rhett Lashlee raises the Holiday Bowl trophy during the post-game celebration on Friday Jan. 2, 2026.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[48167,74,76,75,9678],"class_list":["post-119196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-holiday-bowl","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-snapdragon-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}