Holiday Bowl notebook: ASU, Texas trying to avoid BCS letdown

SAN DIEGO - With the Holiday Bowl hosting teams that just missed out on a Bowl Championship Series berth, the two coaches on Wednesday devoted part of a joint press conference to insist that there is no lingering disappointment.

Practice teamers get rare reward with Holiday Bowl trip

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Dennis Erickson of Arizona State and Mack Brown of Texas said their teams were happy to be in San Diego and will arrive at Qualcomm Stadium for today’s contest ready to play.

Erickson was especially frank.

“We didn’t deserve to be in the BCS. Seriously,” said Erickson, whose team is 10-2 and ranked 12th. “We had two opportunities to get there, against Oregon and (Southern California), and we didn’t take advantage of them.

“The team that got it the worst was Missouri. They are the ones that should be upset. Our players got over it when we found out who we were playing.”

(Seventh-ranked Missouri, which would have played for the national title had it won the Big 12 championship game, was left out of the BCS altogether.)

Teams that have felt jilted by the BCS have been known to come out flat in their bowl. Kansas State, who lost to Purdue in the 1998 Alamo Bowl, and California, who lost to Texas Tech in the 2004 Holiday Bowl, are prime examples.

Brown, whose team might have gone to a BCS game had it not lost to Texas A&M to end the regular season, said having ASU as an opponent will motivate the Longhorns.

“The teams that usually get beat in the bowls are ones who are not excited to be there,” said Brown, whose squad is 9-3 and ranked 17th. “And you usually aren’t excited because of who you are playing, not where you are.”

INJURY REPORT

Erickson said that ASU running back Keegan Herring (ankle) will play today, but added that “how effective he’ll be, I don’t know.”

Sophomore Dimitri Nance will start and get most of the snaps, with Herring, who practiced Sunday through Tuesday, and Jarrell Woods as backups.

“I think Keegan will improve in the 24 hours before kickoff,” Erickson said. “(Tuesday) was the best he’s been. He was able to practice at full speed. I just don’t know how long he will last.”

LINEUP LOTTO

The starting lineups listed for Texas in the Holiday Bowl Gameday package in today’s Tribune are educated guesses.

Brown blew up the Texas depth chart after the loss to Texas A&M, saying that the players who start in the Holiday Bowl will be the ones who performed the most consistently during practice.

On Wednesday, he said he is keeping that promise.

“Yes, there are,” Brown told a reporter who asked if there would be lineup changes. “No, I’m not telling you. Yes, we’ll release it (today).”

FRIENDLY FUN

The Holiday Bowl coaches have been friends since the early 1990s, when Brown was coach at North Carolina and Erickson at Miami (Fla.). The two and their wives vacation together annually.

As Erickson answered questions from the media Wednesday, Brown, sitting to the right of the podium, spoke up: “How about your game plan?”

Replied Erickson: “With your team’s speed, I was hoping for rain and a wet field, but that’s not happening.”

Erickson then said, “We’re going to throw it every down,” causing the room to break up.