SAN DIEGO - Arizona State’s football team arrived at the Holiday Bowl ready to put an exclamation point on a season in which it showed an eagerness to rise to the level of the nation’s elite.

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The Sun Devils left with a sobering realization of how far away that next level is after a four-hour education from a multi-talented and athletic Texas squad in the 30th annual Holiday Bowl on Thursday.

The four-time national champion Longhorns muscled and sprinted their way to a 52-34 victory at Qualcomm Stadium that gave UT its seventh straight year with double-digit victories, the longest current streak in college football.

A true national power.

“We did not play a good football game,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “We did not play the way we were capable of, the way we played for much of the year. Part of that was Texas. They are a very, very athletic group. But I am proud of where we are and what we achieved.”

For 12th-ranked ASU, a 10-3 record and tie for first place in the Pac-10 is nothing to sneer at. The Sun Devils made great progress in their first season under Erickson, a two-time national championship winner, but decisive losses to the three most talented teams — Oregon, Southern California and Texas — on the schedule show that much work still must be done.

“When you play a team like Texas, they are too good to get too big of a deficit,” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “We have a lot to learn from this game, and hopefully, we can use it to get better next year.”

No. 17 Texas built a 21-0 first-quarter lead and — although ASU scored its share of points in a contest that was expected to be a shootout — the Longhorns never lost control.

Quarterback Colt McCoy, the game’s most valuable offensive player, was a threat with his arm and legs for UT, completing 21 of 31 passes for 174 yards and running for 63 yards and a score. Speedy tailback Jamaal Charles had 161 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries.

“It was a combination of their team speed and our tackling ability,” ASU linebacker Robert James said. “We have not done well with our tackling all week in practice, even though we made it a priority. Once they got momentum, they became really hard to stop.”

A frustrating night at times for the Sun Devils reached its zenith in the third quarter, when McCoy sprinted 30 yards to the ASU 3 and fumbled into the end zone. ASU cornerback Omar Bolden had a shot at the ball, but it slipped through his hands and was recovered by Texas tight end Jermichael Finley for a touchdown, making the score 35-13.

That touchdown — set up by the Longhorns recovering a muffed punt by Kyle Williams, one of two he committed — put the game out of reach.

And it was not even the weirdest play of the night.

ASU’s first touchdown was set up when Texas received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after someone on its sideline — Chris Jessie, the stepson of coach Mack Brown — touched a ball in play. On the other hand, Carpenter had two passes intercepted when the ball bounced off a receiver and into the hands of a Texas defender.

The Sun Devils committed five turnovers, with two leading to Texas scores in the first quarter.

“We absolutely killed ourselves with the mistakes,” said receiver Chris McGaha, who made his first touchdown reception of the season after Jessie’s sideline gaffe. “To get down 21-0 in the first quarter is not a good way to start a bowl game.”

An announced crowd of 64,020 saw ASU’s Holiday Bowl record fall to 0-3. The 52 points were the most the Sun Devils have given up in a bowl game.

It added up to a big and potentially valuable learning experience for ASU. Erickson, however, would have preferred a victory.

“We’ll have a lot of guys back,” Erickson said. “We learned a lot this year. It’s kind of hard to think about next season. But we’ll all recover.”