San Diego, Calif.
December 30, 2003

The Holiday Bowl has a history of big plays and wild finishes, and this game continued that tradition. After a scoreless first quarter, Cedric Benson scored on a 1-yard run for Texas and Cougar quarterback Matt Kegel threw a 12-yard TD pass to Sammy Moore. The Longhorns then added a field goal four seconds before halftime for a 10-7 lead. No. 15 Washington State scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to build a 16-point lead, then came up with a huge defensive stand late in the fourth quarter when D.D. Acholonu hit Longhorn quarterback Chance Mock and forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Will Derting at the 26-yard line with 2:16 to play. Texas got the ball back one more time, but Mock was sacked again at midfield by Acholonu as time expired, leaving the Cougars victorious over the No. 5 ranked Longhorns.