Cal was edged out for a BCS bowl berth by Texas in the last week of the regular season.

In 2004 Cal posted a 10–1 record under head coach Jeff Tedford and quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with their only regular season loss coming against the eventual national champion, USC.

Under normal circumstances, the Bears, as Pac-10 runner-up, would have had first crack at a Rose Bowl berth since conference champion USC was playing for the national championship.

[2] With 13 seconds left in the game and Cal with the ball at the Southern Miss 22-yard, Tedford elected to run out the clock instead of attempting to increase the margin of victory to possibly impress some voters.

[4] In a controversial case, the Texas coach Mack Brown made impassioned pleas to media asking poll voters reconsider their final votes.

[5] Several Associated Press (AP) voters were besieged by fan emails and phone calls attempting to sway their votes, apparently spurred from Brown's pleas to rank Texas ahead of other "less deserving teams.

In the second and third quarters, the Red Raiders outscored the Bears 31–3, going on to record the biggest upset of the bowl season.

Red Raiders quarterback Sonny Cumbie torched the Bears defense for 520 passing yards, going 40-for-60 with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

California's Aaron Rodgers threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the fourth quarter, but Texas Tech added their final touchdown on a Taurean Henderson run that capped a 12-play drive covering 74 yards.