[10] Missouri rose to the top spot in the BCS rankings[11] prior to facing Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game.

This was primarily because the Rose Bowl selection committee chose to arrange a Pac10/Big10 matchup by pitting the lower ranked Illinois against Pac-10 representative USC.

[17] The Holiday Bowl selected the Sun Devils to face the Longhorns to set up the first meeting in the history of the two programs.

Including six seasons at North Carolina, Brown had directed his teams to 16 straight bowl games – the second-longest active streak in the nation.

This led Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist Bob Keisser to joke that the team would be renamed "the University of Texas-La Jolla.

"Playing a perennial power like the University of Texas, December 27 in the Holiday Bowl, which, by the way, is wonderfully hosted by that committee.

[1] The game was played Thursday, December 27, 2007, at 7:00 pm Central in San Diego's 70,561-seat Qualcomm Stadium[14][15] and the official attendance was 64,020.

The Longhorns' first score, on a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colt McCoy to Derek Lokey, was the quickest in game history at 13:39 remaining in the quarter.

[24] At the Holiday Bowl luncheon the day before, Lokey had joked that there was not a play in the Longhorn playbook that would result in him being deliberately given the ball.

Brown put in back-up quarterback John Chiles, who is considered a greater running threat than McCoy.

McCoy threw a 55-yard pass to Quan Cosby and on the next play Jamaal Charles ran in 15 yards for the touchdown.

[25] Carpenter attempted another pass but threw the ball hurriedly in an effort to avoid a sack by Texas linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy.

[28][29] Chris Jessee, a member of the Longhorns football operations staff and Mack Brown's stepson, stepped onto the field and bent down as if to pick up the bouncing ball.

Despite the video replays providing no conclusive proof that Jessee had actually touched the ball officials ruled that he had made contact.

ASU tried for a first-down, but tight end Brent Miller allowed the pass to bounce off his hands and the Longhorns took over on downs.

[23] The drive included a fake punt on fourth-and-one where the Longhorns snapped the ball to upback Rashad Bobino who pushed ahead for a three-yard gain and a first down.

ASU's first play was an apparent touchdown pass but it bounced out of the hands of the intended receiver and was intercepted by the Longhorns at the Texas 5.

On second down, McCoy made a 29-yard rush but fumbled the ball into the end zone; it was recovered by Jermichael Finley for a Longhorn touchdown, making the score 35–13.

With Sullivan still in at quarterback, the Sun Devils mounted a ten-play drive that culminated in a three-yard touchdown run by Jarrell Woods.

Orakpo made 4½ tackles for a loss – including two of the four sacks of Sun Devil starting quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

[22] Six days after the game, Jamaal Charles announced that he would forgo his senior season with Texas to enter the 2008 NFL draft.

[35] On the Sun Devil side, quarterback Rudy Carpenter tied Jake Plummer for the second-most career touchdowns in school history with his 64th and 65th.

[22] Sports commentator Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman opined, “The truth of the matter is that the 17th-ranked Longhorns were everything most people thought they'd be in August as they bone-rattled a very good Arizona State team that came within an eyelash of a BCS berth.

But Mack Brown will settle for a better-late-than-never performance with an impressive 52–34 victory over the Pac-10 co-champion Sun Devils in a Holiday Bowl that was just shorter than the Bush years.

Texas had made a habit of finishing strong with some spirited fourth-quarter rallies all season, but this time it started stronger than garlic breath and never let up.

These Longhorns finished the year with a fulfilling game that could possibly squeeze them into the top 10 and should titillate their fans for eight months and stoke a high 2008 preseason national ranking.”[36] The controversial penalty was a big break for ASU as it resulted in a large momentum shift in allowing the Sun Devils to score.

[27][28] Commentators also joked that Jessee might star in the Southwest Airlines advertising campaign called wanna get away?

The focus shouldn't be on this.” During the game, Mack Brown was furious with the penalty call and insisted that Jessee did not touch the ball.

[40] Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune said, "I've been watching football since Jon Arnett and Ernie Zampese were playing for USC, and I've never seen anything like that.

"[28] Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman said it was “one of the most bizarre plays in bowl history – let's just say the only thing missing was the Stanford band”.