The times have changed and so have the conference affiliations. The Holiday Bowl now features the 2nd place PAC10 team and the third place Big 12 team. This year the PAC10 representative is Oregon and the Big 12 representative is Oklahoma. Oregon had a superb year with only one loss, and would have been in contention for a national championship had it not been for USC. Oklahoma had what can kindly be called a rebuilding year for them.

The Holiday Bowl is played  in Qualcomm Stadium, which is also host to the San Diego Chargers. When configured for football, Qualcomm's capacity is over 70,000 fans. The 2005 Holiday Bowl is sold out.