Despite receiving college football’s highest honor, Sanders said he still felt he had something to prove at the Holiday Bowl.

Source: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/college/story/2023-12-22/hall-of-fame-running-back-barry-sanders-returns-on-35th-anniversary-of-making-directv-holiday-bowl-history-for-oklahoma-state-wyoming-1988-game

Gonzalez attended the Holiday Bowl essentially in his role as an assistant to the coaching staff.

Source: https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/patriots-cb-christian-gonzalez-isnt-what-draft-evaluators-think-he-is-hes-better

Instead, in the six long weeks USC spent away, it unlocked something it hadn’t since early September, when the Trojans walloped Stanford and still had every hope of finishing this season with much higher stakes than the Holiday Bowl.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2023-12-28/miller-moss-usc-holiday-bowl-win-louisville-takeaways

We expect the Holiday Bowl to invite USC.

Source: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2023/12/01/pac-12-bowl-picks-washington-heads-to-the-cfp-oregon-awaits-new-years-six-bid-as-everything-falls-into-place/