SAN DIEGO — Now this was a Holiday Bowl.
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 to beat No. 5 Texas 28-20 on Tuesday night.
The Holiday Bowl has a history of big plays and wild finishes, and this one had both.
With the Longhorns trailing by eight, senior receiver Roy Williams caught a 45-yard pass from Chance Mock to give Texas the ball at the WSU 11 with 2:31 to play.
After Mock threw an incompletion, WSU blitzed hard and forced Mock deep into the pocket. Don Jackson hit Mock and forced a fumble that was recovered by fellow linebacker Will Derting at the 36-yard line with 2:16 to play.
Texas got the ball back one more time, but Mock was sacked at midfield by D.D. Acholonu as time expired.
Washington State (10-3) won 10 games for the third year in a row. At times, Texas (10-3) look nothing like the highest-ranked team not in the BCS. The Longhorns saw their six-game winning streak end, and with it a chance to post three straight 11-win seasons for the first time in school history.
The Cougars scored on three big plays in the third quarter to take the lead for good. The big rally came 22 years after the Cougars also scored three touchdowns in the third quarter of their first Holiday Bowl appearance, only to fall just short in a 38-36 loss to BYU.
With the Cougars trailing 10-7, Sammy Moore hauled in a 54-yard pass from Matt Kegel to give WSU its first lead, 13-10, with 9:23 left in the third quarter. Moore caught the ball at about the 20 and came dangerously close to the right sideline as he outraced Cedric Griffin to the end zone. Drew Dunning's PAT hit the left upright.
The Cougars forced Texas to punt, and Moore returned it 51 yards to the Texas 26.
Four plays later, from the 12, Kegel went into motion and the ball was snapped straight to running back Jonathan Smith. Smith had to pick up the low snap from the ground, then picked his way through the defense to score. Smith carried 21 times for 110 yards.
Texas was held to just 131 yards rushing with Cedric Benson gaining 83 yards on 22 carries.
Two Texas possessions later, the Longhorns were pinned deep and Mock had to throw from the end zone. Matt Melton caught the ball at the 13, but was hit and fumbled. Cornerback Jason David picked it up at the 18 and ran it in for a 26-10 lead. The PAT was blocked.
Texas' David Pino kicked a 19-yard field goal with 13:32 to play, and WSU got a safety when Texas was called for holding in the end zone, giving it a 28-13 lead.
Texas closed to 28-20 when Williams, who had been a nonfactor, caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Mock with 4:29 to go.
Kegel, a cousin of former NFL bad-boy quarterback Ryan Leaf, was playing with a sore throwing shoulder that forced him out of WSU's final two regular-season games. He completed 18 of 32 passes for 203 yards and two TDs, with two interceptions.
WSU punter Kyle Basler pinned the Longhorns inside their 5-yard line four times.
After a scoreless first quarter, Benson scored on a 1-yard run for Texas and Kegel threw a 12-yard TD pass to Moore. Pino kicked a 39-yard field goal four seconds before halftime for a 10-7 lead.
TEXAS TECH 38, NAVY 14: B.J. Symons did what he's done all year, busted knee and all. Symons completed the most prolific passing season in Division I-A history by throwing for 497 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Red Raiders to a victory over Navy in the Houston Bowl, then admitted afterward he's been playing with a torn ligament in his left knee for more than two months.
Neither he nor the school ever had revealed how badly Symons hurt himself Oct. 11 while jumping to celebrate a TD pass to teammate Wes Welker. After finishing his career by extending his single-season passing record to 5,833 yards, he told reporters he will undergo reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament next Tuesday.
"I think I've got a lot of football left in me," Symons said, referring to the upcoming NFL draft.
His gritty performance, the seventh on the bad leg, lifted Tech (8-5) to the first back-to-back bowl victories in school history.
"I had a lot of people tell me I shouldn't play in this game," said Symons, who capped his only year as the starter with the win in his hometown. "But this was the only season I had and I wanted to take advantage of every opportunity.
"Besides, how would I explain (not playing) to my teammates? It wasn't even a decision to me."
The game ended a remarkable turnaround season for Navy (8-5), which won just three games over the previous three years. Quarterback Craig Candeto, at the controls of coach Paul Johnson's top-ranked rushing offense, ran for 90 yards and both touchdowns in his last game.