2015 Holiday Bowl, USC vs. Wisconsin: Date, time, location and more

The National University Holiday Bowl is staged for its 38th game and will pit the Big Ten against the Pac-12 for the second year.

Originally created to give the WAC an automatic bowl bid after the Fiesta Bowl ended its association with the conference, the game pitted a West Coast team against the Big 12. It remained that way even after the WAC’s affiliation with the Holiday Bowl ended after the 1997 game and was replaced with the Pac-12, but in 2014 the Big Ten took over for the Big 12 in the game.

The 2014 Holiday Bowl was the game’s first-ever matchup of the Big Ten and Pac-12 and featured no shortage of scoring. USC built a 45-27 lead in the game, but didn’t score in the fourth quarter as Nebraska closed the gap to just three. However, the Trojans managed to get a fourth-down stop and preserve the remaining lead.

Here is everything you need to know to get ready for this year’s National University Holiday Bowl:

Date and time: Wed., Dec. 30, 10:30 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: San Diego, Calif.

Stadium: Qualcomm Stadium, 70,561

Last year’s score: USC 45, Nebraska 42

Last year’s attendance: 55,789

Last year’s TV rating: 4.0

Last year’s payout for each school: $2.825 million

Team with the most all-time appearances: BYU, 11

Team with the most all-time wins: BYU, 4

What a strange ride the 2015 season has been for the USC. After starting off 3-2 and firing head coach Steve Sarkisian, nobody knew what the Trojans were, and they seemed primed to fall into a downward spiral. Instead, they galvanized under former-interim and now full-time head coach, Clay Helton to make their way to the Pac-12 Championship Game, where they fell to Stanford for the second time in 2015.

Aside from the Washington loss, the Trojans didn’t have any bad losses despite the distractions, losing only to Stanford, Notre Dame and Oregon. Cody Kessler didn’t quite have the Heisman-type campaign that many were expecting from him, but he still did enough to help lead his team to success (3,128 yards, 68.4% completion percentage, TD/INT ratio of 27/6).

Despite their five losses, the Trojans are as dangerous as anyone going into bowl season, and will present a very tough matchup for whoever they face. They can move the ball through the air with Kessler and the uncoverable JuJu Smith-Schuster or on the ground with Ronald Jones II. The pass defense has been sneaky good, as well. They’re not a perfect team, but they’re more than talented enough to pick up another bowl win this holiday season.

Last bowl game: 2014 Holiday Bowl (45-42 win over Nebraska)

All-time bowl record: 33-17

Head coach’s bowl record: Clay Helton is 1-0 in bowl games as a head coach (he served as the interim head coach for the 2013 Las Vegas Bowl).

Wisconsin has had perhaps the least-talked about 9-3 season in the country. Ever since losing to Alabama and Iowa early in the season, the Badgers have pretty much been out of the national consciousness. They crept into the College Football Playoff rankings, but promptly lost to Northwestern and fell out. In short, they beat all the teams they should beat and lost to all the teams they should lose to. Nothing exciting, one way or the other.

The Badgers’ biggest problem is that they haven’t been themselves on offense. The passing game seemed to be improving earlier in the season, but it is still average at best. The running game, which was so effective last year with Melvin Gordon, hasn’t been the same this year with or without supposed star Corey Clement, who missed part of the season with injury.

The good news for Wisconsin is that the defense is top notch. Linebacker Joe Schobert is arguably the best linebacker in the Big Ten, and Michael Caputo is one of the best safeties. The Badgers can be in any big game because of the defense. Now they have to win one.

Last bowl game: 2014 season’s Outback Bowl (34-31 win over Auburn)

All-time bowl record: 12-14

Head coach’s bowl record: Paul Chryst was 1-1 in bowl games with Pitt.