UCLA football heads to Holiday Bowl in first postseason appearance in 4 years
Freshman wide receiver Keontez Lewis, redshirt junior wide receiver Kyle Philips and redshirt sophomore running back Keegan Jones celebrate during UCLA football’s win over USC on Nov. 20. (Ashley Kenney/Photo editor)
By Jon Christon
Dec. 5, 2021 12:29 p.m.
The post was updated Dec. 5 at 2:33 p.m.
For the first time in four years, the Bruins are going bowling.
UCLA football (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) will travel south to San Diego for a matchup against No. 18 North Carolina State (9-3, 6-2 ACC) in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 28. The matchup marks the Bruins’ first postseason appearance since losing to Kansas State in the 2017 Cactus Bowl.
Coach Chip Kelly will be making his first bowl appearance as UCLA’s coach after playing in four postseason contests as Oregon’s coach from 2009-2012. Kelly said he is excited first and foremost for his players.
“They’re fired up to get to play football in December,” Kelly said. “We were fortunate that we had an opportunity in what we did in our regular season to get us into this situation. So we were excited when we heard the news just a little while ago that we were going to be playing a really good NC State team in the Holiday Bowl.”
The Bruins have made one Holiday Bowl appearance in program history, losing to Baylor by 23 points in 2012, while the Wolfpack have never played in the event.
North Carolina State – a team UCLA has not played since 1960 – is coming off a third-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference after securing its first nine-win regular season since 2018.
Kelly said he has not yet been able to break down the Bruins’ opponent, adding that he only knows two things about their cross-coastal opponent.
“Dave Doeren is the head coach, and they’re the Wolfpack,” Kelly said.
The 43rd edition of the bowl game will be played at Petco Park in downtown San Diego for the first time, with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m.
