Cal Football: For the Bears, a Cal-Texas Holiday Bowl Would Be a Dream Come True

Cal fans, do you remember 2004? The year of Aaron Rodgers and the year of pain?

The Bears were robbed of a Rose Bowl bid by Mack Brown's lobbying Longhorns. Because of that, Cal was stuck in the Holiday Bowl.

Cal hasn't had a chance to play Texas since, and while a home-and-home is scheduled in the near future, a battle between Brown and Jeff Tedford would be a dream come true for Cal.

As long as Kansas State doesn't crack the BCS, the Longhorns seem destined for the Holiday Bowl, and as long as Stanford isn't somehow robbed of a BCS bid, Cal is practically a lock for San Diego.

This is the perfect year for Cal, as both teams are 7-5 and the Texas quarterbacks (Case McCoy and David Ash) are struggling. Cal has a balanced attack and one of the nation's best wideouts in Keenan Allen.

If you match these teams up most years, Cal won't get revenge. This year, however, you have a Cal team that finished strong and is hungry to beat Texas and finally get that revenge on Mack Brown and Co.

With Washington looking to get picked ahead of Cal, and Cal ahead of Utah, the Bears are a lock for this game, while Kansas State, Oklahoma and Baylor are all getting picked ahead of Texas, as Texas is the fourth pick for the conference.

The year of pain has been replayed through Cal fans' minds millions and millions of times. Now, it's been 53 years since Cal played in the Granddaddy of Them All, thanks to the Horns. 

The Holiday Bowl usually pits the third- or fourth-best team from the conference against the Big 12, and while it is no Rose Bowl, revenge is revenge.

Especially against Texas.