Compiled by Steve Breazeale
Nine San Clemente High School alumni will appear in college football bowl games this season.
Here is a list and primer for the upcoming games that will feature former Tritons.
Rose Bowl: The stage is set for a clash between No. 5 Iowa and No. 6 Stanford in the 2016 Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Jan. 1. The game will be aired on ESPN at 2 p.m.
Starting at left tackle for the Cardinal will be senior Kyle Murphy. Murphy has had a stellar senior season at Stanford and was recently awarded All-Pac-12 first team honors.
Stanford (11-2), the reigning Pac-12 champions, will enter the game riding a three-game win streak. Two of the Cardinal’s last three opponents, Notre Dame and USC, were top-25 teams in the nation.
Iowa (12-1) lost its first game of the season against then-No. 5 Michigan State on Dec. 5.
Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl: The longstanding rivalry between BYU and Utah will be renewed once again in the Las Vegas desert on Dec. 19, as the Utes (9-3) will look to defend their Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl title against the Cougars (9-3). The game will be broadcast on ABC at 12:30 p.m.
The Utes will be led by senior quarterback and San Clemente native Travis Wilson.
After jumping out to a perfect 6-0 record to start the season, Utah was eying a much bigger postseason bowl game, but suffered losses to Pac-12 conference rivals USC, UCLA and Arizona down the stretch.
Holiday Bowl: The USC football team will travel to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Dec. 30 to play No. 23 Wisconsin in the Holiday Bowl. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 7:30 p.m.
USC, under the guidance of its newly appointed head coach Clay Helton, has three former Tritons on the roster: backup quarterback Sam Darnold and receivers Jake Russell and Christian Tober.
USC (8-5), the reigning Pac-12 South champion, has won all six of its previous meetings with the Badgers (9-3), but the last time the two teams faced each other was in 1966.
Foster Farms Bowl: San Clemente’s Christian Bailey and Nebraska will take on UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Dec. 26. The game will air on ESPN at 6:15 p.m.
Bailey is a wide receiver for the Cornhuskers, who will appear in a bowl game despite owning a 5-7 overall record.
The Bruins (8-4), who were once ranked as high as seventh in the nation earlier this year, struggled to maintain early momentum and suffered four losses to bowl-eligible teams.
San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: Mountain West runners-up Boise State will face Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium on Dec. 23. The game will air on ESPN at 1:30 p.m.
Former Tritons Terrell Johnson, a wide receiver, and Blake Gonzalez, a kicker, will take the field for the Broncos (8-4). The Broncos were in prime position to claim the Mountain West title in 2015, but lost back-to-back matchups against New Mexico and Air Force down the stretch, settling for a second-place finish.
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