USC will face Iowa in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 at SDCCU Stadium in a matchup of teams on three-game winning streaks with victories in five of their last six games, organizers announced Sunday.
The Trojans (8-4) opened the season with two victories, then lost three of their next four games. USC has been idle since its 52-35 victory over crosstown rival UCLA Nov. 23, but rose to 22nd in The Associated Press poll released Sunday, two spots higher than the previous week.
The Hawkeyes (9-3) won their first four games, then lost to Michigan, 10-3, and Penn State, 12-7. Iowa was ranked 19th Sunday, one spot lower than the previous week.
The Trojans will be making their third appearance in the Holiday Bowl in six years. They defeated Nebraska, 45-42, in the 2014 Holiday Bowl and lost to Wisconsin, 23-21, a year later.
Iowa will be making its third Holiday Bowl appearance and first since 1991, when it tied Brigham Young, 13-13, the only tie in the history of the game, which has been played annually since 1978.
The possibility of a tie ended when college football adopted overtime for the 1996 season.
Iowa defeated San Diego State, 39-28, in the 1986 game, and Wyoming, 20-19, in 1987.
The Holiday Bowl has matched teams from the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences annually since 2014, a streak that will end after this year’s game. Teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference will face Pac-12 teams for at least each of the next six years under agreements announced in August.