San Diego ? There have been countless seasons when the California Golden Bears would have been ecstatic to be invited to the Holiday Bowl. Any bowl, for that matter.

Just not this year.

Fourth-ranked Cal expected to be playing up the freeway at the Rose Bowl, until the BCS pairings came out and the Golden Bears were shocked to hear that the Texas Longhorns had leapfrogged them and were going to Pasadena.

So the Golden Bears came to San Diego and uttered the obligatory bowl-week mantra of how happy they are to be here for tonight’s matchup against No. 23 Texas Tech and its spread offense, which scored 70 points twice this season.

The Golden Bears (10-1) say they’re over their bitterness. But what they said in early December still stands.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said then that Texas coach Mack Brown — a two-time Holiday Bowl loser — “was a little classless” in begging for poll votes that would help the Longhorns climb in the BCS standings.

Coach Jeff Tedford said votes in the coaches poll should be made public.

“I don’t regret anything I said,” Rodgers said. “I think I spoke things a lot of people were thinking but maybe didn’t have the opportunity to say or didn’t feel like they should say. As the leader of this team I felt I needed to utter what we were feeling. We were frustrated.

“But those thoughts are behind us. We’re focused on Texas Tech and hopefully trying to end off the season on a high note.”

Actually, the BCS snub was good for everybody but the Golden Bears. The Holiday Bowl had been headed for an Arizona State-Texas A&M matchup — which wouldn’t have been great at the box office — and Texas Tech (7-4) would have gone to the Alamo Bowl.

Now the Holiday Bowl has one of the country’s best teams, a sellout and a matchup that should fit right in with the game’s history of close, wild finishes.

Cal features the underrated tandem of Rodgers, who’s thrown for 23 touchdowns, and running back J.J. Arrington, who rushed for 1,845 yards and 14 TDs.

“We’re going to put on a show, I think,” Rodgers said. “We’re going to score a lot of points. I think they have the potential too, as well. It’s going to be an exciting game. We’re 10-1, we lost to USC. I think we’re one of the top teams in the country.”

Texas Tech will counter with Sonny Cumbie, who threw for 4,222 yards — which ranks just third on the Red Raiders’ single-season list — and 29 touchdowns. Cumbie averages 53 passes a game.

Texas Tech played Holiday Bowl-style games this year.

It rallied from a 21-0 deficit to beat TCU, 70-35, and from 30-5 down against Kansas University to win, 31-30.

“We’ve been in the middle of some of those,” coach Mike Leach said. “For good or for bad, we had the two biggest comebacks in the history of the school this year. You don’t want to come back, but the alternative’s worse.”

The Red Raiders also beat Nebraska 70-10, the worst loss in the Cornhuskers’ 114-year history.

The Golden Bears certainly haven’t played a team like Texas Tech this season.

“It’s unorthodox,” defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander said. “We’ve never seen anything like this. It’ll be a big challenge for us to be able to step up and play five wide receiver sets the whole game.

“It gives me a lot of opportunities to get some sacks. That’s the biggest thing for a D-lineman. It’ll be a lot of fun, just pinning your ears back and getting at them a little bit.”