San Diego ? Maybe Mack Brown isn’t such a villain, after all.

If No. 4 California was angry and frustrated after being snubbed by the Bowl Championship Series and denied a Rose Bowl berth, it had to have been flat out humiliated after No. 23 Texas Tech pulled off a 45-31 shocker in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday night.

The Golden Bears (10-2), who were 111/2-point favorites, simply had no answer against the Red Raiders (8-4) and their efficient spread offense, which uses four wide receivers most of the time.

Tech senior Sonny Cumbie threw for a career-high 520 yards and three touchdowns, including a 60-yarder to Joel Filani, and safety Vincent Meeks set up a score with a 48-yard interception return.

Cumbie was 39-of-60 and broke the Holiday Bowl attempts record of 59 set by BYU’s Ty Detmer in 1989. He was short of Detmer’s Holiday Bowl record of 576 yards, also set in 1989.

Cal had been in position to go to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 46 seasons, but was leapfrogged in the final BCS standings by Brown’s Texas Longhorns, who ended up in Pasadena to face Michigan on Saturday.

The day the BCS pairings were released, Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Brown “was a little classless” for begging for poll votes to help his Longhorns, and that the system was “faulty.”

Texas Tech receiver Joel Filani pulls in a 60-yard touchdown reception as California's Daymeion Hughes chases the play in the third quarter. The 23rd-ranked Red Raiders routed the No. 4 Bears, 45-31, in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday night in San Diego.

The Longhorns, by the way, beat Texas Tech, 51-21, at Lubbock on Oct. 23.

Texas Tech fans mocked Cal with chants of “Overrated!” in the closing minutes.

Cal’s J.J. Arrington became just the third running back in Pac-10 history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. The senior from Nashville, N.C., carried 25 times for 173 yards, for 2,018 yards.

Southern Cal’s Marcus Allen had 2,427 yards in 1981 and Charles White had 2,050 in 1979. Both won the Heisman Trophy.

Texas Tech's Jarrett Hicks cruises into the end zone for his second touchdown. The Red Raiders won the Holiday Bowl, 45-31, Thursday night.

Arrington scored on a two-yard run in the first quarter, his 15th rushing TD of the season, a school record. He had been tied with Lindsey Chapman and Russell White.

The Golden Bears were undisciplined on defense — they had two personal fouls on one Tech drive — and Rodgers looked confused at times. California was without career receptions leader Geoff McArthur, who broke his left leg in the fourth quarter of a 26-16 win at Southern Mississippi on Dec. 4.

Texas Tech (8-4) had four scoring drives that took less than two minutes each. Trailing 14-7 after the first quarter, the Red Raiders scored 24 straight points and had a commanding 31-14 lead by early in the third quarter.