| Year Game Played: | 1989 |
| Title Sponsor: | SeaWorld |
| Game Name: | Holiday Bowl |
| Football Season: | 1989 |
| Visitor Name Short: | Penn State |
| Visitor Nickname: | Nittany Lions |
| Visitor School: | Pennsylvania State University |
| Home Name Short: | BYU |
| Home Nickname: | Cougars |
| Home School: | Brigham Young University |
| Visitor Record: | 7–3–1 |
| Visitor Conference: | Independent |
| Home Record: | 10–2 |
| Home Conference: | WAC |
| Visitor Coach: | Joe Paterno |
| Home Coach: | LaVell Edwards |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 18 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 18 |
| Home Rank Ap: | 19 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 16 |
| Visitor 1Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 9 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 17 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 21 |
| Home 1Q: | 3 |
| Home 2Q: | 10 |
| Home 3Q: | 13 |
| Home 4Q: | 13 |
| Date Game Played: | December 30 |
| Stadium: | Jack Murphy Stadium |
| City: | San Diego, California |
| Mvp: | Co-Offensive: Ty Detmer (BYU) Co-Offensive: Blair Thomas (Penn State) |
| Halftime: | Marching bands |
| Attendance: | 61,113[1] |
| Payout: | 1,109,038 per team |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers Link: | List of announcers of major college bowl games |
| Us Announcers: | Tim Brando, Vince Dooley and Jerry Punch |
The 1989 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 30, 1989, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and BYU Cougars.
BYU quarterback Ty Detmer was marching the Cougars toward a game-winning touchdown in the closing seconds when he had the ball stripped by Penn State's Gary Brown, who returned it 53 yards for a touchdown to seal the Nittany Lions victory.
Stealing the ball before Detmer could throw it was the only way he could be stopped by the Penn State defense. Detmer completed 42 of 59 passes for 576 yards, all Holiday Bowl records, and shared Offensive MVP honors with Penn State running back Blair Thomas, who rushed for a Holiday Bowl record 35 times for 186 yards.[2] [3] [4]