The Texas Longhorns can never be proud of a five-loss season, but an 8-5 record after Wednesday's Holiday Bowl victory is a good launching pad for recruiting and a 2012 bid for a Big 12 championship. Now that Missouri, Nebraska and Texas A&M are no longer around, UT should be buying a bigger Big 12 trophy case.

The Longhorns, however, almost finished at 7-6, if not for the 21-10 win over Cal. UT proved itself to recruits by coming back after Cal took a 10-7 lead in the third quarter as freshman QB David Ash stepped up in the 13th game of the season.

In the third quarter, Ash fired a 47-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin, who hauled in a pass over his shoulder and kept going. That electric pass play put the Longhorns on top, 14-10.. ... Without that rally, a bowl loss to Cal would have been devastating because Texas had lost three of its final four regular-season games.

Ash caught a 4-yard pass from WR Jaxon Shipley in the second quarter to join BYU’s Steve Young, Texas A&M’s Bucky Richardson and Oregon’s Joey Harrington as quarterbacks who’ve caught touchdown passes in the Holiday Bowl. UT fans remember Harrington scoring against the Longhorns in the 2000 Holiday Bowl, which was a 35-30 Oregon Ducks' victory.

Bright spots: Manny Diaz had the defense looking good, especially late in the game. No let downs and the team was fighting to cause fumbles to the end. Middle LB Keenan Robinson and the 'horns created five Cal turnovers and posted six sacks (a season-high against Cal).

Key point in game: Texas scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 4-yard run by Cody Johnson. That took the wind out of Cali, and came right after UT had sacked Cal QB Zach Maynard, who fumbled on the play. DT Chris Whaley captured the ball for UT at the Golden Bears' 44-yard line. From there, it was all Goodwin and Johnson. Goodwin ran for 37 of the 44 yards. Johnson set up his TD with a 3-yard burst.

Notable: Cal's Golden Bears (7-6) have lost all five games against Texas, dating to 1959. ... Did Quandre Diggs look familiar on his interception. Diggs is former Texas cornerback and current San Diego Chargers starter Quentin Jammer's little brother. ... and what happened to Harrington since his days with the Ducks and Detroit Lions, he's now part of TV's Longhorn Network.