SEATTLE -- Washington backup quarterback Taylor Barton will make the trip to the Holiday Bowl now that he no longer faces trespassing charges, but he still faces team disciplinary action, his coach says.

Assistant city attorney Mike Finkle told Barton's lawyer, Mike Hunsinger, on Wednesday that the first-degree criminal trespass case against Barton and two other Huskies players will be formally dismissed Jan. 7.

"(Hunsinger) provided us with some additional information from some witnesses and we checked them out," Finkle said. "We decided we couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, so we were willing to dismiss it."

The charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled.

"There was no favoritism towards these University of Washington football players" in the decision to drop charges, Hunsinger said. "I don't know whether the opposite occurred. I don't believe so."

Barton and two Washington walk-on reserves, Martin Dorcich and Doug Clarke, were arrested Nov. 29 for refusing to leave the campus of Seattle Pacific University.

Coach Rick Neuheisel had said Barton would remain in Seattle unless charges were dropped before the trip. The Huskies (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP) leave Friday for San Diego, a week before their bowl date against No. 9 Texas. Cody Pickett is Washington's starting quarterback.

"I'm pleased that it's been determined that nothing illegal took place, but I'm still disappointed the players put themselves in that position in the first place," Neuheisel said. "While I'm not going to suspend them, there's certainly going to be some punishment."

In his first public comment since the arrest, Barton told reporters Wednesday the episode began with a visit to his girlfriend at Seattle Pacific. Her mother also was in the dormitory room at the time, he said.

He admitted getting mouthy after a campus police officer saw him, Dorcich and Clarke leaving the dorm 15 minutes past the school's 11 p.m. curfew.

Barton said he refused to give his girlfriend's name, hoping to keep her from getting in trouble, but agreed to sign papers banning him from the Seattle Pacific campus.

"Where I made the mistake is I made a few comments that I probably shouldn't have," Barton said. "No cussing was involved, but I was just speaking my mind."

Barton said the three were leaving when a city police officer arrived and arrested them. A police report said all three Huskies had "a strong odor of alcohol on their breath."

Barton denied being intoxicated and said all were at least 21, the legal drinking age.

"I asked to take a breathalyzer to prove that I was not intoxicated. I wasn't asked to do that," Barton said.