Santa Clara is NOT San Francisco. If you are just making a quick stop in for the game its not convenient to the city at all. In fact the San Jose airport is just a few miles away so that is the best way to travel, wish that bowl game was still at At&T Park
I booked a decent hotel room a stone's throw from Levi's Stadium for less than $100 a night. If you're just there for the game and not to see SF it doesn't make much sense to stay up in the city.
I'm pulling for Foster Farms, it's nice to have a game on the west coast every now and then since there are quite a few of us out this way. We had a great crowd in Berkeley in 2013.