Alamo Bowl
Valero Alamo Bowl
Stadium	Alamodome
Location	San Antonio, Texas
Operated	1993–present
Conference tie-ins	Big 12 (1996–present) Pac-12 (1993–1994; 2010–present)
Previous conference tie-ins	Southwest (1993–1995) Big Ten (1995–2009)
Payout	US$8,252,740 (2019)[1]
Website	alamobowl.com
Sponsors
Builders Square (1993–1998) Sylvania (1999–2001) MasterCard (2002–2005) Valero Energy Corporation (2007–present)
Former names
Builders Square Alamo Bowl (1993–1998) Sylvania Alamo Bowl (1999–2001) Alamo Bowl Presented By MasterCard (2002) MasterCard Alamo Bowl (2003–2005) Alamo Bowl (2006)
2023 matchup
Arizona vs.Oklahoma (Arizona 38–24)
2024 matchup
BYU vsColorado (BYU 36–14)

TheAlamo Bowl is anNCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivisioncollege footballbowl game played annually since 1993 in theAlamodome inSan Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from thePac-12 Conference and the second choice team from theBig 12 Conference. For the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the Pac-12 or Pac-12 "legacy schools" (former Pac-12 schools who are departing in 2024) will continue to fulfill their prior conference tie-in role. Traditionally, the Alamo Bowl has been played in December, although it was played in January following the 2009, 2014, and 2015 seasons. This year's game was played on December 28, 2024.

Since 2007, the game has been sponsored byValero Energy Corporation and officially known as theValero Alamo Bowl. Previous sponsors includeMasterCard (2002–2005),Sylvania (1999–2001), andBuilders Square (1993–1998).

The game was previously known as theBuilders Square Alamo Bowl (1993–1998), theSylvania Alamo Bowl (1999–2001), and theMasterCard Alamo Bowl (2002–2005). The logo of the event has evolved to reflect the changes in sponsorship. On May 24, 2007, the Alamo Bowl announced a partnership with San Antonio-basedValero Energy Corporation, and thus the bowl's full name was changed. The partnership with Valero is in place until 2025.^[2]

The game originally gave an automatic invite to a team from the now-defunctSouthwest Conference (SWC). However, in 1993, only two of the eight SWC teams finished with the necessary 6 wins against Division I-A teams to become bowl-eligible, and those two teams were already committed to other bowls, so theIowa Hawkeyes were invited instead. The SWC was able to provide teams for the next two seasons (Baylor Bears in 1994 andTexas A&M Aggies in 1995) before the conference disbanded.

During the1996 Alamo Bowl, theIowa Hawkeyes wore plain black helmets (removing their tigerhawk logo and gold stripe) in honor of linebacker Mark Mitchell's mother, who died in a car accident while traveling to San Antonio for the game.

The2002 Alamo Bowl played between theColorado Buffaloes andWisconsin Badgers was the first Alamo Bowl to go into overtime, with the unranked Badgers defeating the No. 14 ranked Buffaloes after kicking a field goal to win 31–28, completing a perfect non-conference schedule at 6-0 (the Badgers finished with a 2-6 record in the Big Ten). The 2008 Alamo Bowl between theMissouri Tigers andNorthwestern Wildcats also went into overtime, with the Tigers defeating the Wildcats 30–23.

The2005 Alamo Bowl ended with one of the most controversial plays in bowl game history. During the multi-lateral play, almost the entireNebraska Cornhuskers team and coaching staff as well as half of theMichigan Wolverines sideline came onto the field, and the Cornhuskers gave their coach aGatorade shower before the play was blown dead. It drew parallels to 1982's "The Play", 2000's "Music City Miracle", and 2002's "Bluegrass Miracle". Nebraska would win the game 32−28 after Michigan was not able to reach the endzone.

The2007 Alamo Bowl between thePenn State Nittany Lions and theTexas A&M Aggies was attended by 66,166, an Alamodome facility-record crowd for a sporting event, breaking the previous record set by theIowa Hawkeyes andTexas Longhorns in the2006 Alamo Bowl. The Nittany Lions won the game 24–17.^[3]

The Alamo Bowl has sold out seven of its 16 games (1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2011).^[4]

On August 28, 2009, the Alamo Bowl organizers announced they had reached an agreement with the thenPac-10 Conference to replace theBig Ten Conference in the Alamo Bowl. Under the terms of the agreement, the nowPac-12 Conference's (Pac-12) second-choice team earns a bid to the Alamo Bowl. The agreement took effect beginning with the 2010 college football season.^[5] The Pac-12's second-choice team was previously contracted to play in theHoliday Bowl against the third choice from the Big 12. The Big 12's third choice also moved to the Alamo Bowl, and the Holiday Bowl now gets third choice of team from the Pac-12 and the fourth choice from the Big Ten.

In the2011 Alamo Bowl, the Baylor Bears and Washington Huskies combined to score 123 points, breaking the record for the most points scored in a bowl game in college football history. Baylor won the game, 67–56. The 2011 game was also the first Alamo Bowl to feature a season'sHeisman Trophy winner, Baylor'sRobert Griffin III.

All rankings are taken from theAP Poll prior to the game being played.

Source:^[6]

Two MVPs are selected for each game; one offensive player and one defensive player.

Source:^[7][8][9]

The bowl's sportsmanship award is named after Fred Jacoby,^[10] who served asSWC commissioner from 1982 to 1993.^[11]

Source:^[7]

Updated through the December 2024 edition (32 games, 64 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances

Teams with a single appearance

Won (6):BYU,California,Missouri,Ohio State,UCLA,Wisconsin
Lost (4):Iowa State,Oregon State,Stanford,Utah

Arizona State,Cincinnati,Houston,Kansas,UCF andWest Virginia are the only current or former Big 12 members that have not appeared in the bowl, while Arizona State andUSC are the only Pac-12 legacy members that have not appeared. Colorado has appeared as both a member of the Big 12 and Pac-12.

Updated through the December 2024 edition (32 games, 64 total appearances).

• Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
• Pac-12 record includes appearances when the conference was known as the Pac-10 (before 2011).
• The Southwest Conference (SWC) dissolved after the 1995 season.
• The December 2024 game featured two teams from the Big 12

Source:^[7]

The bowl has been televised onESPN since its inception. It has produced eight of the top 20 most-watched bowl games in ESPN history. In 2006, the Alamo Bowl featured the Texas Longhorns and the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that earned a 6.0 rating, making it the most-watched college football game in ESPN history as more than 8.83 million viewers saw the telecast.^[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAlamo Bowl.

• Official website

• Alamo Bowl
• College football bowls
• Annual sporting events in the United States
• Recurring sporting events established in 1993

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
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• Use mdy dates from November 2024
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