The Alamo Bowl is a college football post-season bowl game featuring NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams, played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Traditionally, the Alamo Bowl has been played in late December, although it has been contested in early January three times. The bowl has had tie-ins with several athletic conferences, most recently the Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 Conference. Since 2007, the game has been sponsored by Valero Energy Corporation and is officially known as the Valero Alamo Bowl.
History The game was previously known as the Builders Square Alamo Bowl (1993–1998), the Sylvania Alamo Bowl (1999–2001), and the MasterCard 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-based Valero Energy Corporation, and thus the bowl's full name was changed. The partnership with Valero remained place through the 2025 edition.
The game originally gave an automatic invite to a team from the now-defunct Southwest 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 the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten were invited instead. The SWC was able to provide teams for the next two seasons (Baylor Bears in 1994 and Texas A&M Aggies in 1995) before the conference disbanded.
During the 1996 Alamo Bowl, the Iowa 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.
The 2002 Alamo Bowl played between the Colorado Buffaloes and Wisconsin 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 2005 Alamo Bowl ended with one of the most controversial plays in bowl game history. During the multi-lateral play, almost the entire Nebraska Cornhuskers team and coaching staff as well as half of the Michigan Wolverines sideline came onto the field, and the Cornhuskers gave their coach a Gatorade 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 won the game, 32−28, after Michigan was not able to reach the endzone.
The 2007 Alamo Bowl between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Texas A&M Aggies was attended by 66,166, an Alamodome facility-record crowd for a sporting event, breaking the previous record set in the 2006 Alamo Bowl. The Nittany Lions won the game, 24–17.
The Alamo Bowl has sold out at least seven editions: 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2011.2006 Alamo Bowl Media Guide, pp. 1–22, (PDF) , The San Antonio Bowl Association.
On August 28, 2009, the Alamo Bowl organizers announced they had reached an agreement with the then Pac-10 Conference to replace the Big Ten in the Alamo Bowl. Under the terms of the agreement, the Pac-10's second-choice team would earn a bid to the Alamo Bowl. The agreement took effect beginning with the 2010 college football season. The Pac-10's second-choice team was previously contracted to play in the Holiday Bowl against the third choice from the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12's third-choice also moved to the Alamo Bowl, with the Holiday Bowl receiving third choice of team from the Pac-10 and the fourth choice from the Big Ten. The 2009 agreement persisted through the expansion of the Pac-10 when it became the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.
In the 2011 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's Heisman Trophy winner, Baylor's Robert Griffin III.
For bowls following the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Pac-12 "legacy schools" (former Pac-12 schools who left the conference in 2024) continued to fulfill their prior conference's tie-in role. In the first year of this arrangement, the 2024 Alamo Bowl became an uncommon non-playoff bowl matchup of two teams from the same conference, featuring Big 12 members BYU and Colorado—the latter being it its first Big 12 season, having previously been a member of the Pac-12. Such an occurrence was avoided in the 2025 Alamo Bowl, as Pac-12 legacy member USC, then in the Big Ten, faced TCU of the Big 12.
Game results All rankings are taken from the AP poll prior to the game being played. DateWinning teamLosing teamAttnd.Notes December 31, 1993 California 37 Iowa 3 45,716 notes December 31, 1994 #24 Washington State 10 Baylor 3 44,106 notes December 28, 1995 #19 Texas A&M 22 #14 Michigan 20 64,597 notes December 29, 1996 #21 Iowa 27 Texas Tech 0 55,677 notes December 30, 1997 #16 Purdue 33 #24 Oklahoma State 20 55,552 notes December 29, 1998 Purdue 37 #4 Kansas State 34 60,780 notes December 28, 1999 #13 Penn State 24 #18 Texas A&M 0 65,380 notes December 30, 2000 #8 Nebraska 66 #19 Northwestern 17 60,028 notes December 29, 2001 Iowa 19 Texas Tech 16 65,232 notes December 28, 2002 Wisconsin 31 #14 Colorado 28 50,690 notes December 29, 2003 #22 Nebraska 17 Michigan State 3 56,229 notes December 29, 2004 #24 Ohio State 33 Oklahoma State 7 65,265 notes December 28, 2005 Nebraska 32 #20 Michigan 28 62,016 notes December 30, 2006 #18 Texas 26 Iowa 24 65,875 notes December 29, 2007 Penn State 24 Texas A&M 17 66,166 notes December 29, 2008 #25 Missouri 30 #22 Northwestern 23 55,986 notesJanuary 2, 2010 Texas Tech 41 Michigan State 31 64,757 notes December 29, 2010 #16 Oklahoma State 36 Arizona 10 57,593 notes December 29, 2011 #15 Baylor 67 Washington 56 65,256 notes December 29, 2012 #23 Texas 31 #13 Oregon State 27 65,277 notes December 30, 2013 #10 Oregon 30 Texas 7 65,918 notesJanuary 2, 2015 #14 UCLA 40 #11 Kansas State 35 60,517 notesJanuary 2, 2016 #11 TCU 47 #15 Oregon 41 64,569 notes December 29, 2016 #12 Oklahoma State 38 #10 Colorado 8 59,815 notes December 28, 2017 #13 TCU 39 #15 Stanford 37 57,653 notes December 28, 2018 #12 Washington State 28 #25 Iowa State 26 60,675 notes December 31, 2019 Texas 38 #12 Utah 10 60,147 notes December 29, 2020 #20 Texas 55 Colorado 23 10,822 notes December 29, 2021 #14 Oklahoma 47 #15 Oregon 32 59,121 notes December 29, 2022 #12 Washington 27 #21 Texas 20 62,730 notes December 28, 2023 #14 Arizona38#12 Oklahoma 24 55,853 notes December 28, 2024 #17 BYU 36 #20 Colorado 14 64,261 notes December 30, 2025 TCU 30 #16 USC 27 54,751 notes Source:
MVPs
Two MVPs are selected for each game; one offensive player and one defensive player.
Year Offensive MVP Defensive MVP Player Team Pos. Player Team Pos.1993 Dave Barr California QB Jerrott Willard California LB1994 Chad Davis Washington State QB Ron Childs Washington State LB1995 Kyle Bryant Texas A&M K Keith Mitchell Texas A&M LB1996 Sedrick Shaw Iowa RB Jared DeVries Iowa DL1997 Billy Dicken Purdue QB Adrian Beasley Purdue S1998 Drew Brees Purdue QB Rosevelt Colvin Purdue DE1999 Rashard Casey Penn State QB LaVar Arrington Penn State LB2000 Dan Alexander Nebraska RB Kyle Vanden Bosch Nebraska DL2001 Aaron Greving Iowa RB Derrick Pickens Iowa DL2002 Brooks Bollinger Wisconsin QB Jeff Mack Wisconsin LB2003 Jammal Lord Nebraska QB Trevor Johnson Nebraska DL2004 Ted Ginn Jr. Ohio State WR/PR/KR Simon Fraser Ohio State DE2005 Cory Ross Nebraska RB Leon Hall Michigan CB2006 Colt McCoy Texas QB Aaron Ross Texas CB2007 Rodney Kinlaw Penn State RB Sean Lee Penn State LB2008 Jeremy Maclin Missouri WR/PR/KR Sean Weatherspoon Missouri LBJan. 2010 Taylor Potts Texas Tech QB Jamar Wall Texas Tech CB Dec. 2010 Justin Blackmon Oklahoma State WR Markelle Martin Oklahoma State S2011 Terrance Ganaway Baylor RB Elliot Coffey Baylor LB2012 Marquise Goodwin Texas WR Alex Okafor Texas DE2013 Marcus Mariota Oregon QB Avery Patterson Oregon SS2015 Paul Perkins UCLA RB Eric Kendricks UCLA LBJan. 2016 Bram Kohlhausen TCU QB Travin Howard TCU LBDec. 2016 James Washington Oklahoma State WR Vincent Taylor Oklahoma State DT2017 Kenny Hill TCU QB Travin Howard TCU LB2018 Gardner Minshew Washington State QB Peyton Pelluer Washington State LB2019 Sam Ehlinger Texas QB Joseph Ossai Texas LB2020 Bijan Robinson Texas RB DeMarvion Overshown Texas LB2021 Kennedy Brooks Oklahoma RB Pat Fields Oklahoma S2022 Michael Penix Jr. Washington QB Bralen Trice Washington DE2023 Jacob Cowing Arizona WR Gunner Maldonado Arizona S2024 LJ Martin BYU RB Isaiah Glasker BYU LB2025 Ken Seals TCU QB Kaleb Elarms-Orr TCU LB Source:
Fred Jacoby Sportsmanship Award The bowl's sportsmanship award is named after Fred Jacoby, who served as SWC commissioner from 1982 to 1993. YearPlayerTeamPosition1993 Larry Blue Iowa DT1994 Adrian Robinson Baylor DB 1995 Jarrett Irons Michigan LB1996 Shane Dunn Texas Tech OT1997 Kevin Williams Oklahoma State DB1998 Jarrod Cooper Kansas State DB1999 Jason Webster Texas A&M CB2000 Zak Kustok Northwestern QB2001 Anton Paige Texas Tech WR2002 Zac Colvin Colorado QB2003 Joe Tate Michigan State OG2004 Donovan Woods Oklahoma State QB2005 Steve Breaston Michigan WR2006 Mike Elgin Iowa OL2007 Mark Dodge Texas A&M LB2008 Rasheed Ward Northwestern WRJan. 2010 Ross Weaver Michigan State DBDec. 2010 David Douglas Arizona WR2011 Senio Kelemete Washington OG2012 Storm Woods Oregon State RB2013 Carrington Byndom Texas CB2015 Tyler Lockett Kansas State WRJan. 2016 Rodney Hardrick Oregon LBDec. 2016 Sean Irwin Colorado TE2017 Harrison Phillips Stanford DT2018 Marcel Spears Jr. Iowa State LB2019 Zack Moss Utah RB2020 Carson Wells Colorado LB2021 Alex Forsyth Oregon C2022 Anthony Cook Texas DB2023 Austin Stogner Oklahoma TE2024 2025 Source:
Most appearances Updated through the December 2025 edition (33 games, 66 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances RankTeamAppearancesRecord W L Pct.1 Texas 6 2 Iowa 4 Oklahoma State 4 Colorado 4 5 Nebraska 3 TCU 3 Oregon 3 Texas A&M 3 Texas Tech 3 10 Penn State 2 Purdue 2 Washington State 2 Oklahoma 2 Baylor 2 Washington 2 Arizona 2 Kansas State 2 Michigan 2 Michigan State 2 Northwestern 2
Teams with a single appearance Won (6): BYU, California, Missouri, Ohio State, UCLA, Wisconsin
Lost (5): Iowa State, Oregon State, Stanford, USC, Utah
Arizona State, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas, UCF and West Virginia are the only current or former Big 12 members that have not appeared in the bowl. With the December 2025 appearance of USC, Arizona State is the only Pac-12 legacy member that has not appeared. Colorado has appeared as both a member of the Big 12 and Pac-12.
Appearances by conference Updated through the December 2025 edition (33 games, 66 total appearances).
ConferenceRecordAppearances by seasonGamesWLPct.WonLostBig 12 31 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009*, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015*, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2014*, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024Big Ten 17 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 1993, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009*, 2025Pac-12 16 1993, 1994, 2013, 2014*, 2018, 2022, 2023 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015*, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021SWC 2 1995 1994
Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year. The record of the Pac-12 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
Game records