Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is a major American college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the 65 , 000 - seat Alamodome in San Antonio , Texas . The current champions are the Texas Longhorns . It matches the second choice team from the Pacific - 12 Conference and the third choice team from the Big 12 Conference . Traditionally , the Alamo Bowl has been played in December . The game following the 2009 season marked the first time the game was played in January , making it be played in 2010 . The game following the 2010 season returned to December . 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 to the Valero Alamo Bowl . 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 1 - A teams to become bowl - eligible ( and those two teams were already committed to other bowls ) . The Alamo Bowl invited the Iowa Hawkeyes instead . The SWC was able to provide participants for the next two seasons ( Baylor and Texas A & M ) 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 Colorado and Wisconsin was the first ever 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 ( they went 2 - 6 in the Big Ten ) . The 2008 Alamo Bowl between Missouri and Northwestern also went into overtime , with Missouri defeating Northwestern 30 – 23 . The 2005 Alamo Bowl ended on one of the most controversial plays in bowl game history , a multi - lateral play in which almost the entire Nebraska team and coaching staff and half of the Michigan sideline entered onto the field , and Nebraska gave their coach the Gatorade Dunk before the play was blown dead , bringing up memories of 1982 ' s " The Play " , 2000 ' s " Music City Miracle " , and 2002 ' s " Bluegrass Miracle " . The 2007 Alamo Bowl between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Texas A & M Aggies was attended by 66 , 166 , which set an Alamodome facility - record crowd for a sporting event , breaking the previous year ' s game between Iowa and Texas . Penn State won the game 24 – 17 . The Alamo Bowl has sold out seven of its sixteen games ( 1995 , 1999 , 2001 , 2004 , 2006 , 2007 , and 2011 ) . 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 now - Pac - 12 ' s second - choice team earns a bid to the Alamo Bowl . The agreement takes effect beginning with the 2010 college football season . The now - Pac - 12 ' s second - choice team was previously contracted to play in the Holiday Bowl against a Big 12 team ; that bowl will instead take the # 3 team in the Pac - 12 to face a Big 12 opponent . 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 the season ' s Heisman Trophy winner , Baylor ' s Robert Griffin III . Media coverage . The Alamo Bowl 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 .