2012 Alamo Bowl The 2012 Valero Alamo Bowl , the 20th edition of the game , was a postseason college football bowl game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oregon State Beavers at the Alamodome in San Antonio , Texas , held on December 29 , 2012 at 5 : 45 p . m . CST and was broadcasted on ESPN . The game was the final contest of the 2012 NCAA Division I - Football Bowl Subdivision ( Division I - FBS ) football season for both teams , and ended in a 31 – 27 victory for Texas . Texas represented the Big 12 Conference ( Big 12 ) in the game , while Oregon State represented the Pacific - 12 Conference ( Pac - 12 ) . Texas was selected as a participant in the 2012 Alamo Bowl following an 8 – 4 regular season , during which they won their first four games before losing two games . Texas then won four straight games before losing the final two contests of the season . Facing the Longhorns were the Oregon State Beavers with a regular season record of 9 – 3 , highlighted with wins against two top – 25 teams in a six - game winning streak to start the season , including then - No . 13 Wisconsin . However , the Beavers lost three of their final six games . The first half of the game featured a dominant performance by Oregon State . Texas was held to no first down s in the first quarter , the first occurrence of such since losing 21 – 63 to Oklahoma earlier in the year . At the end of the half , Oregon State led 20 – 10 , which included two rushing touchdowns by the Beavers by running back s Storm Woods and Terron Ward . Texas ' only touchdown came on a 64 yard touchdown on a reverse play by Marquise Goodwin . The second half of the game in contrast featured a dominant performance by Texas . Texas would score first in the half on a rushing touchdown by quarterback David Ash . Oregon State would respond with a touchdown at the end of the quarter ; however , Texas would score 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take their first lead of the game and would subsequently win after stopping Oregon State on their last possession , 31 – 27 . Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin was named offensive player of the game . He finished with four receptions for 68 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown , as well as 64 rushing yards , all of which came on one touchdown run . Texas defensive end Alex Okafor was named defensive player of the game . He finished with 4 . 5 sacks , an Alamo Bowl record and third most recorded in a Division I FBS bowl game . Teams . The Alamo Bowl had contracts with the Big 12 and Pacific - 12 Conference s that allowed them to select one team from each conference to participate in their annual game . By virtue of being the Big 12 champion , the Kansas State Wildcats were awarded an automatic Bowl Championship Series ( BCS ) bowl berth ; they would play in the 2013 Fiesta Bowl . Although the Oklahoma Sooners finished the season as Big 12 co – champions and qualified for selection in a BCS bowl berth , they were not selected for at - large positions in the Fiesta Bowl or the Sugar Bowl . No . 4 Oregon and No . 3 Florida took the at - large BCS positions , respectively . As a result , Oklahoma was selected to play in the Cotton Bowl . This caused Texas , ranked third in the conference at the end of the season , to be selected to play in the Alamo Bowl . Oregon State finished fourth in the Pac - 12 at the end of the season . As Pac - 12 champion , the Stanford Cardinal was awarded an automatic invitation to the Rose Bowl after defeating the UCLA Bruins in the 2012 Pac - 12 Football Championship Game . Despite not participating in the conference championship because of its loss to Stanford , Oregon was selected to fill the at - large position in the BCS . UCLA was instead selected to play in the 2012 Holiday Bowl . This left Oregon State , the only remaining ranked team in the Pac - 12 conference , to be selected to play in the Alamo Bowl . On December 2 , 2012 , Texas and Oregon State accepted invitations to play in the 20th edition of the Alamo Bowl on December 29 , 2012 . The Longhorns and Beavers have faced each other twice , in 1980 and in 1987 ; Texas won both games . In the first meeting , the Texas team shut out Oregon State , 35 – 0 ; in the second meeting , Texas won 61 – 16 . The bowl game will be Oregon State ' s 15th bowl game , with their last being a 20 – 44 loss to the BYU Cougars in the 2009 Las Vegas Bowl . The game will be Texas ' 51st bowl appearance , which is second - most in the nation . Texas has played in the Alamo Bowl once before , when they defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 26 – 24 in the 2006 Alamo Bowl . Texas . Entering 2012 , the Texas Longhorns had finished an 8 – 5 season in 2011 , where they finished ranked 6th in the Big 12 Conference , but finished unranked nationally in both the AP Poll and Coaches ' Poll s . At the end of the regular season , Texas was invited to play in the 2011 Holiday Bowl against California , a bowl game in which the Longhorns won 21 – 10 . 16 starting players returned to the Texas Longhorns football team from 2011 to 2012 , which included nine offensive and seven defensive players . Texas opened the regular season at home with a non - conference win against Wyoming , 37 – 17 , after trailing 9 – 7 in the first quarter . This was followed by a shutout win against New Mexico , another Mountain West Conference ( MWC ) team , 45 – 0 . Texas ' final non – conference game was an away game against a Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) team , Ole Miss . Texas won their final non – conference game with a 66 – 31 win . The 66 points scored against Ole Miss were the highest amount of points allowed by the Rebels since 1917 , and the most points scored by Texas since playing against Colorado in the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game , a lopsided victory that was won by Texas 70 – 3 . Texas quarterback David Ash threw for a career high 326 yards and four touchdown s . After a bye week , the Longhorns began Big 12 conference play against Oklahoma State , the defending 2011 Big 12 Champions . Oklahoma State was ranked No . 22 in the Coaches ' Poll , but remained unranked in the AP Poll . Texas won the conference game 41 – 36 , on the heels of a controversial 2 yard touchdown run by runningback Joe Bergeron in the final minute of regulation . The final , game - winning drive also included a 29 yard throw from David Ash to tight end D . J . Grant on fourth down and six . The Texas Longhorns lost the following game against No . 8 West Virginia 45 – 48 , despite leading 28 – 27 at halftime . In the annual Red River Rivalry against No . 13 Oklahoma , Texas was routed by the Sooners for a second year in a row , losing 21 – 63 . In 2011 , Texas was also blown out by a similar margin , losing 17 – 55 . At halftime , Oklahoma had already led Texas 36 – 2 . Following the two game losing skid , Texas rebounded with a shootout win against Baylor , 56 – 50 . However , the 50 points allowed to Baylor were the most by a Texas team in history , and the 106 combined points scored by both teams were the most in any Texas game since 1950 . The following week featured an away game against Kansas , a team that had lost six consecutive games since playing against South Dakota State . However , Texas had to rely on a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Case McCoy to tight end D . J . Grant with only 17 seconds of regulation remaining , before winning 21 – 17 . In the season ' s final rivalry game , the annual Chancellor ' s Spurs against Texas Tech , Texas won 31 – 22 . Texas ' next game was a 33 – 7 win against Iowa State . The game featured an offensive wishbone formation play to begin the game , in honor of former Texas coach Darrell Royal , who had passed away just prior to the game . The play would result in a 47 yard pass play from David Ash to tight end Greg Daniels . The win would be the final win of the regular season for the Texas Longhorns . Following a second and final bye week , Texas faced recently joined Big 12 member TCU on Thanksgiving . Prior to 2012 , Texas annually played against Texas A & M on Thanksgiving in the Lone Star Showdown , but ended after Texas A & M joined the SEC . Texas would lose the homecoming game , 13 – 20 . Texas ' final regular season and Big 12 Conference game was against No . 6 Kansas State . Texas lost the game 24 – 42 . Notably , Kansas State scored 35 points in the second half of the game alone . Kansas State would be the eventual 2012 Big 12 Champion . The Texas Longhorns finished the regular season with eight wins and four losses , matching the previous season ' s win total for the entire season , including the win against California in the Holiday Bowl . Texas also recorded a 5 – 4 conference record , which placed third in the Big 12 , an increase of three places from 2011 . In addition , Texas finished unranked in both the AP Poll and Coaches ' Poll , but remained ranked No . 23 in the BCS Ranking s . Oregon State . Oregon States has a 2 - 0 record in bowl games played in the State of Texas ( 2 - 0 in Sun Bowl ) . The 2012 team has the school ' s best points per game record averaging 33 . 0 points per game . Its scoring defense ranks 22nd in FBS allowing 19 . 75 points per game , while its rushing defense ranks 28th allowing 130 . 5 yards per game . The Beavers led the Pac - 12 for red zone efficiency at 90 . 6 percent ( 48 - 53 ) . Under the school ' s winningest head coach Mike Riley ( 81 victories ) , All - America senior cornerback Jordan Poyer led the Pac - 12 with seven interceptions and was second in FBS with 0 . 64 interceptions per game . During the season , wide receiver Markus Wheaton set a career reception record with 224 catches . Wheaton had 88 passes for 1 , 207 yards . Sophomore wide receiver Brandin Cooks had 64 receptions for 1 , 120 yards . At the end of the season Wheaton was 11th ( 100 . 6 ypg ) and Cooks was 21st ( 93 . 3 ypg ) in the nation .