Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas , formerly known as the Texas Bowl , is a post - season NCAA - sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that was held for the first time in 2006 in Houston , Texas . The bowl replaced the now - defunct Houston Bowl , which was played annually from 2000 to 2005 . The first bowl game in Houston was the Bluebonnet Bowl , played from 1959 through 1987 . On December 31 , 2011 , Texas A & M defeated Northwestern by a score of 33 - 22 . In 2012 , Texas Tech won 34 - 31 against University of Minnesota . Replacing the Houston Bowl . Speculation had surfaced questioning the long - term survival of the former Houston Bowl . The three - year contract with EV1 . net expired on December 31 , 2005 , leaving the bowl game without a title sponsor . A college football official told the " Houston Chronicle " that the bowl was in danger of ceasing operations , as a result of the game losing its title sponsor and because the Houston Bowl still owed roughly $ 600 , 000 to the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences following the 2005 game . However , the NCAA approved Lone Star Sports & Entertainment , a division of the NFL ' s Houston Texans , who also play in Reliant Stadium , to take over game management . Then on July 20 , the NFL Network acquired both TV rights and naming rights to the bowl , which was played on December 28 . The Texas Bowl name and logo were officially unveiled on August 10 , 2006 , at a press conference along with the conference affiliations for the bowl spots . The Big 12 , Big East and Conference USA will be affiliated with the game , as well as Texas Christian University of the Mountain West . The 2006 matchup featured teams from the Big 12 and Big East Conferences . On April 12 , 2011 ESPN announced that Meineke Car Care had signed a three year title sponsorship deal beginning in 2011 to change the name of the bowl to the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas . On December 3 , 2006 , Rutgers accepted an invitation to play Kansas State on December 28 at Reliant Stadium . " We ’ re ecstatic about having Rutgers , " Texas Bowl director David Brady said . " This is a top - 15 team that was three yards away from a BCS game . We couldn ’ t be happier to have them here . " On May 17 , 2007 , Conference USA announced that it would have a team in the 2007 Texas Bowl . The Texas Bowl has a rotating commitment with the Big East Conference and Conference USA for 2006 – 09 while the Big 12 Conference will have a team in all four of those games . In 2007 , TCU took the place of the Big 12 team when Kansas and Oklahoma were put into the BCS , and Houston , a " home team , " represented C - USA . The conferences would receive $ 612 , 500 each as per the rules of the agreements as usually , the Big East ( or Big 12 ) would have received $ 750 , 000 for playing and C - USA would have received a $ 500 , 000 stipend for their team playing . 2010 will mark the eleventh straight year that a bowl game has been played in Houston , and the 40th year overall with such a game there ( the Bluebonnet Bowl lasted 29 years ) . It was also announced on December 30 , 2009 , that ESPN Plus would take over as part owner and operator of the game , while Lone Star Sports and Entertainment will maintain a stake in the bowl , and would be carried on ESPN . According to " Sports Illustrated " , in 2008 the bowl required Western Michigan University to purchase 11 , 000 tickets at full price in order to accept the invitation to play in the bowl . The university was only able to sell 548 tickets at that price , forcing it to accept a $ 462 , 535 loss , before travel expenses , to pay for the privilege of playing in the bowl . See also . List of college bowl games