No.15 Stanford football (9-4, 7-2 Pac-12) was selected to play in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Sunday morning, two days after falling 31-28 to USC in the Pac-12 Championship. The Cardinal will travel to San Antonio to play the No.13 TCU Horned Frogs (10-3, 7-2 Big 12) on Dec. 28, another conference runner-up who lost 41-17 to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship on Saturday.
Stanford has been invited to a bowl game for nine consecutive seasons now, which is a school-record and is currently the best streak in the conference.
This will be the first time in program history the Cardinal play in the Alamo bowl.
The Horned Frogs, on the other hand, will be making their second-ever appearance in the Alamo Bowl, with their first coming two years ago against the Oregon Ducks in one of the most memorable games in recent bowl history. TCU erased a 31-0 deficit at halftime to defeat the Ducks 47-41 in triple overtime.
The two programs have met twice before, with the Horned Frogs winning 38-36 and 31-14 in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Nine Pac-12 teams in total were given the nod for a bowl game, with two making the cut for a “New Year’s Six” game with USC and Washington. The Trojans are set to play the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 29 while the Huskies will face the Penn State Nittany Lions in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.
A victory in the Alamo Bowl would give Stanford its seventh 10-win season in eight years, and their sixth such season under head coach David Shaw.
The rest of the Pac-12 Bowl slate is as follows:
Holiday Bowl: No. 21 Washington State vs. No. 18 Michigan State – Dec. 28
Foster Farms Bowl: Arizona vs. Purdue – Dec. 27
Sun Bowl: Arizona State vs. NC State – Dec. 29
Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon vs. No. 25 Boise State – Dec. 16
Cactus Bowl: UCLA vs. Kansas State – Dec. 26
Heart of Dallas: Utah vs. West Virginia – Dec. 26
The Alamo Bowl is set for kickoff on Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. PT and will be televised on ESPN.
Contact Sam Curry at currys ‘at’ stanford.edu