While No. 10 Oregon didn’t land an at-large BCS bid, it did earn a date against Texas in one of the more intriguing matchups of the upcoming bowl season.
The Ducks will square off against the Longhorns in their first Alamo Bowl on Dec. 30 in San Antonio.
Oregon (10-2) won its first eight games and was in the national title discussion before losing at Stanford on Nov. 7. The Ducks also got blown out at Arizona before rallying to beat rival Oregon State 36-35.
“We had a tough kind of four-game stretch there at the end of the season. Kind of stubbed our toe a little bit. But we’ll be hungry to get back out there,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said.
Texas (8-4) will play in San Antonio for the second straight year, having beaten Oregon State 31-27 a year ago.
The Longhorns had a chance to win the Big 12 title and play in a BCS bowl game, but the Longhorns lost to Baylor 30-10 Saturday in the regular season finale.
Texas opened league play with six straight wins before losing two of its last three.
“We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but we’re going to go back to work and get after these guys. Because these guys are like Baylor. They can score fast,” Texas coach Mack Brown said.
Oregon and Texas have played each other six times, including in the 2000 Holiday Bowl when the Ducks beat the Longhorns 35-30.
Texas is 2-0 in the Alamo Bowl, having also beaten Iowa in 2006, and will likely have a decided homefield advantage. But the Ducks will be the third-highest ranked team to play in the Alamo Bowl — and they’re coming off back-to-back BCS bowl victories.
“We’ve got some work to do to win over that crowd,” Helfrich said. “San Antonio is obviously a great place to be any time of year, and our guys will be very excited to take on an iconic program, an iconic coach in coach Brown.”
