Fans watching the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl saw Hall of Fame Head Coach Bob Stoops lead #16 Oklahoma past #14 Oregon 47-32 in one the largest offensive displays in bowl history. Led by quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Anthony Brown, the Sooners and Ducks combined for 10 touchdowns and 1,000+ yards.
Game Notes:
Score: Oklahoma 47, Oregon 32
Recap: Brooks, Williams light up the Alamodome as #16 Oklahoma beats #14 Oregon 47-32 in the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl
Coaches: Oregon: Bryan McClendon, Oklahoma: Bob Stoops
Highlights: Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks rushes for three touchdowns while Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams tosses three touchdowns.
Attendance: 59,121 – 7th highest out of all 43 bowl games.
ESPN Viewership: 4,735,508 – 4th highest of the 37 non-CFP bowl games.
Estimated Total Economic Impact: $35 million to San Antonio
Offensive MVP: RB Kennedy Brooks, Oklahoma
Defensive MVP: S Pat Fields, Oklahoma
Fred Jacoby Sportsmanship Award: OL Alex Forsyth, Oregon
RUN, RUN, RUN
Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks exploded with 142 yards and three touchdowns, earning him the title of 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl Offensive MVP. Brooks tied for the second most rushing touchdowns in Valero Alamo Bowl history. Only Baylor’s Terrance Ganaway beat Brooks with his five touchdowns on the ground during the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl.
DYNAMIC DUO
Oklahoma’s Caleb Williams and Kennedy Brooks are the first pair of teammates in Big 12 history with 3 passing touchdowns and 3 rushing touchdowns in a bowl game, respectively. They are also the first teammates in Valero Alamo Bowl history to accomplish this feat. Washington’s Keith Price threw for four touchdowns and ran for three himself in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl. In the Huskies 67-56 loss to Baylor, Price accounted for seven of his team’s eight touchdowns.
BEST ON THE FIELDS
Oklahoma safety Pat Fields recorded nine tackles including six solo tackles en route to being named the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP.
YOU GET YARDS, EVERYONE GETS YARDS
This year Oklahoma and Oregon combined for 1,061 yards on offense and 53 first downs, both of which are the second most in Valero Alamo Bowl history. Baylor and Washington totaled a record 1,397 yards and 59 first downs in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl.
PICK TURNS TO POINTS
Oklahoma safety Justin Broiles snagged his second career interception on Oregon’s first offensive drive in the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl. The Sooners capitalized on the turnover as Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks capped a nine-play, 54-yard drive after the interception with a 16-yard scurry into the end zone, the first of three Brooks scores.
NEVER SAY DYE
Oregon running back Travis Dye became the fifth Oregon Duck to reach 3,000 career rushing yards with a six-yard run in the middle of the first quarter of the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl. Dye totaled 153 yards on the ground and ran into the end zone once. Dye finished the year with at least 100 yards from scrimmage in 9 of the last 11 games.
MAKING DAD PROUD
Oklahoma wide receiver Drake Stoops, son of Oklahoma interim head coach Bob Stoops, caught his fourth career touchdown pass in the second quarter of the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl.
MARVIN’S MILES
Oklahoma wide receiver Marvin Mims hauled in a 55-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Caleb Williams in the second quarter of the Valero Alamo Bowl. This was Mims’ third touchdown reception of over 50 yards, and Mims caught three of the Sooners’ five longest passes of the 2021 season.
SOONERS SURGE EARLY
Oklahoma’s 30-3 lead over Oregon at halftime of the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl is the second largest halftime lead in Valero Alamo Bowl history. Oregon is responsible for the largest gap at intermission as they led TCU 31-0 in the 2015 Valero Alamo Bowl. TCU came back to win that game 47-41 in three overtime periods.
BOMB FROM BROWN
Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown launched a 66-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dont’e Thornton for the longest touchdown completion of the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl. For the freshman Thornton, this was the longest reception of his young career.
THIRD QUARTER TRACK MEET
Oregon’s 22 and Oklahoma’s 14 points scored in the third quarter of the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl registered as the third highest combined scoring quarter (36) in Valero Alamo Bowl history. Nebraska and Northwestern combined for 45 points in the 2000 SYLVANIA Alamo Bowl while Baylor and Washington combined for 43 points in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl.
TALK ABOUT ACCURATE
Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams completed 21 of his 27 passes, good enough for a 78% completion percentage. That is the highest team percentage and second highest individual mark in Valero Alamo Bowl history. Texas quarterback Casey Thompson came in for an injured Sam Ehlinger to notch the highest completion rate of 80% in the 2020 Valero Alamo Bowl on 8 of 10 throwing.
SEEING DOUBLE
Each team’s star quarterbacks and running backs had the same number (13 and 26, respectively). Sooner quarterback Williams and Ducks quarterback Brown each threw 3 touchdowns, while their running backs Kennedy and Dye ran for 142 and 153 yards, respectively.
NOBODY’S PERFECT
Oklahoma kicker Gabe Brkic, one of three Lou Groza Award finalists, missed his first career PAT on Oklahoma’s first scoring drive in the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl. Brkic had been 154-154 on PATs in four seasons with the Sooners.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
In 2021, the Oklahoma Sooners made their first appearance in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
DOME SWEET DOME
The Sooners are now 2-0 all-time in the Alamodome following their 47-32 victory over Oregon in the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl. In the 2007 Big 12 Football Championship, #9 Oklahoma defeated #1 Missouri 38-17.
THE REPLACEMENTS
For the first time in Valero Alamo Bowl history, two interim head coaches led their respective teams. Bryan McClendon directed the Oregon Ducks following the departure of Mario Cristobal to the University of Miami while Bob Stoops stepped out of retirement for one more game on the Sooners’ sideline after Lincoln Riley left for the University of Southern California.
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
Bob Stoops served as the interim head coach for Oklahoma during the 2021 Valero Alamo Bowl, marking his first game coaching the Sooners since retiring in 2017. With the Sooners’ 47-32 defeat of the Ducks, the 2021 College Football Hall of Fame inductee improved his overall record with Oklahoma to 191-48 (.799) and his bowl record to 10-9 (.526).
PAC-12 HANGOVER
This was the fourth time the Valero Alamo Bowl has hosted the Pac-12 Championship Game runner-up. In the 11 year history of the conference’s Championship game, the runner-up has yet to win their bowl game.
ANOTHER TOP RANKING
In the final AP Top 25 ranking, Oklahoma finished #10 and Oregon was #22. That means for the 6th time in the last 9 years, the Valero Alamo Bowl Champion ended their season ranked in the Top 10. This was the eighth year the Valero Alamo Bowl has matched up the top team from Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences after the CFP selections. The matchup has yielded six Top 15 matchups and teams with a median CFP ranking of 14.
Outside of last year’s shortened season, the Valero Alamo Bowl has hosted at least one 10+ win team in the CFP era, but this year is the first time in the Bowl’s 29 year history it has matched-up two 10+ win teams.
SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
After limiting capacity in the 2020 Valero Alamo Bowl to 11,000, this year’s matchup between Oklahoma and Oregon saw 59,121 watch the game in the 65,000 seat Alamodome. Twenty-five of the Valero 29 Alamo Bowls have been attended by at least 55,000 spectators. Here is the Valero Alamo Bowl all-time attendance list:
66,166 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2007 (Penn State vs. Texas A&M)
65,918 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 30, 2013 (Oregon vs. Texas)
65,875 – Alamo Bowl, December 30, 2006 (Texas vs. Iowa)
65,380 – SYLVANIA Alamo Bowl, December 28, 1999 (Penn State vs. Texas A&M)
65,277 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2012 (Texas vs. Oregon State)
65,265 – MasterCard Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2004 (Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State)
65,256 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2011 (Washington vs. Baylor)
65,232 – SYLVANIA Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2001 (Texas Tech vs. Iowa)
64,757 – Valero Alamo Bowl, January 2, 2010 (Michigan State vs. Texas Tech)
64,597 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 28, 1995 (Michigan vs. Texas A&M)
64,569 – Valero Alamo Bowl, January 2, 2016 (Oregon vs. TCU)
62,016 – MasterCard Alamo Bowl, December 28, 2005 (Michigan vs. Nebraska)
60,780 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 29, 1998 (Kansas State vs. Purdue)
60,675 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 28, 2018 (Iowa State vs. Washington State)
60,517 – Valero Alamo Bowl, January 2, 2015 (Kansas State vs. UCLA)
60,147 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 31, 2019 (Utah vs. Texas)
60,028 – SYLVANIA Alamo Bowl, December 30, 2000 (Nebraska vs. Northwestern)
59,815 – Valero Alamo Bowl, Dec. 29, 2016 (Oklahoma State vs. Colorado)
59,121 – Valero Alamo Bowl, Dec. 29, 2021 (Oregon vs. Oklahoma)
57,653 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 28, 2017 (Stanford vs. TCU)
57,595 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2010 (Arizona vs. Oklahoma State)
56,229 – MasterCard Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2003 (Nebraska vs. Michigan State)
55,986 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2008 (Missouri vs. Northwestern)
55,677 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 29, 1996 (Texas Tech vs. Iowa)
55,552 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 30, 1997 (Oklahoma State vs. Purdue)
50,690 – Alamo Bowl presented by MasterCard, December 28, 2002 (Wisc. vs. Colorado)
45,716 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 31, 1993 (California vs. Iowa)
44,106 – Builders Square Alamo Bowl, December 31, 1994 (Washington State vs. Baylor)
10,822 – Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 2020 (Texas vs. Colorado)*
*City mandated capacity of 11,000 due to COVID
