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If your New Year’s resolution is to watch incredible college football, you’ll be a happy camper come January 2 with this year’s Valero Alamo Bowl.

The national media consensus for the match-up of #15 Oregon (9-3) and #11 TCU (10-2) is “Must See TDs.” This is the second consecutive year the Valero Alamo Bowl has featured two Top-15 teams, with both teams having a strong chance of cracking the Top 10 by season’s end with a win in San Antonio.

With two of America’s most exciting and versatile teams facing off inside the Alamodome, the Valero Alamo Bowl promises to be one of the most exciting bowl games of the year.

To purchase tickets to this year’s Valero Alamo Bowl, click here!

What Others Are Saying

• Mark Schlabach (ESPN) says the Valero Alamo Bowl could be “one of the most entertaining games to watch,” ranking the game as the best non-New Year’s six game.
• Stewart Mandel (Fox Sports) calls the Valero Alamo Bowl a “can’t-miss game,” writing: “TCU with Trevone Boykin healthy was a Top 5 team, and Oregon with Vernon Adams healthy may well have been the same. Both teams in near-peak form should be highly entertaining.”
• Tim Griffin (San Antonio Express-News) says the Valero Alamo Bowl “hit the jackpot” with #15 Oregon and #11 TCU.
• Patrick Stevens (Washington Post) ranks our game as the #2 Bowl game this season, saying: “For pure entertainment value, this might be the best game the postseason has to offer.”
• Matt Brown (Sports On Earth) ranks the Valero Alamo Bowl as the #4 Bowl game this season, claiming: “Put this game indoors on the Alamodome turf and it’s hard to see this as anything but an entertaining shootout.”
• Bill Connelly (SB Nation) ranks the Valero Alamo Bowl #3, labeling it: “Appointment Viewing”
• Richard Dietsch (Sports Illustrated) ranked the Valero Alamo Bowl as the best non-New Year’s bowl.

About The Match-Up

• Oregon and TCU’s only meetings took place in 1977 and 1978. Oregon won the first meeting in Ft. Worth 29-24 and TCU won the second meeting in Oregon 14-10.
• In the 1977 game, Oregon cornerback Kenny Bryant returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter for a 24-3 lead. Bryant never actually reached the end zone but was credited with the score after TCU linebacker Steve Barker came off the bench to tackle him at midfield. The win was the first career win for Oregon’s new head coach at the time, Rich Brooks.
• Oregon and TCU averaged a total of almost 85 combined points this season (Oregon – 43.2, TCU – 41.7). The most combined points scored in Alamo Bowl history is 123 (Baylor vs. Washington, 2011).
• Two potential offensive difference makers in this year’s Valero Alamo Bowl are transfer students. Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams, Jr. transferred this past year from Eastern Washington and TCU running back Aaron Green transferred from Nebraska following the 2011-2012 season.

 

About The Head Coaches

• In three seasons as Head Coach, Mark Helfrich has guided the Oregon Ducks to three consecutive bowl games. Helfrich also led his team to the College Football Playoff National Championship last season.Helfrich is 33-7 as Head Coach at Oregon.
• TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson is 4-0 as a Head Coach vs. Pac-12 opponents. TCU’s last game vs. a Pac-12 team was a 30-21 win over No. 24 Oregon State in 2010.
• Head Coach Gary Patterson was hired to be a coach on the staff of the PSFL’s (Professional Spring Football League) Oregon Lightning Bolts in 1992. Unfortunately, the league folded prior to its inaugural season.

About Oregon

• Oregon’s last game in San Antonio was a 30-7 win vs. Texas in 2013 Valero Alamo Bowl, former Texas Head Coach Mack Brown’s final game. Brown is an ESPN analyst for this year’s Valero Alamo Bowl.
• Oregon freshman defensive back Sean Killpatrick and TCU senior defensive Devin Killpatrick are brothers. The Killpatricks grew up in Pearland, Texas and both wear #31.
• The Ducks finished the regular season 9-3 (7-2 Pac-12), winning their final six games. Oregon has won nine or more games in nine consecutive seasons.
• Oregon will be appearing in their 11th consecutive bowl game and third under Helfrich.
• Oregon Outside Linebackers Coach Erik Chinander played as an offensive linemen in the 2001 SYLVANIA Alamo Bowl with Iowa, a 19-16 win over Texas Tech.
• Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. leads the country with a 179.6 passer rating and threw for a combined 11 touchdowns and one interception over the course of the Ducks’ final three games, all of them wins. Former Washington quarterback Keith Price (2011, vs. Baylor) holds the Alamo Bowl record for touchdown passes (4) and passing yards (438). Former Washington State quarterback Chad Davis’ (1994, vs. Baylor) 77.1% completion percentage (27-35 attempts) is tops in Alamo Bowl history.
• Only one player in the FBS amassed 100 yards or more from scrimmage in every game this season: Oregon running back Royce Freeman.
• Oregon led the Pac-12 in rushing first downs with 164 and was second in the conference in total first downs with 313, just one less than California. Oregon also led the Pac-12 in scoring offense (43.2 avg.), touchdowns (66), total offense (548.2 avg.), total offense yards (6,578), yards per carry (6.1 avg.), and passing yards per completion (14.5 avg.).
• Oregon is one of two FBS programs to have 30+ touchdown passes in every season this decade (Texas Tech) and one of two FBS programs to have 30+ rushing touchdowns in every season since 2008 (Georgia Tech).
• Oregon sophomore cornerback Arrion Springs, a product of Roosevelt High School, is the only player on the roster from San Antonio. He last played in the Alamodome during his little league football championship game. Springs is tied for the Pac-12 lead in passes defended (13).
• Senior defensive end DeForest Buckner was named this year’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and won the 2015 Morris Trophy. He finished the regular season second in the conference with 9.5 sacks and third in the conference with 16 tackles for loss. He is second on the team in tackles with 76, only trailing linebacker Joe Walker (82).
• Buckner became just the second Oregon Duck to win the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year Award and the first Duck to win the award outright. (Haloti Ngata was a co-winner in 2005).
• Oregon led the Pac-12 in kick return yards with 1,336 yards and combined kick return + punt return yards with 1,486 yards. Former Arizona wide receiver Travis Cobb (2010) holds the Alamo Bowl record for kickoff return yards with 179 and former Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (2008) holds the Alamo Bowl record for punt return yards with 82.
• Aidan Schneider, who was named an AP Third Team All-American, was the most accurate kicker in the Pac-12 this year, converting on 91% (20/22) of his field goal attempts. He also led the conference in scoring with 122 points and 62 extra points converted. Josh Brown (Nebraska, 2000) holds the Alamo Bowl record with 9 PATs converted in a game.
• Oregon has four First Team All-Pac-12 selections and two Second Team All-Pac 12 selections. Oregon is one of two teams in the Pac-12 (along with Stanford) with different players representing offense, defense and special teams among the First Team All-Pac-12 selections.
• Oregon has led the Pac-12 in rushing each of the past ten seasons.

 

TCU

• This is TCU’s first ever trip to the Valero Alamo Bowl. TCU last played in San Antonio in 1952, a 47-0 win against Trinity University. The Horned Frogs are 16-4-3 against Trinity dating back to 1901. Their first matchup, at TCU, was a 0-0 tie. TCU’s all-time record in San Antonio is 10-1-1 (all games vs. Trinity).
• TCU’s defense ranks third nationally in forcing an average of 5.6 three-and-outs per game, trailing only Clemson (6.5) & Alabama (6.1).
• TCU has five First Team All-Big 12 selections and three Second Team All-Big 12 selections.
• TCU has four players on its roster from the San Antonio area: Running back Aaron Green (Madison), safety Derrick Kindred (Wagner), linebacker Ty Summers (Reagan) and punter Ethan Perry (Smithson Valley).
• Aaron Green, San Antonio native and Madison High School graduate, will play his final college football game in the same stadium he played his first high school playoff game. Madison lost to Clark High School in that game 28-21 on November 21, 2008.
• The 1,171 yards rushing by Aaron Green this season are the most by a TCU Horned Frog since LaDanian Tomlinson led the nation with 2,158 yards in 2000.
• Trevone Boykin’s streak this season of 7 consecutive games with at least 300 yards passing & 40 yards rushing was longest in the nation in the last 20 years. Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech, 2001) and Billy Dicken (Purdue, 1997) are the only Alamo Bowl quarterbacks to ever throw for 300+ yards and rush for 40+ yards in the bowl game.
• Trevone Boykin is the only TCU quarterback to ever be nominated as a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award. O’Brien played at TCU in the 1930s.
• With 5 games on the line (single digits 4th quarter), quarterback Trevone Boykin is 22-of-32 (68.8 percent) for 270 yards with 4 TDs and no interceptions. Seven out of the last nine Valero Alamo Bowls have been decided in the final quarter of the game.
• In the red zone this season, TCU’s Trevone Boykin has 17 TD passes, no interceptions and eight rushing TDs.
• Wide Receiver Josh Doctson leads the nation with 132.7 receiving YPG. He is the only player in nation ranked in the top 6 of receiving YPG, receptions per game (7.9) and TDs (14). Former Washington wide receiver Jermaine Kearse set the Alamo Bowl record for receiving yards with 198 in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl (Washington lost to Baylor 67-56). Former Kansas State wide receiver Tyler Lockett set the Alamo Bowl record for receptions last year with his 13 catches vs. UCLA.
• TCU’s Josh Doctson & 2-time Biletnikoff Award winner Michael Crabtree are the only players in the last 20 years with six straight games of 100 yards receiving and multiple TD grabs. The record for touchdown receptions in Alamo Bowl history is two, a record held by nine players.
• In Big 12 games only, wide receiver Josh Doctson led the conference with 61 catches & 1,001 yards receiving. His 11 TD catches was just 1 shy of the conference high (Corey Coleman – 12).
• TCU’s Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson are the nation’s 2nd-most prolific active duo for career TD passes with 26.
• KaVontae Turpin has a TCU freshman record 8 TD catches this season, tied for 2nd nationally for all freshmen. The 8 TDs tie for 6th most in a season in TCU history. TCU ranks 2nd nationally with 105 receptions from freshmen this season. Wide receiver KaVontae Turpin leads the team with 40.
• Kicker Jaden Oberkrom is tied for the Big 12 career record with 75 FGs. He ranks 2nd in Big 12 history with a 73.2% conversion rate from 40 or more yards. Kyle Bryant (Texas A&M, 1995) holds the Alamo Bowl record for field goals in a game with five. Josh Brown (Nebraska, 2000) holds the Alamo Bowl record for longest field goal at 51 yards.