By Reggie Gatlin-Holt
VALERO ALAMO BOWL
OKLAHOMA BOWL HISTORY
https://soonersports.com/sports/2019/8/14/208798504
NORMAN — Oklahoma will make its 57th bowl appearance — and school-record 25th in a row — when it faces Arizona in the 31st Valero Alamo Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 28, in San Antonio, Texas. OU’s bowl destination was announced Sunday afternoon.
The Alamo Bowl, to be played at the Alamodome, is scheduled to kick off at 8:15 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN. This will mark the second appearance in the Alamo Bowl for both programs. No. 14 Oklahoma beat No. 15 Oregon 47-32 in the 2021 game, while unranked Arizona lost 36-10 to No. 16 Oklahoma State in the 2010 contest.
Playing under second-year head coach Brent Venables, the Sooners, who are No. 12 in the final College Football Playoff ranking, own a 10-2 overall record and posted a 7-2 mark in the Big 12 to tie for second place. Arizona, No. 14 in the CFP ranking, is 9-3 under third-year head coach Jedd Fisch and finished third in the Pac-12 Conference at 7-2.
The Alamo Bowl will feature two of the nation’s top offenses. OU ranks third nationally out of 130 teams in scoring offense (43.2 ppg) and fifth in total offense (502.4 ypg), while Arizona ranks 25th (34.3 ppg) and 18th (453.4 ypg). After a 3-3 season start, the Wildcats have won their last six games and are averaging 38.8 points per contest during the stretch.
Oklahoma and Arizona have split their two-game all-time series. Under head coach Barry Switzer, No. 4 OU posted a 28-10 win on Sept. 17, 1988, in Norman. The following year, under head coach Gary Gibbs, the No. 6 Sooners lost a 6-3 contest on Sept. 16 in Tucson. Coached by Dick Tomey, the Wildcats were unranked in both games.
OU is making its 57th bowl appearance, fourth most nationally, and owns a 31-24-1 all-time bowl record. Thirty-nine of those 57 have come in bowls that comprise the current New Year’s Six (Orange [20], Sugar [8], Fiesta [5], Cotton [3], Rose [2] and Peach [1]). The 39 does not include OU’s BCS National Championship appearance against Florida in the 2008 season.
The Sooners are making their 25th straight bowl appearance. It is by far the longest streak in school history (the previous record was eight in a row from the 1975-82 seasons under Switzer), the longest ever by a current Big 12 program and the second-longest active streak nationally behind Georgia’s 27.
COURTESY OKLAHOMA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
