The 2015 Alamo Bowl was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on January 2, 2015, at the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. The 22nd edition of the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the second ...

featured the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The School colors, official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are gener ...

from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

and the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

from the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. It was televised at 5:45 p.m. CST on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and heard on the

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that conclude the 2014 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by the

Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based Petroleum industry, fuels producer mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels and other petrochemical, related products. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United ...

and was officially known as the Valero Alamo Bowl. The Bruins defeated the Wildcats, 40–35, and ended the season with 10 wins.

Teams

This was the third overall meeting between these two teams, with the series standing tied, 1–1 before the game. The last time these two teams met was in 2010.

Kansas State

Kansas State entered the season ranked #20 in the preseason polls, and were predicted as one of the teams that could win the

. After winning their first two games, the Wildcats lost to then 5th-ranked Auburn 20-14 to fall to 2-1. The Wildcats then won 5-straight games to improve to 7-1, including a 31-30 win over

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and rose to #7 in the rankings. They would then lose 41-20 to

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

for their first loss of Conference play. After beating

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, Kansas State lost their season finale to Baylor 38-27 to finish 9-3, with a 7-2 conference record

UCLA

The UCLA Bruins were ranked No. 7 in preseason national polls, and were expected to contend for not only one of the four berths in the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

, but also the national championship. They started the season 4–0, often struggling, before suffering consecutive home losses to the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

and

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

. After dropping out of the polls, they re-emerged as playoff contenders with five straight wins. However, UCLA lost their final home game to the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. A win in the Alamo Bowl would give the Bruins their ninth 10-win season in school history, and it would be just the third time in their history that they have won 10 games in consecutive seasons.

Game summary

No. 14 UCLA jumped to a large halftime lead and held on for a 40–35 win over No. 11 Kansas State. Paul Perkins scored on a 67-yard run to give the Bruins a 40–28 lead with just over two minutes left in the game, and he helped recover an

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff (under American and Canadian rules) or punt (under Canadian rules only) deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a t ...

to seal the game after the Wildcats final score. He finished with a career-high 194 yards with two touchdowns, and was named the bowl's offensive

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP). UCLA ran for 331 yards, including 96 by

Brett Hundley Brett Alan Hundley Jr. (born June 15, 1993) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins football, UCLA Bruins, where he was the school's career leader in both total of ...

. After making a team-high 10 tackles, including three for a loss, the Bruins'

Eric Kendricks Eric-Nathan Marvin Kendricks (born February 29, 1992) is an American professional football linebacker who is a free agent of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins. As a senior in 2014, he won the Butk ...

was voted the game's defensive MVP. The win earned UCLA their second straight 10–3 season, and their first consecutive bowl victories since winning eight in a row from 1983 through 1991. UCLA's Hundley ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter, when he also completed nine of 11 passes for 85 yards. The Bruins led 31–6 at the half after holding Kansas State to just 87 total yards. However, the Wildcats rallied to score 15 straight points and controlled the ball for almost 13 minutes in the third quarter. They pulled to within 34–28 after a touchdown with five minutes remaining. The scoring drive was extended by two penalties by UCLA, who had 15 for an Alamo Bowl record 128 yards. UCLA responded with Perkins' touchdown run on a second-and-13 play, extending the lead to 40–28. The Wildcats came as close as 40–35 with 1:21 remaining after

Tyler Lockett Tyler Deron Lockett (born September 28, 1992) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats. He played 10 seasons in t ...

caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Jake Waters, but the comeback ended after their failed onside attempt. Hundley accounted for three touchdowns and threw for 136 yards, but completed only three of 13 passes after the first quarter. The UCLA defense had a season-high seven sacks after entering the contest averaging just 1.8 (22 in 12 games). Perkins finished the season as the Pac-12 rushing leader with 1,575 yards. Kendricks led the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

with 149 solo tackles. Kansas State's Lockett had an Alamo Bowl record 13 receptions for 164 yards, and tied the bowl record with two TD receptions. His 249

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing ...

were also a bowl record. Waters was 31-of-48 passing for 338 yards, but was intercepted twice and lost a fumble.

Scoring summary

Source:

Statistics

References

{{UCLA Bruins bowl game navbox

Alamo Bowl Kansas State Wildcats football bowl games UCLA Bruins football bowl games

January 2015 sports events in the United States