The 2023 Alamo Bowl was a

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 December 28, 2023, 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 31st annual

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

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

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

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

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 ...

. The game began at approximately 8:15 p.m. CST and was aired 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 ...

. The Alamo Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The bowl was sponsored by

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

and was officially known as the Valero Alamo Bowl. The 2023 Alamo Bowl was the 6th highest attended bowl game in the 2023-24 bowl season, the highest among the non New Year’s Six bowls and beating the NY6 Fiesta Bowl (mainly due to Oregon being expected to blow out Liberty).

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured the

from the

and

from the

. This was the third meeting between the two teams; entering the game, the series was tied, 1–1. Arizona won their most recent prior matchup, in 1989.

Arizona

Arizona entered the bowl with a 9–3 record (7–2 in Pac-12), finishing third in their conference. The Wildcats opened the season with three losses in their first six gams, then won their final six games. They entered the bowl ranked 14th in both the AP poll and

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 ...

rankings. This was Arizona's second Alamo Bowl; the Wildcats previously lost the 2010 edition. This was Arizona's final game as a member of the Pac-12, as the Wildcats committed to join the Big 12 for the 2024 season.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma entered the bowl with 10–2 record (7–2 in Big 12), finishing tied for second in their conference. The Sooners began the season looking to improve on their 2022 season (6-6) and make a return to their conference championship game. Starting the season by winning its slate of non-conference games, Oklahoma continued its success into conference games beating Cincinnati, Iowa State, Texas, and UCF before suffering consecutive loses to Kansas and Oklahoma State. Following those losses, Oklahoma beat West Virginia, BYU, and TCU to finish the season on a three-game winning streak. The loss to Oklahoma State resulted in Oklahoma not being selected to the

2023 Big 12 Championship Game The 2023 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on December 2, 2023, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was the 22nd edition of the Big 12 Championship Game, and determined the champion of the Big 12 Conference for the ...

. The Sooners entered the bowl ranked 12th in both the AP poll and College Football Playoff rankings. This was Oklahoma's second Alamo Bowl; they previously won the 2021 edition. This was Oklahoma's final game as a member of the Big 12, as the Sooners committed to move to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) for the 2024 season.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Arizona Wildcats bowl game navbox

Alamo Bowl

Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games Arizona Wildcats football bowl games