The Alamo Bowl will be a glorified Big 12 game.
The bowl announced which schools you are considering for the game on Thursday, December 28. And all four are in the Big 12.
Iowa State, BYU, Arizona State and Colorado are the four teams under Alamo Bowl consideration. The four tied for first place in the Big 12 at 7-2, and ISU and ASU will meet Saturday for the Big 12 title. The winner of that game will automatically qualify for the College Football Playoff.
If Arizona State wins, Colorado will go to the Alamo Bowl and play Iowa State. If Iowa State wins, BYU will go to the Alamo Bowl and play either Arizona State or Colorado. We’re not entirely sure why the state of Arizona is considered. The only meeting between the four teams in the regular season was ASU’s Week 13 victory over BYU. As fun and chaotic as the ending to that game was, we don’t need a rematch in the bowl game. We would rather watch a game between BYU and Colorado.
The Alamo Bowl is choosing teams from the Big 12 due to the demise of the Pac-12. The game had traditionally pitted teams between the Big 12 and Pac-12 until only Oregon State and Washington State were left standing ahead of the 2024 football season.
The bowl announced before the season that a Big 12 team matchup was possible with the two groups of teams it had to choose from. The “Big 12 Group” contained the 12 teams that were in the conference in 2023 and 2024. The “Old Pac-12 Group” contained the four Pac-12 teams that joined the Big 12 during the offseason, the Oregon State and Washington State. Cal, Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
Oregon Heads to College Football Playoffs; Arizona, UCLA, Utah, Stanford and Oregon State failed to qualify for a bowl game; and Washington State has the best record outside of anyone other than Arizona State and Colorado at 8-4. You can see why the Alamo Bowl picks among the current Big 12 teams. Although it is strange to see a conference game during the holidays.