The game was previously known as the
Builders Square Alamo Bowl (1993–1998), the
Sylvania Alamo Bowl (1999–2001), and the
MasterCard Alamo Bowl (2002–2005). The logo of the event has evolved to reflect the changes in sponsorship. On May 24, 2007, the Alamo Bowl announced a partnership with San Antonio-based
Valero Energy Corporation, and thus the bowl's full name was changed. The partnership with Valero remained place through the 2025 edition. The game originally gave an automatic invite to a team from the now-defunct
Southwest Conference (SWC). However, in 1993, only two of the eight SWC teams finished with the necessary 6 wins against Division I-A teams to become bowl-eligible, and those two teams were already committed to other bowls, so the
Iowa Hawkeyes of the
Big Ten were invited instead. The SWC was able to provide teams for the next two seasons (
Baylor Bears in 1994 and
Texas A&M Aggies in 1995) before the conference disbanded. During the
1996 Alamo Bowl, the Iowa Hawkeyes wore plain black helmets (removing their tigerhawk logo and gold stripe) in honor of linebacker Mark Mitchell's mother, who died in a car accident while traveling to San Antonio for the game. The
2002 Alamo Bowl played between the
Colorado Buffaloes and
Wisconsin Badgers was the first Alamo Bowl to go into overtime, with the unranked Badgers defeating the No. 14 ranked Buffaloes after kicking a field goal to win 31–28, completing a perfect non-conference schedule at 6-0 (the Badgers finished with a 2-6 record in the Big Ten). The
2005 Alamo Bowl ended with one of the most controversial plays in bowl game history. During the multi-lateral play, almost the entire
Nebraska Cornhuskers team and coaching staff as well as half of the
Michigan Wolverines sideline came onto the field, and the Cornhuskers gave their coach a
Gatorade shower before the play was blown dead. It drew parallels to 1982's "
The Play", 2000's "
Music City Miracle", and 2002's "
Bluegrass Miracle". Nebraska won the game, 32−28, after Michigan was not able to reach the endzone. The
2007 Alamo Bowl between the
Penn State Nittany Lions and the
Texas A&M Aggies was attended by 66,166, an Alamodome facility-record crowd for a sporting event, breaking the previous record set in the
2006 Alamo Bowl. The Nittany Lions won the game, 24–17. The Alamo Bowl has sold out at least seven editions: 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2011. On August 28, 2009, the Alamo Bowl organizers announced they had reached an agreement with the then
Pac-10 Conference to replace the Big Ten in the Alamo Bowl. Under the terms of the agreement, the Pac-10's second-choice team would earn a bid to the Alamo Bowl. The agreement took effect beginning with the 2010 college football season. The Pac-10's second-choice team was previously contracted to play in the
Holiday Bowl against the third choice from the
Big 12 Conference. The Big 12's third-choice also moved to the Alamo Bowl, with the Holiday Bowl receiving third choice of team from the Pac-10 and the fourth choice from the Big Ten. The 2009 agreement persisted through the expansion of the Pac-10 when it became the
Pac-12 Conference in 2011. In the
2011 Alamo Bowl, the Baylor Bears and Washington Huskies combined to score 123 points, breaking the record for the most points scored in a bowl game in college football history. Baylor won the game, 67–56. The 2011 game was also the first Alamo Bowl to feature a season's
Heisman Trophy winner, Baylor's
Robert Griffin III. For bowls following the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Pac-12 "legacy schools" (former Pac-12 schools who left the conference in 2024) continued to fulfill their prior conference's tie-in role. ==Game results==