In what has seemingly become old hat for the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns football team, Steve Sarkisian’s program will play its final game of the season 80 miles to the south in San Antonio.
Austin-based media outlets reported that 20th-ranked UT drew an Alamo Bowl matchup against the No. 12 Washington Huskies on Sunday after a Saturday in which the Longhorns eyed the TCU-Kansas State Big XII championship game, which the Horned Frogs lost 31-28.
The 30th edition of the Alamo Bowl will be played on Dec. 29 at 8 p.m.
According to a UT-issued press release, Sarkisian said that the Longhorns are excited and grateful for the bowl selection.
“This is a heck of a matchup,” the second-year head coach said.
Sarkisian is very familiar with Washington as he himself led the Huskies to four consecutive bowl games in the early part of last decade, per the release.
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that UT has a purported homefield advantage in the Alamo Bowl given the school’s soon-to-be five appearances in the past 10 years.
KXAN reported that it’ll be the seventh time the Longhorns played in a bowl game based in the Lone Star State.
The last time UT was in the Alamo Bowl – two years ago – it easily defeated the Colorado Buffaloes 55-23 behind a 183-yard, one-score performance from junior rusher Bijan Robinson, Austin Journal reported.
Robinson, who’s recognized as one of the best running backs in the nation, finished 2022 as the lone Longhorn to amass more than 1,500 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards in a season, the program tweeted.
The Arizona native and recent All-Big XII first team selection could enter the Alamo Bowl with at least one more accolade to his name.
“The kid is dynamite,” Heisman Award winner Earl Campbell, who led the Longhorns’ rushing attack in the mid-1970s before starring for the now-defunct Houston Oilers, said of Robinson, per UT. “You cannot question his overall value to his team. He has a will to win and his teammates respect that.”