Coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes have been selected to face BYU in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio Dec. 28, creating an all-Big 12 Conference matchup between two Rocky Mountain teams that haven’t played each other in 36 years.
The matchup became official Sunday after the College Football Playoff made its selections, leaving the Alamo Bowl to pick which remaining teams it wanted from the Big 12 and former Pac-12 conferences. The Alamo Bowl then took the Buffs (9-3) with the first pick of eligible teams from the former Pac-12.
They will play a prime-time game against the Cougars (10-2), the first non-playoff team taken from the Big 12. Both teams were part of a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 this year but haven’t played each other since the Freedom Bowl in 1988, when BYU won 20-17, despite two touchdowns from Colorado running back Eric Bieniemy.
“We are so happy,” Sa
Several bowl games still have contracts with the Pac-12 to select teams from that league even though the conference collapsed this year and only has two current members. Colorado rejoined the Big 12 this year and was one of 10 teams that left the Pac-12 for other conferences.nders said Sunday on an Alamo Bowl announcement event. “You have no idea how appreciative we are
Instead of redoing the contracts to reflect conference realignment, the Alamo Bowl still will select the first non-playoff teams from each of those two pools of candidates in 2024 and 2025.
Oregon, a former Pac-12 team, won a spot in the 12-team playoff as the Big Ten champion. So did former Pac-12 member Arizona State, which won the Big 12 championship Saturday against Iowa State.
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