Ducks accept bid to Alamo Bowl

EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Oregon has accepted a bid to participate in the 21st annual Valero Alamo Bowl Dec. 30 in San Antonio. The No. 10 Ducks (10-2) will Texas (8-4) from the Big 12 Conference.

Kickoff for the Monday night contest to be televised by ESPN at the Alamodome is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. PST as the two schools will face one another for the sixth time in history and first time since 2000 on the football field.

It will mark the sixth consecutive bowl appearance for Oregon and 21st in 25 seasons. The Ducks string of consecutive BCS bowl bids ends at four, one of only six teams in the BCS era to accomplish that feat.

Oregon is coming off back-to-back bowl victories, beating No. 7 Kansas State in the 2013 Fiesta Bowl (35-17) and No. 9 Wisconsin in the 2012 Rose Bowl Game (45-38). The Longhorns, which fell out of the AP Top 25 poll after yesterday's loss to Big 12 champion Baylor, will be the Ducks' first unranked bowl opponent since Wake Forest in the 2002 Seattle Bowl.

"It is a great honor for the Ducks to play in the Valero Alamo Bowl," said first-year head coach Mark Helfrich. "Our team will be very excited to represent the University of Oregon and the Pac 12 Conference in San Antonio.

"Competing against an iconic Texas football program will present a tremendous challenge that will spur our preparation."

Oregon is the third-highest ranked team to ever play in the Alamo Bowl behind No. 4 Kansas State in 1998 and No. 8 Northwestern in 2000.

The Ducks are coming off their sixth straight 10-win season, which is tied for the eighth-longest streak in FBS history. UO is the only program in the nation to finish the regular season ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press top 25 poll the past five seasons.