K-State Nation is heading to San Antonio for the first time in 16 years as Kansas State Athletics Director John Currie announced today that the 11th-ranked Wildcats have accepted an invitation to play No. 14 UCLA in the 2015 Valero Alamo Bowl on January 2.
The game, one of the most widely watched and attended of all bowl games, will be played inside San Antonio’s Alamodome at 5:45 p.m. CT, with a nationwide television audience watching on ESPN.
“Following our 13th nine-win regular season under Coach Snyder, we are excited to showcase our football program, Kansas State University and our national alumni and fan base in the Alamo Bowl, and I am pleased to accept the invitation on behalf of President Kirk Schulz, Coach Snyder and our entire institution,” said Currie. “I know our fans, including our many Texas-based alumni, are excited to turn San Antonio purple, while a week at the Alamo Bowl will be a first-class experience for our football student-athletes.”
The Wildcats (9-3) will be playing in their 18th bowl game in school history and 16th under Bill Snyder as the Cats are 7-8 all-time in bowls under the legendary head coach. Following 11 straight bowls from 1993-2003 under Snyder, the Cats have now gone bowling in each of the last five seasons and are coming off a win over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. K-State has appeared in the Alamo Bowl one other time in program history (1998).
“The selection to the Valero Alamo Bowl provides a fitting end to a very successful season for our football team,” said Schulz. “We are confident the K-State family will follow tradition and bring the purple to San Antonio. Congratulations to Coach Snyder, his staff and our hard-working student-athletes for this postseason honor.”
The Wildcats’ nine regular season victories in 2014 included home wins over Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and road wins at No. 11 Oklahoma and West Virginia. K-State also kept the Governor’s Cup trophy in Manhattan for the sixth straight season under Snyder with a 51-13 win over in-state rival Kansas.
In addition to a school-record and Big 12-leading 29 selections to the Academic All-Big 12 team and national academic accolades by Tyler Lockett (NFF National Scholar Athlete) and Curry Sexton (Academic All-American), excitement in Wildcat football was also evidenced by seven sellout crowds at Bill Snyder Family Stadium this season which ran K-State’s consecutive sellout streak to 20 games.
“We are proud of the young men in our program and very pleased to represent the Big 12 Conference in the Valero Alamo Bowl,” said Snyder. “Our team still has a chance to accomplish something special this season and finish the year with 10 victories. The Alamo Bowl is a first-class bowl organization and we appreciate Derrick Fox and the entire bowl staff for their efforts and support of college football.”
The Bruins (9-3) finished the season ranked 14th and with a 6-3 record in conference play.
K-State has faced UCLA two times heading into this bowl matchup. The Wildcats are 1-1 against the Bruins with UCLA winning a 2009 matchup in Pasadena, while K-State answered with a win in Manhattan the following season.
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Story from K-State sports information department
