college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
played on January 2, 2016, at the
Alamodome
The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...
in
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
. The 23rd edition of the
Alamo Bowl
The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...
featured the Oregon Ducks from the
Pac-12 Conference
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
and the TCU Horned Frogs from the
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and heard on
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
Valero Energy Corporation
Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Can ...
and was officially known as the Valero Alamo Bowl.
The Horned Frogs trailed 31-0 at halftime, but an injury to Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. just before the halftime break would result in a scoreless second half for the Ducks. TCU scored on all 9 possessions after halftime (6 in the second half and 3 in overtime), completing the comeback in the second half with a late field goal. The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime and field goals in the second. The Horned Frogs scored in the third extra period, failed their 2-point conversion, but held the Ducks out of the end zone. The 31-point comeback tied the largest comeback in NCAA college football bowl game history with the 2006 Insight Bowl.
Teams
Oregon from the Pac-12 Conference (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) and TCU from the Big 12 Conference (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) were announced to play in this bowl game on December 6, 2015. They arrived on December 27 and 28.
Oregon
The 2015 season for the Oregon Ducks was a tale of two teams. A finger injury during the first game would keep Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. sidelined or completely ineffective for a month and by the time Adams returned to form the Ducks stood at 3-3. With a healthy Adams at the helm, the Oregon Ducks finished the season by winning their last 6 games, including a road win over Stanford, a division rival ranked #7 nationally.
TCU
Starting the 2015 season by winning 8 straight games, the TCU Horned Frogs finished the season by winning 2 of their last 4 games, including a 28–21 double overtime victory over rival Baylor.
The Frogs were playing the bowl game without two key offensive starters. Wide receiver
Josh Doctson
Josh Doctson (born December 3, 1992) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Texas Christian and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He has also been ...
, a first-team All-American this season, did not play in the Frogs' final two regular-season games due to a wrist injury that required surgery, and was ultimately ruled out of the bowl game. Quarterback
Trevone Boykin
Trevone Dequan Boykin (born August 22, 1993) is an American football quarterback for Galgos de Tijuana of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA). He played college football at Texas Christian University (TCU) and was signed by the Se ...
was suspended from the team for a violation of team rules; according to multiple media reports, he had been involved in a bar fight in San Antonio early in the morning of December 31, and was alleged to have swung at multiple police officers and struck one. Boykin faced several criminal charges in the wake of the incident, the most serious being a felony charge of assaulting a public servant. The suspension caused a dramatic change in the
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
betting line, with TCU going from a 1-point favorite to a 7-point underdog.
After Boykin's suspension, Patterson turned to Bram Kohlhausen, a fifth-year seniorwalk-on, to start at quarterback. As a high school senior in 2010, he had been rated by ESPN above both Boykin and future
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
Johnny Manziel
Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a mem ...
, and he started his college career at
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, redshirting in 2011. After seeing little playing time in 2012, he went to the junior college ranks, playing the 2013 season at
Los Angeles Harbor College
Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC) is a public community college in Wilmington, California. It is one of two community colleges serving the South Bay region of Los Angeles. LAHC serves mainly students from Harbor City, Carson, San Pedro, Ga ...
in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and then walking on at TCU. This game would be Kohlhausen's first and only career start at the FBS level.
Game summary
Scoring summary
Source:
Statistics
Aftermath
Two days after the game, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich demoted defensive coordinator Don Pellum to linebackers coach. Pellum, a former Ducks linebacker who had been involved with the program for more than 30 years as a player, administrator, and coach, had been criticized for the shortcomings of Oregon's defense in 2015. The Ducks finished the season ranked 93rd or worse (among 128 FBS teams) in eight defensive categories, and had set a school record for most points allowed per game at 37.5. The Ducks also lost outside linebackers coach Erik Chinander, who accepted the defensive coordinator position at UCF.
Shortly after Kohlhausen was named offensive MVP for the game, he found out that TCU had begun the process of placing him on scholarship for his final semester in spring 2016.
See also
* Houston Oilers at Buffalo Bills, 1993 Wildcard Playoff – Bills come back from a 35–3 third-quarter deficit to win in overtime. Known in NFL lore as "The Comeback".
* Monday Night Miracle – The New York Jets, trailing the Miami Dolphins 30–7 entering the fourth quarter, tie the game at 30 and 37 in that quarter, winning in overtime
*
2006 Michigan State vs. Northwestern football game
The 2006 Michigan State vs. Northwestern football game featured the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history.2006 Insight Bowl – the only other comeback from a 31-point deficit in any bowl game
* Choke at Doak - Florida State comes back from 31-3 deficit in fourth quarter to tie the game with the Florida Gators, 31-31, before the inception of overtime in Division I-A College Football
*
Super Bowl LI
Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...
- Patriots rally from 28-3 deficit to win 34-28 in overtime. As such, the game is commonly referred to as "28-3" due to the Falcons choke.
*
2015 Armed Forces Bowl (January)
The 2015 Armed Forces Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on January 2, 2015, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. The twelfth annual Armed Forces Bowl, it matc ...
- Houston rallies from 31-6 deficit with 11 minutes remaining in 4th quarter to beat Pittsburgh 35-34. This remains the largest 4th quarter comeback in college football bowl history.