Texas Bowl

Texas Bowl
Stadium	NRG Stadium
Location	Houston, Texas
Operated	2006–present
Conference tie-ins	Big 12, SEC
Previous conference tie-ins	Big East/C-USA/MWC (alternating years) (2006–2009) Big Ten (2010–2013)
Payout	US$6.4 million (2019)[1]
Preceded by	Houston Bowl
Sponsors
Meineke Car Care (2011–2012) AdvoCare (2014–2016) Academy Sports + Outdoors (2017–2019) Mercari (2020) TaxAct (2021–2023)
Former names
Texas Bowl (2006–2010) Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (2011–2012) Texas Bowl (2013) AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl (2014–2016) Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (2017–2019) Mercari Texas Bowl (2020, game canceled) TaxAct Texas Bowl (2021–2023)
2023 matchup
Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M (Oklahoma State 31–23)
2024 matchup
(December 31, 2024)

The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced the defunct Houston Bowl, which was played annually from 2000 to 2005, and before that the Bluebonnet Bowl, the first bowl game in Houston, played from 1959 through 1987.

Speculation surfaced questioning the long-term survival of the former Houston Bowl. The three-year contract with EV1.net expired on December 31, 2005, leaving the bowl game without a title sponsor. A college football official told the Houston Chronicle that the bowl was in danger of ceasing operations, as a result of the game losing its title sponsor and because the Houston Bowl still owed roughly $600,000 to the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences following the 2005 game.^[2] However, the NCAA approved Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, a division of the Houston Texans, who also play in Reliant Stadium, to take over game management. In July 2006, the NFL Network acquired TV rights and naming rights to the bowl.^[3]

The Texas Bowl name and logo were officially unveiled on August 10, 2006, at a press conference along with conference affiliations for the bowl spots. The Big 12, Big East and Conference USA will be affiliated with the game, as well as Texas Christian University of the Mountain West. The 2006 matchup featured teams from the Big 12 and Big East Conferences.^[4]

On December 3, 2006, Rutgers accepted an invitation to play Kansas State in the inaugural Texas Bowl. "We're ecstatic about having Rutgers," Texas Bowl director David Brady said. "This is a top-15 team that was three yards away from a BCS game. We couldn't be happier to have them here."^[5]

2010 marked the eleventh consecutive year a bowl game has played in Houston, and the 40th year overall with a bowl game there (the Bluebonnet Bowl lasted 29 years). It was also announced on December 30, 2009, that ESPN Events would take over as part owner and operator of the game, while Lone Star Sports and Entertainment will maintain a stake in the bowl, and would be carried on ESPN.

On April 12, 2011, ESPN announced Meineke Car Care signed a three-year title sponsorship deal beginning in 2011, changing name of the bowl to the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.^[6]

On February 12, 2014, it was announced that AdvoCare will be the title sponsor for the bowl game.^[7] That sponsorship concluded after the 2016 game.

On November 15, 2017, Academy Sports + Outdoors became the new title sponsor of the bowl.^[8][9] That sponsorship concluded after the 2019 game.

On December 14, 2020, Mercari was announced as the new title sponsor of the game.^[10] The 2020 game was later canceled due to COVID-19 issues.^[11]

On November 24, 2021, TaxAct was named as the new title sponsor of both the Texas Bowl and the Camellia Bowl.^[12] This arrangement remained in place through the 2023 edition.

On May 17, 2007, it was announced Conference USA would have a team in the 2007 Texas Bowl. The Texas Bowl has a rotating commitment with the Big East Conference and Conference USA for 2006–09 while the Big 12 Conference will have a team in all four of those games. In 2007, TCU took the place of the Big 12 team when Kansas and Oklahoma were put into the BCS, and Houston, a "home team," represented C-USA. The conferences would receive $612,500 each as per the rules of the agreements as usually, the Big East (or Big 12) would have received $750,000 for playing and C-USA would have received a $500,000 stipend for their team playing.

According to Sports Illustrated, in 2008 the bowl required Western Michigan University to purchase 11,000 tickets at full price in order to accept the invitation to play in the bowl. The university was only able to sell 548 tickets at that price, forcing it to accept a $462,535 loss, before travel expenses, to pay for the privilege of playing in the bowl.^[13]

The 2020 edition, slated for December 31 between TCU and Arkansas, was cancelled on December 29 due to COVID-19 issues within the TCU program.^[11]

Rankings are based on the AP Poll prior to the game being played.

Source:^[15]
† LSU's win in the 2015 edition was vacated in 2023 by the NCAA for a booster-related violation.^[16]

Source:^[17][18][19]

Updated through the December 2023 edition (17 games, 34 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances

‡ LSU's win in the 2015 edition was vacated by the NCAA in 2023.

Teams with a single appearance

Won (7): Arkansas, Illinois, Navy, Rice, Rutgers, Syracuse, TCU
Lost (5): Houston, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Western Michigan

Updated through the December 2023 edition (17 games, 34 total appearances).

‡ LSU's vacated victory following the 2015 season is excluded from the SEC's win–loss totals and winning percentage.

• Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
• Rutgers appeared in 2006 as a member of the Big East; the American Athletic Conference (The American) retains the conference charter following the 2013 split of the original Big East along football lines.
• Independent appearances: Navy (2009)

The first three editions of the bowl were televised by NFL Network. Since 2009, it has been carried by ESPN.

• Official website