2010 Alamo Bowl (January)

This article is about the Alamo Bowl that followed the 2009 season, played on January 2, 2010. For the game that followed the 2010 season, played on December 29, 2010, see 2010 Alamo Bowl (December).

2010 Valero Alamo Bowl
Michigan State Spartans Texas Tech Red Raiders
(6–6) (8–4)
Big Ten Big 12
31 41
Head coach: 
Mark Dantonio		 Head coach: 
Ruffin McNeill
(interim)
1234 Total
Michigan State 77143 31
Texas Tech 713714 41
DateJanuary 2, 2010
Season2009
StadiumAlamodome
LocationSan Antonio, Texas
MVPOffensive: Taylor Potts (QB, Texas Tech)
Defensive: Jamar Wall (Texas Tech)
FavoriteTexas Tech by 9 [1]
National anthemAlamo City Brass
RefereeTom Ritter (Southeastern Conference)
Attendance64,757[2]
PayoutUS$2,200,000 (As of 2006)
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
AnnouncersMike Patrick, Bob Davie
and Holly Rowe
Nielsen ratings4.8[3]
Alamo Bowl
 < 2008 2010 (Dec) > 

The 2010 Alamo Bowl (known via corporate sponsorship as the Valero Alamo Bowl) was a college football bowl game played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday, January 2, 2010. It was the 17th edition of the Alamo Bowl. The game featured the Michigan State Spartans against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.[4][5]

The 2010 game was the last one to feature a team from the Big Ten Conference. In the fall of 2009, it was announced that the Pacific-10 Conference's second-place team would take part in the Alamo Bowl instead of the Holiday Bowl.[6][7]

This was the third Alamo Bowl appearance and first Alamo Bowl win for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Their previous appearance was a 19–16 loss to Iowa in the 2001 game. Michigan State played in one previous Alamo Bowl, losing the 2003 game to Nebraska, 17–3. The game also marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

With approximately 5,553,630 households watching it, the game was the most viewed Alamo Bowl in history. It also drew the highest rating of any bowl ever shown by ESPN. Behind the BCS bowl games and the Capital One Bowl, it was the most viewed bowl shown up to that point in the 2009–10 bowl season.[8]

  1. ^ "College Football Texas Tech Red Raiders Team Page at VegasInsider.com, The Leader in Sportsbook and Gaming Information". VegasInsider.com. February 11, 2010. Archived from the original on March 5, 2010. Retrieved May 19, 2010.
  2. ^ "Bowl Ranks #1 as ESPN's Most-Watched Game". Valero Alamo Bowl. January 5, 2010. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  3. ^ Jon Solomon, 2009-10 Bowl TV Ratings, The Birmingham News, January 13, 2010
  4. ^ "Stanford in Sun Bowl". Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  5. ^ "Texas Tech Accepts Valero Alamo Bowl Invitation". Texas Tech Athletics. December 6, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  6. ^ Griffin, Tim (August 28, 2008). "Valero Alamo Bowl, Pacific-10 Conference agree on deal starting in 2010 season". Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  7. ^ "Holiday Bowl drops down in the pecking order". Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
  8. ^ Griffin, Tim (January 5, 2009). "Alamo Bowl draws largest rating in ESPN bowl history". ESPN. Retrieved January 6, 2009.