Alamo Bowl set for Big 12-Pac-12 matchup: Texas vs. Colorado

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (December 28, 2020) The 2020 edition of the Valero Alamo Bowl is set for an 8 p.m. CST kickoff at The Alamodome. The No. 20 Texas Longhorns (6-3, 5-3 Big 12) is led by heach coach Tom Herman will face the Colorado Buffaloes (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12), with first-year head coach Karl Dorrell.

 

Herman is in his sixth season overall as a head coach with a career record of 53-22 (.707). He is in his fourth season at Texas with a mark of 31-18 (.633). He won his 50th career game as a head coach in a 27-16 triumph over Baylor on Oct. 24, 2020 and his 30th game at Texas one week later, as the Longhorns bested West Virginia, 17-13, in Austin.

His 30 wins are the fourth-most by a UT coach during his first four seasons at the helm in Austin and has a career mark of 15-10 against top-25 opponents, 6-6 against top-10 foes and 3-3 versus teams ranked in the top five.  Including the 2020 season, Herman has spent 17 of his 23 seasons as a coach in the state of Texas on the collegiate level. 

The 27th head coach in CU history,  Dorrell started 4-0 in his CU coaching career; only Harry Heller (won his first seven in 1894), Willis Kleinholtz (six in 1905), T.W. Mortimer (five in 1900) and Rick Neuheisel (five in 1995) won as many or more to open their CU careers (and Dorrell was OC on Neuheisel’s staff). Dorrell was the sixth CU coach to open 3-0 in conference games, but the first since Jim Yeager in 1941. On Decemeber 22, he was named the Pac-12’s Coach of the Year (presented by Nextiva), the sixth coach to be recognized throughout CU’s history with the honor. 

 Of the 23 new head coaches in 2020, he was the last of the group who was undefeated come Dec. 6.  He is the third CU head coach to lead the Buffs to a bowl game in his first season, joining Neuheisel (’96 Cotton) and Gary Barnett (’99 Insight.com). In addition, he is the first CU coach in his first season to have his team go from unranked to ranked (No. 21 AP, No. 22 USAT/Coaches on Dec. 6; No. 21 CFP on Dec. 8).