Texas won’t have to travel far for its first bowl appearance in three years.
The Longhorns will face Missouri in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 at NRG Stadium in Houston. Kickoff will be at 8 p.m. The matchup was announced on Sunday afternoon.
“I know the bowl staff there runs a first class operation, and the city of Houston will be excited to have the Longhorns in town,” head coach Tom Herman said in a statement. “For our team, it will be an added bonus that so many of their friends and family will have a chance to see them play, and I’m sure our fans will help fill NRG Stadium. We’re hard at work in Austin now getting ready for the game, and look forward to getting to Houston for bowl week in a couple of weeks.”
Texas and Missouri will meet again for the first time since 2011, when the Longhorns lost 17-5 in Columbia, Missouri. The Longhorns hold a 17–6 all-time record over Missouri, a former Big 12 Conference opponent. The Tigers left the Big 12 for the SEC along with Texas A&M after the 2011 season.
Texas is going bowling for the first time since 2014, former head coach Charlie Strong’s first season.
The Longhorns’ bowl appearance that year just so happened to be in the Texas Bowl against Arkansas. Texas lost 31-7 in a game that is now infamous in Austin for the Longhorns’ offensive no-show. Texas gained just 59 total yards against the Razorbacks that night and was dominated in possession time. The Longhorns controlled the ball for just 18:50 of game time.
After finishing the regular season 6–6 in Herman’s first year as head coach, the Longhorns will head to Houston in a bit of a deja vu scenario. A loss would give the Longhorns a 6–7 finish in 2017, the same result as Strong’s first season in Austin.
But a win would give Texas its first winning season since 2013 when it finished 8–5, the final year of former head coach Mack Brown’s tenure.