1993 Alamo Bowl


The 1993 Alamo Bowl was played on December 31, 1993, featuring the California Golden Bears and the Iowa Hawkeyes. California won this inaugural edition of the Alamo Bowl, 37–3.

Teams

The bowl had planned to feature the third place team from the Texas-based Southwest Conference against the fourth place team from the Pacific-10 Conference.
However, only two of the SWC's eight teams reached the necessary six wins for bowl eligibility, and those teams were committed to the Cotton Bowl Classic and the Hancock Bowl, respectively. Texas had played a rigorous non-conference schedule, going 0–3–1, and finished with an ineligible 5–5–1 record.
Bowl officials subsequently invited Iowa, who had finished eighth in the Big Ten Conference, winning their final four games to end the regular season with a bowl-eligible 6–5 record.
Washington finished fourth in the Pac-10 with a conference record of 5–3, but was not bowl-eligible, due to conference sanctions. California and Arizona State were tied behind Washington, with 4–4 conference records. Bowl officials unanimously decided to invite California, who had a better overall record than Arizona State.

Game summary

Cal placekicker Doug Brien connected on field goals of 37 and 20 yards in the first quarter, as Cal took a 6–0 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Brien's third field goal, a 30 yarder gave Cal a 9–0 lead. Cal quarterback Dave Barr threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Mike Caldwell as Cal went up 16–0. A 61-yard interception return by linebacker Jerrot Willard gave Cal a 23–0 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, Iowa's Brion Hurley kicked a 42-yard field goal to get the Hawkeyes on the scoreboard at 23–3. Dave Barr threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Iheanyi Uwaezuoke to take a 30–3 lead at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Barr added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Remington as the final margin became 37–3.