Frogs Ready for 2025 Valero Alamo Bowl vs. #16 USC

Tuesday, December 30

San Antonio, Texas

8:00 p.m.

TCU

USC

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Frogs Ready for 2025 Valero Alamo Bowl vs. #16 USC

12/29/2025 7:04:00 PM | Football

Tuesday's game airs nationally on ESPN from San Antonio.

For the final time in the 2025 season, TCU is set for game day as they take on No. 16 USC in the 2025 Valero Alamo Bowl on Tuesday, December 30. Kick off from San Antonio and the Alamodome is set for 8 p.m., and the game will air nationally on ESPN.

GAME DAY DETAILS

TCU (8-4) vs. [16] USC (9-3)
Tuesday, December 30 - 8:00 p.m.
Alamodome - San Antonio, Texas
Tickets via SeatGeek » Buy Here

How to Track the Game:
📺 Television » ESPN
(Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick, Dana Boyle)
📻 Radio Tuning » KZPS 92.5 FM and Sirius XM 83 / (Spanish) KTNO 620 AM
📻 Radio Streaming » The Varsity Network app
📊 Live Stats » S tatBroadcast

GAME DAY PRIMER

What to Wear?
    » PURPLE
Bowl Central
    » Read
Bowl Press Conferences
    » Watch
2025 Valero Alamo Bowl Guide
    » Read

NOTING THE GAME

Talk to TCU fans about the Alamo Bowl, and they might never stop. The Frogs return to San Antonio on the 10-year anniversary of the greatest comeback in college football bowl history where the #11 Frogs rallied from a 31-0 halftime deficit to beat #15 Oregon, 47-41 in overtime. TCU is 2-0 all-time in the bowl.
Coincidentally, the last time TCU started a backup quarterback in a bowl game was that 2015 Alamo Bowl.
Across the field, the #16 Trojans are led by a familiar face to TCU's Sonny Dykes in Lincoln Riley. Dykes and Riley are both Texas Tech graduates and were members of the Red Raiders from 2002-06 when Dykes departed for Arizona. Riley then replaced Dykes as Mike Leach's receivers coach.
The bowl is a familiar place for the Dykes family as Sonny's father, Spike Dykes, led his 1996 Texas Tech squad to the game in the first season in the newly-created Big 12. They are the first father-son duo to coach in the game.
The match up against USC also presents additional significance to TCU fans. Following TCU's unexpected victory in the 1998 Sun Bowl over the Trojans, the Frogs went on win four conference titles in the next seven seasons and post 10-plus win totals in nine of the next 13 seasons. The game is credited by TCU fans as a launch pad for the program's upward trajectory.

NUMBERS TO NOTE

97 - Eric McAlister leads all Power 4 receivers with 97.7 YPG against P4 schools. No. 2 is Rutger's KJ Duff (93.3) and No. 3 is USC's Makai Lemon (92.4).
290 - TCU and USC each average over 290 passing yards per game - the only such pairing of explosive passing offenses this bowl season.
3 - LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr is one of only 3 P4 linebackers to post an 85+ grade as a run defender and tackler and a 70+ grade as a pass rusher.
100 - RB Jeremy Payne enters bowl seasons with consecutive 100-yard rushing games. Kendre Miller (2022) is the last to post three-straight.

NOTING THE HORNED FROGS

TCU is in its fourth season under the direction of head coach Sonny Dykes in 2025. The 2022 National Coach of the Year led TCU to more wins in his first three seasons (27) than all but one head coach in program history (Dutch Meyer, 29, 1934-36).
Dykes has also led programs at SMU (2018-21), Cal (2013-16), and LA Tech (2010-12). Dykes is one of just four active head coaches to take four different schools to a bowl game. The others are Butch Jones, Lane Kiffin, and Rich Rodriguez. He is also one of six active head coaches to have appeared in the CFP National Championship game, joining Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day, Marcus Freeman, and Kalen DeBoer.
For the 2025 regular season, TCU's offense was led by redshirt junior Josh Hoover. On Dec. 17, Hoover told TCU's coaches he was entering the transfer portal and not playing in the bowl game.
Replacing Hoover will be Ken Seals who has served as the backup all season. Seals, who grew up rooting for TCU in nearby Azle, Texas, spent his first four years in college (2020-23) at Vanderbilt where he started 22 games, throwing for 4,292 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions on 418-of-691 passing.
Wide receiver Eric McAlister - a two-time All-American this season - was just the third FBS player in the last 30 years to have at least 500 receiving yards, seven touchdown catches and 25.0 yards per reception through the first six games of a season. The others were Wazzu's Jason Hill (2004) and GA Tech's Dez White (1998).
The Horned Frogs are bowl eligible for the ninth time in 12 seasons as a Big 12 member.