K-State Nation is heading to San Antonio for the first time in 16 years as Kansas State Athletics Director John Currie announced today that the 11th-ranked Wildcats have accepted an invitation to play No. 14 UCLA in the 2015 Valero Alamo Bowl on January 2.

The game, one of the most widely watched and attended of all bowl games, will be played inside San Antonio’s Alamodome at 5:45 p.m. CT, with a nationwide television audience watching on ESPN. For the first time in Alamo Bowl history, two Top-15 teams will square off against one another.

“Following our 13th nine-win regular season under Coach Snyder, we are excited to showcase our football program, Kansas State University and our national alumni and fan base in the Alamo Bowl, and I am pleased to accept the invitation on behalf of President Kirk Schulz, Coach Snyder and our entire institution,” said Currie. “I know our fans, including our 12,400 Texas-based alumni, are excited to turn San Antonio purple, while a week at the Alamo Bowl will be a first-class experience for our entire football program.”

The Wildcats (9-3) will be playing in their 18th bowl game in school history and 16th under Bill Snyder as the Cats are 7-8 all-time in bowls under the legendary head coach. Following 11 straight bowls from 1993-2003 under Snyder, the Cats have now gone bowling in each of the last five seasons and are coming off a win over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. K-State has appeared in the Alamo Bowl one other time in program history (1998).

“The selection to the Valero Alamo Bowl provides a fitting end to a very successful season for our football team,” said Schulz. “We are confident the K-State family will follow tradition and bring the purple to San Antonio. Congratulations to Coach Snyder, his staff and our hard-working student-athletes for this postseason honor.”

The Wildcats’ nine regular season victories in 2014 included home wins over Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and road wins at No. 11 Oklahoma and West Virginia. K-State also kept the Governor’s Cup trophy in Manhattan for the sixth straight season under Snyder with a 51-13 win over in-state rival Kansas.

In addition to a school-record and Big 12-leading 29 selections to the Academic All-Big 12 team and national academic accolades by Tyler Lockett (NFF National Scholar Athlete) and Curry Sexton (Academic All-American), excitement in Wildcat football was also evidenced by seven sellout crowds at Bill Snyder Family Stadium this season which ran K-State’s consecutive sellout streak to 20 games.

“We are proud of the young men in our program and very pleased to represent the Big 12 Conference in the Valero Alamo Bowl,” said Snyder. “Our team still has a chance to accomplish something special this season and finish the year with 10 victories. The Alamo Bowl is a first-class bowl organization and we appreciate Derrick Fox and the entire bowl staff for their efforts and support of college football.”

The Bruins (9-3) finished the season ranked 14th and with a 6-3 record in conference play.

K-State has faced UCLA two times heading into this bowl matchup. The Wildcats are 1-1 against the Bruins with UCLA winning a 2009 matchup in Pasadena, while K-State answered with a win in Manhattan the following season.

— KSU Sports Information —

WACO, Texas — No. 6 Baylor did what it had to do to keep alive its chance for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Bryce Petty and company grabbed a share of a second consecutive Big 12 title.

Up next for the Bears is wait and see.

Petty threw for 412 yards, Johnny Jefferson had two touchdown runs and Baylor beat No. 9 Kansas State 38-27 on Saturday night.

Baylor (11-1, 8-1, No. 5 AP) and TCU (11-1, 8-1, No. 3 CFP) tied for the top spot in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs were ranked higher in the most recent committee poll, but they lost to the Bears 61-58 on Oct. 11.

“There’s one true champion and it’s the Baylor Bears,” coach Art Briles screamed to the celebratory crowd after the victory over the Wildcats.

The Bears became the only team with consecutive Big 12 titles other than Oklahoma from 2006-08. They are a sure thing for one of the top six New Year’s bowls, but the new four-team playoff appears to be a long shot.

“We’re going to play in January regardless,” Petty said. “Obviously we want to be contending for a national championship.”

TCU has won seven in a row since its loss at Baylor. The Frogs, who beat Kansas State (9-3, 7-2) by 21 points last month, earned their share of the Big 12 title with a 55-3 win over Iowa State on Saturday.

Petty completed 34 of 40 passes with a touchdown and an interception a week after getting knocked out of the Bears’ last game with a concussion.

Not medically cleared to play until Friday, Petty showed no ill effects of the concussion. He put his head down and plunged in for a 1-yard TD run only 1:35 in, capping an opening 81-yard drive that put Baylor ahead to stay.

While Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby presented Baylor its championship trophy — after giving one to TCU about 90 miles away more than seven hours earlier — Florida State was wrapping up its win in the ACC championship game. A few minutes after that, Ohio State wrapped up the Big 12 title. Those are the two teams between TCU and Baylor in the playoff rankings.

Baylor fans booed the commissioner, voicing their displeasure of having to share a title even with the head-to-head victory in a league whose slogan is “One True Champion.”

The Big 12 is the only of the Power 5 conferences without a championship game, but the 10-team league has a round-robin schedule and is the only one in which everybody plays each other during the regular season.

For the fourth year in a row since the Big 12 went to 10 teams, the title wasn’t decided until finishing the regular season on the first weekend in December when other leagues play championship games.

And for the second year in a row, the Bears won at home in a finale, this time in their new campus stadium on the banks of the Brazos River after beating Texas 30-7 last year at Floyd Casey Stadium to earn a spot in the Fiesta Bowl.

Jake Waters was 22-of-27 for 300 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas State, which was trying for its second Big 12 title in three years. Tyler Lockett, already the Wildcats career leader for receptions and yards, had 14 catches for 158 yards with an 8-yard TD that was the 27th of his career — breaking a tie with his father, Kevin, for the most in school history.

The Wildcats had to share their 2012 championship because of a miserable night their last visit to Waco two years ago. They were 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings before a 52-24 loss.

Antwan Goodley had nine catches for 116 yards as Baylor won its 16th consecutive home game, matching Alabama for the longest current streak. The Bears are 6-0 in their new stadium even after scoring few than 45 points there for the first time.

— Associated Press —

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee played good enough defense at the start of Saturday’s game to withstand Kansas State’s frantic finish.

Josh Richardson scored 17 points Saturday as Tennessee withstood a late 3-point onslaught from Marcus Foster in a 65-64 victory over Kansas State.

Tennessee (3-3) had a 10-point lead before Kansas State made five 3-pointers in the last 1 minute, 35 seconds. Foster sank four 3-pointers in the final 57 seconds and finished with 23 points. After Foster’s final 3-pointer made it a one-point game with two-tenths of a second left, Tennessee made a successful inbounds pass to clinch the victory.

“(It was) scary,” Richardson said. “I was screaming, `Everybody, know where Foster’s at,’ but I guess we just didn’t.”

Foster went 7 of 14 from 3-point range. Jevon Thomas had 13 points and Nino Williams added 10 for Kansas State (4-4).

“If we have a few extra seconds, we probably could win that game,” Foster said. “But it started in the first half really. That’s where we should have gotten it done.”

Tennessee’s matchup zone held Kansas State without a basket for a stretch of nearly 11 1/2 minutes during the first half and forced 22 turnovers. The Volunteers also had nine blocks — five from Armani Moore — and produced 12 steals.

“I felt their zone was something I’d never seen before,” Foster said. “It was a really good zone. It felt like it spaced us out. It felt like I was shooting 30-footers out there. … It was a very good zone. In the second half, we figured out how to attack it.”

Kansas State had 13 turnovers with just five baskets and one assist in the first half. Tennessee’s dominant defensive performance gave the Vols a 25-17 advantage at the intermission, their first halftime lead of the season.

The Wildcats clawed back into the game by heating up from 3-point range. After missing all seven of its first-half attempts from beyond the arc, Kansas State went 8 of 14 on 3-pointers in the second half

“We’re still trying to figure out how to win,” Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We get the lead and you could almost tell we start playing not to win. There’s a difference. There’s a distinct difference.”

Tennessee was playing without sophomore forward Dominic Woodson. Tennessee issued a statement before the game saying that Woodson had been excused from team-related activities this week to take care of academic obligations. Tyndall said after the game that “we’ll have more of an update on him as we get into final exams.”

TIP-INS

Kansas State: Wildcats athletic director John Currie spent 13 years at Tennessee before Kansas State hired him in May 2009. Currie earned his master’s degree from Tennessee in 2003.

Tennessee: Tyndall used his fifth different starting lineup in six games. Freshman forward Tariq Owens, who hadn’t played at all in two of Tennessee’s last three games, made his first career start Saturday. He had no points, one rebound, one assist, one block and one steal in 11 minutes.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: Hosts Bradley on Tuesday.

Tennessee: Hosts Butler on Dec. 14.

STAT LINE

Kansas State’s 22 turnovers were the most Tennessee had forced since producing 34 in a 99-78 victory over North Carolina A&T on Dec. 23, 2009.

CHALLENGE FINALE

This represented the first meeting between these two programs and the final game of this year’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Big 12 won six of its 10 meetings with the Southeastern Conference this week.

— Associated Press —