Texas could be first program to win every New Year’s Six bowls at Peach Bowl

A win over the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl would make the Texas Longhorns first to win all six major New Year’s bowl games.

There will be a lot of firsts when the Texas Longhorns take on Arizona State in the 57th Peach Bowl. It is UT’s first ever trip to the Atlanta-based bowl game. The college football playoff game will be the first college football game in 2025. And if Texas wins, the Horns will be the first to accomplish something remarkable.

“This is the first time that we’ll host Texas true blue blood in college football into the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, and if they win, Texas would be the first team in the history of college football to win all six New Year’s Six Bowl games.” — Gary Stokan, President and CEO of Peach Bowl, Inc.

That’s right, a win would make the Longhorns the first to win all six major New Year’s bowl games.

For decades, conference affiliations determined bowl game participants. The Southwest Conference, and later the Big 12, were tied to the Cotton Bowl. The Pac-10 and Big Ten to the Rose Bowl. The SEC to the Sugar, the ACC to the Orange and so on.

Then the BCS was born in 1998 and the two best teams were funneled into one of the New Year’s bowl games on a rotating basis. That’s why Texas played USC in the Rose Bowl. If a major bowl lost their affiliated participant, they could choose a replacement. That’s how Texas played Michigan in Pasadena.

The BCS them set up a “national championship game” at one of the major bowl sites, played after the bowls. That is why Texas’ loss to Alabama was not officially the Rose Bowl. It was the national championship game played at the Rose Bowl stadium.

Texas has a winning record in all but one of the five New Year’s Six bowl games they’ve played in. The Horns (2-3) only have a losing record in the Sugar Bowl.

The feat would be mostly thanks to coincidence and circumstance. but that doesn’t make it less special and another feather in the programs collective hat.

Texas Longhorns New Year’s Six Bowl Game Record

  • Cotton Bowl (11-10-1)
    1943 vs. Georgia Tech (W 14–7)
    1944 vs. Randolph Field (T 7–7)
    1946 vs. Missouri (W 40–27)
    1951 vs. Tennessee (L 20–14)
    1953 vs. Tennessee (W 16-0)
    1960 vs. Syracuse (L 23–14)
    1962 vs. Ole Miss (W 12–7)
    1963 vs. LSU (L 13-0)
    1964 vs. Navy (W 28–6)
    1969 vs. Ole Miss (W 36–13)
    1970 vs. Notre Dame (W 21–17)
    1971 vs. Notre Dame (L 24–11)
    1972 vs. Penn State (L 30–6)
    1973 vs. Alabama (W 17–13)
    1974 vs. Nebraska (L 19–3)
    1978 vs. Notre Dame (L 38–10)
    1982 vs. Alabama (W 14–12)
    1984 vs. Georgia (L 10–9)
    1991 vs. Miami (L 46–3)
    1999 vs. Mississippi State (W 38–11)
    2000 vs. Arkansas (L 27–6)
    2003 vs. LSU (W 35–20)
  • Sugar Bowl (2-3)
    1948 vs. Alabama (W 27–7)
    1958 vs. Ole Miss (L 39–7)
    1995 vs. Virginia Tech (L 28–10)
    2018 vs. Georgia (W 28–21)
    2024 vs. Washington (L 37–31)
  • Orange Bowl (2-0)
    1949 vs. Georgia (W 41–28)
    1965 vs. Alabama (W 21–17)
  • Rose Bowl (2-0)
    2005 vs. Michigan (W 38–37)
    2006 vs. USC (W 41–38)
  • Fiesta Bowl (1-1)
    1997 vs. Penn State (L 38–15)
    2009 vs. Ohio State (W 24–21)
  • Peach Bowl (0-0)
    2025 vs. Arizona State (?-?)