For the past two seasons, Texas’ football team has been on the outside looking in on the bowl games. After finishing below .500 in both 2015 and 2016, this left them out of the postseason and arguably led to a change in head coaches (Charlie Strong fired, Tom Herman hired). Their last appearance came in 2014, where they lost to Arkansas, 31-7.
Prior to this recent lack of success, Texas had a strong bowl history that dates all the way back to the 1942 Cotton Bowl, where they beat Georgia Tech, 14-7. They would go on to be featured in a bowl game in every decade, including four national championships along the way.