A few years ago, a Michigan-Nebraska match up in the postseason certainly would have been played on New Year’s Day in one of the glamour games.

Not this season.

The Wolverines and Huskers will play in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 28.

For Michigan, which started the season 3-3, it snaps a string of nine straight January bowl appearances.

“I thought our team, despite some of the things we were challenged with, fought back and played through some adversity, and I’m proud of this football team,” coach Lloyd Carr said. “I think the thing I’ve been impressed with is how we’ve competed.”

For Nebraska, it’s a return to postseason play after the Huskers missed out on a bowl bid last year for the first time since 1968.

After the Bowl Championship Series officially handed out bids to the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta bowls Sunday, the rest of the bowl lineup also fell into place.

Several intriguing matchups were made outside the four big-money games.

Alabama (9-2) and its stingy defense will face Texas Tech (9-2) and its potent offense in the Cotton Bowl.

“We know we’re in for a tough one, maybe the toughest one all year,” Tide coach Mike Shula said.

The No. 18 Red Raiders boast the nation’s top passing offense and are fourth in scoring at 42 points per game.

Alabama is No. 1 in scoring defense at 10 points allowed per game, and second in total defense.

The Crimson Tide will be playing in its seventh Cotton Bowl, the most by a team that didn’t formerly play in the Southwest Conference. The Crimson Tide last spent New Year’s Day in Dallas in 1982.

Oregon (10-1) was shut out of the BCS and landed in the Holiday Bowl against Oklahoma (7-4). The Sooners are coming off an rebuilding season after playing in the last two BCS title games.

Louisville (9-2) gets Virginia Tech (10-2) in the Gator Bowl after the Hokies were upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game by Florida State.

Miami would have been the Cardinals’ opponent, but the Seminoles win caused some shuffling of the ACC’s bowl teams that sent the Hurricanes to the Peach Bowl for a second straight season.

No. 9 Miami will face No. 10 LSU, as the Tiger return to the Georgia Dome where they lost the Southeastern Conference championship to Georgia.

“We have said all along we wanted to play the best opponent, and we got that,” Miami coach Larry Coker said.

Steve Spurrier’s first season as South Carolina coach will end in the Independence Bowl against Missouri.

Spurrier’s old school, Florida, will face Iowa in the Outback Bowl.

UCLA and Northwestern meet in the Sun Bowl and points should be plentiful with two of the best offenses – and worst defenses – on display.

The last time Michigan failed to reach a January bowl game it also had to settle for the Alamo Bowl. In 1995, the Wolverines lost 22-20 to Texas A&M in Carr’s first season as coach. Michigan will make its 31st straight bowl appearance, the longest such streak in the country.

Michigan and Nebraska shared the national championship in 1997. Michigan is the country’s winningest program with 848 victories, while Nebraska ranks fourth with 793 wins. The two schools have met five times, but only twice since 1917.

The most recent matchup came in the Fiesta Bowl following the 1985 season, when Michigan registered a 27-23 victory.