The 1993 edition to the Alamo Bowl featured the California Golden Bears, and the Iowa Hawkeyes. One of the bowl's invites was expected to be a school from the Texas-based Southwest Conference (SWC). However, only 2 of the SWC's eight teams (Texas A&M and Texas Tech) reached the necessary 6 wins for bowl eligibility and those teams were committed to the Cotton and Hancock Bowls, respectively. The University of Texas had played a rigorous non-conference schedule, going 0-3-1, and finished with an ineligible 5-5-1 record.