TCU trailed USC by 10 points in the fourth quarter of the Valero Alamo Bowl on December 30, 2025, forced overtime with a field goal as time expired, and won it on a 35-yard touchdown on third-and-20. The final was 30-27. It was the third time in three Alamo Bowl appearances that TCU has won a game it had no business winning.

The finish

USC led 24-14 late. TCU scored 10 points in the closing minutes to tie it, driving to the 10-yard line and calling timeout with three seconds left. Lincoln Riley called his own timeout to ice the kicker. It did not work — the 27-yard attempt was good, and the game went to overtime.

USC had the ball first and reached first-and-goal at the 2 after a pass interference call in the end zone. The TCU defense held, and the Trojans settled for a 22-yard field goal and a 27-24 lead.

Then TCU took its possession. Ken Seals was sacked for a 10-yard loss on second down, leaving third-and-20 from the 35. He threw a short pass to running back Jeremy Payne in the left flat. Payne caught it at the line of scrimmage, broke one tackle to get into what would have been field goal range, then broke three more and tiptoed the sideline into the end zone.

The Alamo Bowl described it as the second-longest overtime walk-off touchdown in NCAA history. It was the fourth overtime game in the bowl's 33 years.

Ken Seals, one start

Seals was a sixth-year senior making his first start since November 2023 and his first ever for TCU. He finished 29 of 40 for 258 yards, threw the winning touchdown, and added his first rushing score as a Horned Frog. He was named offensive MVP, playing in his hometown, in the final game of his college career.

Payne caught six passes for 50 yards. Thirty-five of them came on the last play.

USC's problem in the red zone

Jayden Maiava threw for 280 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions, one of them in the end zone that killed a drive after a Christian Pierce pick had given USC the ball. Tanook Hines had a career day with 163 receiving yards. Jaden Richardson made a one-handed touchdown catch in the corner with under a minute left in regulation.

Freshman kicker Ryon Sayeri made field goals from 40, 28, 41 and 22 yards. That is the whole story of the game from USC's side: four field goals where touchdowns were needed. Riley said afterward that his team had kicked too many field goals while TCU scored touchdowns in the red zone, and that this was the difference.

The loss dropped USC to 9-4 and denied Riley a double-digit win season for only the second time in his tenure there.

TCU's Alamodome history

The Horned Frogs are now 3-0 in the Alamo Bowl, matching Nebraska and trailing only Texas for all-time wins in the game. All three have been comebacks.

In 2016 TCU erased a 31-point deficit and beat Oregon 47-41 in triple overtime. In 2017 the Frogs trailed Stanford 21-3 and won 39-37. This one required only 10 points in the fourth quarter, which by comparison was straightforward.

The crowd was listed at over 54,000.

What followed

TCU finished 9-4 and immediately faced significant turnover: offensive coordinator Kendal Briles left for South Carolina, starting quarterback Josh Hoover entered the transfer portal, and top receiver Eric McAlister headed to the NFL.

The Alamo Bowl was one of the two or three most entertaining games of the entire 2025-26 bowl season, in a postseason whose headline act was Indiana's 16-0 run to the national title. Games like this are the argument for the bowl calendar existing at all.