The 2008 Texas Bowl was the third edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game was played at 7:00 PM US CST on Tuesday, December 30, 2008. The game, telecast on NFL Network, featured the hometown Rice Owls against the Western Michigan Broncos. The Owls won the game 38-14, which was their first post-season victory since the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic.

The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced the defunct Houston Bowl, which was played annually from 2000 to 2005, and before that the Bluebonnet Bowl, the first bowl game in Houston, played from 1959 through 1987.