New Mexico Bowl
Isleta New Mexico Bowl
StadiumUniversity Stadium (2006–present)
LocationAlbuquerque, New Mexico (2006–present)
Temporary venueToyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas (2020)
Operated2006–present
Conference tie-insMWC, C-USA
Previous conference tie-insWAC (2006–2010)
Pac-12 (2012–2013)
PayoutUS$1.05 million (2019)[1]
Sponsors
Former names
  • New Mexico Bowl (2006–2010, 2018–2020, 2022)
  • Gildan New Mexico Bowl (2011–2017)
  • PUBG New Mexico Bowl (2021)
2022 matchup
BYU vs. SMU (BYU 24–23)
2023 matchup
New Mexico State vs. Fresno State
(Fresno State 37–10)

The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Owned and operated by ESPN Events, it has typically been scheduled as one of the first games of the bowl season. The bowl has tie-ins with Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 New Mexico Bowl was moved to Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.[2]

History

The New Mexico Bowl trophy is a 20-inch (51 cm) piece of Zia Pueblo pottery, painted with Pueblo symbols, the New Mexico Bowl logo, football players, and the logos of the competing teams. The Zia sun symbol, a Zia Pueblo symbol that is used in the state flag, is incorporated into the bowl game logo. The most valuable player trophies are crafted from traditional leather shields.[3]

From 2011 to 2017, the bowl was sponsored by clothing manufacturer Gildan and was officially known as the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. In 2019, the bowl announced a sponsorship with DreamHouse Productions, a local film studio. However, in October 2019, the company was quietly dropped as sponsor, coinciding with investigations by a local sports website, EnchantmentSports.com,[4] that alleged DreamHouse Productions was tied to a scam artist and questioned the company's legitimacy.[5][6]

The 2021 edition of the game was sponsored by PUBG Mobile.[7] In September 2023, the Isleta Pueblo, an operator of resorts and casinos, was named the new title sponsor of the bowl.[8]

Game results

Date Winning team Losing team Attend. Notes
December 23, 2006 San Jose State 20 New Mexico 12 34,111 notes
December 22, 2007 New Mexico 23 Nevada 0 30,223 notes
December 20, 2008 Colorado State 40 Fresno State 35 24,735 notes
December 19, 2009 Wyoming 35 Fresno State 28 (2OT) 24,898 notes
December 18, 2010 BYU 52 UTEP 24 32,424 notes
December 17, 2011 Temple 37 Wyoming 15 25,762 notes
December 15, 2012 Arizona 49 Nevada 48 24,610 notes
December 21, 2013 Colorado State 48 Washington State 45 27,104 notes
December 20, 2014 Utah State 21 UTEP 6 28,725 notes
December 19, 2015 Arizona 45 New Mexico 37 30,289 notes
December 17, 2016 New Mexico 23 UTSA 20 29,688 notes
December 16, 2017 Marshall 31 Colorado State 28 26,087 notes
December 15, 2018 Utah State 52 North Texas 13 25,387 notes
December 21, 2019 San Diego State 48 Central Michigan 11 18,823 notes
December 24, 2020 Hawaii 28 Houston 14   2,060 notes
December 18, 2021 Fresno State 31 UTEP 24 16,422 notes
December 17, 2022 BYU 24 SMU 23 22,209 notes
December 16, 2023 Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10 30,822 notes

Source:[9]

MVPs

2006 offensive MVP James Jones
Year Offensive MVP Defensive MVP
Player Team Pos. Player Team Pos.
2006 James Jones San José State WR Matt Castelo San José State LB
2007 Donovan Porterie New Mexico QB Brett Madsen New Mexico LB
2008 Gartrell Johnson Colorado State RB Tommie Hill Colorado State DE
2009 Austyn Carta-Samuels Wyoming QB Mitch Unrein Wyoming DE
2010 Jake Heaps BYU QB Andrew Rich BYU FS
2011 Chris Coyer Temple QB Tahir Whitehead Temple LB
2012 Matt Scott Arizona QB Marquis Flowers Arizona LB
2013 Connor Halliday Washington State QB Shaquil Barrett Colorado State DE
2014 Kent Myers Utah State QB Zach Vigil Utah State LB
2015 Anu Solomon Arizona QB Scooby Wright III Arizona LB
2016 Lamar Jordan New Mexico QB Dakota Cox New Mexico LB
2017 Tyre Brady Marshall WR Channing Hames Marshall DL
2018 Jordan Love Utah State QB DJ Williams Utah State DB
2019 Jordan Byrd[10]
Jesse Matthews[11]		 San Diego State RB
WR		 Kyahva Tezino[12] San Diego State LB
2020 Calvin Turner[13] Hawaii WR Darius Muasau[14] Hawaii LB
2021 Jordan Mims[15] Fresno State RB Elijah Gates[15] Fresno State DB
2022 Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters[16] BYU QB Ben Bywater[17] BYU LB
2023 Mikey Keene[18] Fresno State QB Levelle Bailey[18] Fresno State LB

Source:[19]: 13 

Most appearances

Updated through the December 2023 edition (18 games, 36 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances
Rank Team Appearances Record Win pct.
1 New Mexico 4 2–2 0.500
Fresno State 4 2–2 0.500
2 Colorado State 3 2–1 0.667
UTEP 3 0–3 0.000
3 Arizona 2 2–0 1.000
Utah State 2 2–0 1.000
BYU 2 2–0 1.000
Wyoming 2 1–1 0.500
Nevada 2 0–2 0.000
Teams with a single appearance

Won (5): Hawaii, Marshall, San Diego State, San Jose State, Temple
Lost (7): Central Michigan, Houston, New Mexico State, North Texas, SMU, UTSA, Washington State

Air Force, Boise State and UNLV are the only current Mountain West Conference members that have not appeared in the bowl.

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2023 edition (18 games, 36 total appearances).

Conference Record Appearances by season
Games W L Win pct. Won Lost
Mountain West 17 12 5 .706 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014,
2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 		2006, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
C-USA 7 1 6 .143 2017 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023
WAC 4 1 3 .250 2006 2007, 2008, 2009
Pac-12 3 2 1 .667 2012, 2015 2013
MAC 2 1 1 .500 2011 2019
The American 2 0 2 .000   2020, 2022
Independents 1 1 0 1.000 2022  

Game records

Team Performance vs. Opponent Year
Most points scored (one team) 52, shared by:
BYU vs. UTEP
Utah State vs. North Texas 		 
2010
2018
Most points scored (losing team) 48, Nevada vs. Arizona 2012
Most points scored (both teams) 97, Nevada vs. Arizona 2012
Fewest points allowed 0, New Mexico vs. Nevada 2007
Largest margin of victory 39, Utah State vs. North Texas 2018
Total yards 659, Nevada vs. Arizona 2012
Rushing yards 404, Nevada vs. Arizona 2012
Passing yards 410, Washington State vs. Colorado State 2013
First downs 39, Nevada vs. Arizona 2012
Fewest yards allowed 200, New Mexico State vs. Fresno State 2023
Fewest rushing yards allowed –12, BYU vs. UTEP 2010
Fewest passing yards allowed 47, BYU vs. SMU 2022
Individual Player, Team Year
All-purpose yards 375, Gartrell Johnson (Colorado State) 2008
Points scored 30, Connor Halliday (Washington State) 2013
Rushing yards 285, Gartrell Johnson (Colorado State) 2008
Rushing touchdowns 3, shared by 4 players:
 Ka'Deem Carey (Arizona)
 Kapri Bibbs (Colorado State)
 Jared Baker (Arizona)
 Lamar Jordan (New Mexico)
2012
2013
2015
2015
Passing yards 410, Connor Halliday (Washington State) 2013
Passing touchdowns 6, Connor Halliday (Washington State) 2013
Receiving yards 182, Cayleb Jones (Arizona) 2015
Receiving touchdowns 3, shared by:
 Kris Adams (UTEP)
 Cody Hoffman (BYU)
2010
2010
Tackles 18, Matt Castelo (San Jose State) 2006
Sacks 2, shared by:
 Brett Madsen (New Mexico)
 Mitch Unrein (Wyoming)
 Cory James (Colorado State)
 Scooby Wright III (Arizona)
 Tipa Galeai (Utah State)
 Khoury Bethley (Hawai'i)
 Jeremiah Pritchard (Hawai'i)
2007
2009
2013
2015
2018
2020
2020
Interceptions 2, shared by:
 Andrew Rich (BYU)
 D.J. Williams (Utah State)
2010
2018
Long Plays Player, Team Year
Touchdown run 90 yds., Tyler King (Marshall) 2017
Touchdown pass 92 yds., Lamar Jordan to Delane Hart–Johnson (New Mexico) 2015
Kickoff return 92 yds., Calvin Turner (Hawaii)[20] 2020
Punt return 43 yds., JD Falslev (BYU) 2010
Interception return 76 yds., Ben Bywater (BYU) 2022
Fumble return 56 yds., Damaja Jones (San Jose State) 2006
Punt 67 yds., Ryan Rehkow (BYU) 2022
Field goal 53 yds., John Sullivan (New Mexico) 2007

Source:[19]: 10–13 

Media coverage

Main article: List of New Mexico Bowl broadcasters

ESPN College Football holds the rights to televise the New Mexico Bowl. In 2006, the inaugural edition of the bowl, the game was carried on ESPN2, from 2007 to 2021 the game was carried on ESPN, In 2022, the game was carried on ABC.[21]

References

  1. ^ "2019 Bowl Schedule". collegefootballpoll.com. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  2. ^ Kelley, Kevin (November 24, 2020). "2020 New Mexico Bowl to be played in Frisco, Texas". fbschedules.com. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  3. ^ Korte, Tim (December 20, 2006). "Native American Artists Create Unique N.M. Bowl Trophy". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
  4. ^ Smith, Mark (October 11, 2019). "Dream or Nightmare? New Mexico Bowl's New Title Sponsor Called a 'Scam Artist!'". Enchantment Sports. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Heild, Colleen. "Questions raised about status of new NM Bowl sponsor". www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  6. ^ May, Jake. "ESPN Drops New Mexico Bowl Title Sponsor After Three Weeks". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  7. ^ Rondina, Steven (December 6, 2021). "Yes, PUBG Mobile is actually sponsoring an NCAA football game". win.gg. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  8. ^ Hofheimer, Bill (September 22, 2023). "Isleta Named New Title Sponsor of the New Mexico Bowl". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  9. ^ "New Mexico Bowl Presented By Progressive" (PDF). Bowl/All Star Game Records. NCAA. 2020. p. 15. Retrieved January 3, 2021 – via NCAA.org.
  10. ^ New Mexico Bowl [@NMBowl] (December 21, 2019). "Outstanding Offensive co-MVP Jordan Byrd, @SDSUFootball sophomore running back and Albuquerque native 🎖 https://t.co/3N1jp7PpNk" (Tweet). Retrieved January 3, 2021 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ New Mexico Bowl [@NMBowl] (December 21, 2019). "Outstanding Offensive co-MVP Jesse Matthews, @SDSUFootball freshman wide receiver 🎖 https://t.co/rVnHk10inH" (Tweet). Retrieved January 3, 2021 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ @NMBowl (December 21, 2019). "Tweet" (Tweet) – via Twitter. [dead link]
  13. ^ @NMBowl (December 25, 2020). "@HawaiiFootball's Calvin Turner was selected as the 2020 New Mexico Bowl Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the game" (Tweet). Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ @NMBowl (December 25, 2020). "@HawaiiFootball's Darius Muasau was selected as the 2020 New Mexico Bowl Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the game" (Tweet). Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ a b @gabecamarillo_ (December 18, 2021). "Jordan Mims is the offensive MVP of the New Mexico Bowl, and Elijah Gates is the defensive MVP of the game" (Tweet). Retrieved December 18, 2021 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Termination of independence: BYU holds off SMU for 24-23 New Mexico Bowl victory". BYU.edu. December 17, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  17. ^ @NMBowl (December 18, 2022). "Ben Bywater being presented his Defense MVP award" (Tweet). Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ a b @AngMartinezTV (December 17, 2023). "Fresno State beats New Mexico State 37-10 to win the New Mexico Bowl" (Tweet). Retrieved December 16, 2023 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ a b "New Mexico Bowl Record Book" (PDF). newmexicobowl.com. 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  20. ^ "Hawaii vs. Houston - Box Score". ESPN.com. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  21. ^ Kelly, Doug (ed.). "2019–20 Football Bowl Association Media Guide" (PDF). footballbowlassociation.com. p. 38. Retrieved January 4, 2020.

External links

New Mexico Bowl
NCAA Division I FBS bowl games
Categories