2023 ISLETA NEW MEXICO BOWL
FRESNO STATE 37, NEW MEXICO STATE 10
Under the guidance of acting head coach Tim Skipper, Fresno State won its fifth-straight bowl game, defeating 10-win New Mexico State, 37-10 on Saturday in the 2023 Isleta New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium. The 27-point win is the Bulldogs' third-largest margin of victory in a bowl game, and the largest since 1985. Senior linebacker Levelle Bailey and redshirt sophomore Mikey Keene were named the game's Defensive and Offensive Most Outstanding Players. Keene led the charge with a career-high 380 yards passing on 31-of-39 attempts. He accounted for four touchdowns, three through air and one on the ground. Five of Keene's receivers had at least 47 yards, led by Malik Sherrod who had a career-high 81 on eight receptions. The running back had 171 total yards on the day with the other 90 coming on the ground. Bailey led the defense with eight stops and a sack.
2022 NEW MEXICO BOWL
BYU 24, SMU 23
Fully embracing the last-minute change to the primetime ABC timeslot, BYU and SMU put on a thriller. The Mustangs were able to jump out to a quick lead in the first quarter with a quick field goal and 75-yard drive to retake the lead after Tanner Mordecai found Roderick Daniels in the endzone for an 8-yard score. The Cougars owned the middle part of the game with new QB Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters leading the offense to two scores sandwiched around an 76-yard interception return by Ben Bywater. SMU reused to quit though, scoring twice in the fourth quarter, including the final time with 8 seconds on the clock. Going for two and the win, they would miss the two-point conversion and ultimately fall to BYU 24-23.
2021 PUBG MOBILE NEW MEXICO BOWL
FRESNO STATE 31, UTEP 24
Jordan Mims ran for 165 yards and two touchdown and caught five passes for 71 yards and another score to help Fresno State beat UTEP 31-24 on Saturday in the New Mexico Bowl. Fresno State (10-3) won the bowl game for the first time in three tries. Jake Haener was 26 of 41 for 286 yards and a touchdown. His status had been somewhat in doubt when he briefly entered the transfer portal after coach Kalen DeBoer took the job at Washington. Mims’ 22-yard catch and run late in third quarter gave the Bulldogs a 26-17 lead. But it was setting the tone with the ground game that was important.
2020 PUBG MOBILE NEW MEXICO BOWL
HAWAI'I 28, HOUSTON 14
Chevan Cordeiro threw three first-half touchdown passes, Calvin Turner broke the New Mexico Bowl record with a 92-yard kickoff return had another long scoring play to help Hawaii beat Houston 28-14 on Thursday in the New Mexico Bowl. The game was moved to Frisco from its usual location in Albuquerque because of COVID-19 restrictions in New Mexico. Hawaii (5-4) gave first-year coach Todd Graham his 100th career victory. He previously coached at Rice, Tulsa, Pittsburgh and Arizona State. Hawaii had three interceptions – the first two leading to a 14-0 lead – and five sacks.
2019 NEW MEXICO BOWL
SAN DIEGO STATE 48, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 11
Coming into the New Mexico Bowl, San Diego State's defense was the focus. The Aztecs ranked second in the nation in rushing defense and second in rushing yards allowed per carry. But San Diego State's offense, with only an average of 19 points-per game, ranked among the nation's worst. Something had to give against Central Michigan and its strong defense. So the Aztecs offense stepped it up Saturday. Ryan Agnew passed for 287 yards and three touchdowns, Jesse Matthews caught three passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns and San Diego State won a bowl game for the first time since 2016, beating Central Michigan 48-11 on Saturday in the New Mexico Bowl.
2018 NEW MEXICO BOWL
UTAH STATE 52, NORTH TEXAS 13
Utah State walked into the New Mexico Bowl with one of its best records in school history yet surrounded by uncertainty. Its head coach, Matt Wells, left to take the Texas Tech job. Interim coach Frank Maile had to prepare the Aggies with an army of graduate assistants even though former head coach Gary Andersen would return. However, Andersen opted not to attend the bowl game. North Texas' highly-touted QB Mason Fine was injured in the first quarter, and the Mean Green ended up using four quarterbacks.
2017 GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL
MARSHALL 31, COLORADO STATE 28
Leading up to the New Mexico Bowl, Marshall wide receiver Tyre Brady kept hearing about Colorado State’s explosive offense. Doubters were overlooking the Thundering Herd’s own weapons, he thought. So when Brady’s chance came in the second quarter, the junior separated himself from Rams coverages and sprinted to a 76-yard touchdown reception for the first of three big scoring plays that allowed Thundering Herd hold off the Rams 31-28. He was joined by Keion Davis, who rushed for 141 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown run . Tyler King added a 90-yard rushing touchdown for the Herd (8-5). Chase Litton threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns, overshadowing the much-hyped Colorado State quarterback Nick Stevens, who was sacked five times. The Thundering Herd are 11-2 in bowl games — 5-0 under Doc Holliday. For Colorado State (7-6), it was another disappointing postseason. The Rams have lost four straight bowl games, and lost four of their last five this season after a 6-2 start. Tyre Brady (RS-Jr., WR) was recognized as the offensive MVP and Channing Hames (RS-So., DT) garnered the defensive MVP awards.
2016 GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL
NEW MEXICO 23, UTSA 20
New Mexico head coach Bob Davie earned his first career bowl victory when the Lobos, boosted by a pair of short touchdown runs from Richard McQuarley, beat UTSA, 23-20. Despite the hype around New Mexico's triple-option threat and the Lobos leading the nation in rushing, the Roadrunners ran for more yards than the Lobos. Jarveon Williams ran for 125 yards for the Roadrunners, who lost in their first bowl appearance in the program's six-year history. UNM quarterback Lamar Jordan was voted as the Most Outstanding Offensive Player by the media, leading the team in rushing (81 yards on 13 carries) and passing (3-4-0 for 77 yards). Linebacker Dakota Cox was named the Defensive MVP, tallying 10 tackles (6 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss (4 yards), and one breakup.
BOWL TROPHY
The New Mexico Bowl trophy is one of the most unique in all of college sports. It is a Native American clay pot meticulously handcrafted by artists Marcellus and Elizabeth Media from the Zia Pueblo. The 20-inch bowl-shaped pottery features the iconic Zia sun symbol and images of football players, a deer, mountain lion, buffalo and eagle.
Elizabeth hand-coils and fires the pottery at the couple's home studio and her husband, Marcellus, paints the clay trophies. Using a white base coat on the pot makes the Zia patterns stand out after being hand-painted in black. His final touch is colored acrylic paints depicting football players in classic game stances and logos for the participating teams, not to mention the New Mexico Bowl insignia. At top market value, the pots would sell for an estimated $2,500.
The New Mexico Bowl stuck with the unconventional for its Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Player Awards. They went to another Zia Pueblo artist, Ralph Aragon, who crafted the trophies from traditional leather shields.
Jeff Siembieda, New Mexico Bowl Executive Director, found all three artists in 2006 when he traveled to the pueblo, located approximately 30 miles northwest of Albuquerque, looking for permission to use the Zia sun in its logo. The tribal leaders gave there consent and in return, asked that Zia art be used for the awards.
Team Trophy Winners
2006: San Jose State (WAC)
2007: New Mexico (MWC)
2008: Colorado State (MWC)
2009: Wyoming (MWC)
2010: BYU (MWC)
2011: Temple (MAC)
2012: Arizona (Pac-12)
2013: Colorado State (MWC)
2014: Utah State (MWC)
2015: Arizona (Pac-12)
2016: New Mexico (MWC)
2017: Marshall (C-USA)
2018: Utah State (MWC)
2019: San Diego State (MWC)
2020: Hawai’i (MWC)
2021: Fresno State (MWC)
2022: BYU (Independent)
2023: Fresno State (MWC)
Outstanding Offensive Player Honorees
2006: James Jones, Sr., WR, SJSU
2007: Donovan Porterie, RS-Fr., QB, UNM
2008: Gartrell Johnson, Sr., RB, CSU
2009: Austyn Carta-Samuels, Fr., QB, UWyo
2010: Jake Heaps, Fr., QB, BYU
2011: Chris Coyer, So., QB, TEM
2012: Matt Scott, Sr., QB, ARIZ
2013: Connor Halliday, Jr., QB, WSU
2014: Kent Myers, Fr., QB, USU
2015: Anu Solomon, RS-So., QB, ARIZ
2016: Lamar Jordan, Jr., QB, UNM
2017: Tyre Brady, RS-Jr., WR, Marshall
2018: Jordan Love, So., QB, Utah State
2019: Jordan Byrd, So., RB & Jesse Matthews,
Fr., WR, SDSU
2020: Calvin Turner, Sr., RB, Hawai’i
2021: Jordan Mims, Sr., RB, Fresno State
2022: Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters, Fr., QB, BYU
2023: Mikey Keene, RS-So., QB, Fresno State
Outstanding Defensive Player Honorees
2006: Matt Castelo, Jr., LB, SJSU
2007: Brett Madsen, Jr., LB, UNM
2008: Tommie Hill, Sr., DE, CSU
2009: Mitch Unrein, Sr., DL, UWyo
2010: Andrew Rich, Sr., S, BYU
2011: Tahir Whitehead, Sr., LB, TEM
2012: Marquis Flowers, Jr., LB, ARIZ
2013: Shaquil Barrett, Sr., DE, CSU
2014: Zach Vigil, Sr., LB, USU
2015: Scooby Wright, III, Jr., MLB, ARIZ
2016: Dakota Cox, Sr. , LB, UNM
2017: Channing Hames, RS-SO., DT, Marshall
2018: DJ Williams, Jr., DB, Utah State
2019: Kyahva Tezino, Sr., LB, SDSU
2020: Darius Muasau, So., LB, Hawai’i
2020: Elijah Gates, Sr., DB, Fresno State
2022: Ben Bywater, Fr., LB, BYU
2023: Levelle Bailey, Sr., LB, Fresno State