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)
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
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