The Bowl

Utah (33)	New Mexico (17)
1939 1945 1946 1963 1964 1966 1967 1968 1969 1972 1973 1974 1976 1979 1980 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2001 2004 2007 2008 2009 2010	1961 1965 1970 1971 1975 1977 1978 1983 1986 1992 1993 1994 2000 2002 2003 2005 2006
Ties (2)
1962 1981

The Bowl is a casual nickname given to the annual college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 game between the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 and the University of New Mexico

University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...

. The name arose at a time when Utah had lost four of the previous five meetings against New Mexico. At that time, New Mexico had lost all of their recent bowl games; so some Utah fans thus began to sarcastically refer to this annual matchup as The Bowl, in the hopes that such a moniker would adversely affect New Mexico's performance against Utah.

Series History

The Utah Utes

Utah Utes

The Utah Utes are the athletics teams of the University of Utah. They are named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the "Runnin' Utes"; the women's basketball team, formerly known as the "Lady Utes," now prefers to be referred to as the "Utes"; and the...

 and New Mexico Lobos

New Mexico Lobos

The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams representing the University of New Mexico. The university's athletic program fields teams in 19 varsity sports. The Lobos participate in the NCAA Division I and is a charter member of the Mountain West Conference...

 compete in the Mountain West Conference

Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

, but have played each other in football nearly every year since the early 1960s, when both schools were members of the Western Athletic Conference

Western Athletic Conference

The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...

.

Although Utah leads the series by a large margin, New Mexico has often been victorious when the odds were most against them, and when the game was especially important to Utah. For example, in November of 1994

1994 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season saw yet another controversial finish as both Nebraska and Penn State finished undefeated, and yet Penn State finished a distant second in the final AP and UPI polls. The controversial finish, however, could have been an even worse morass if not for some...

, Utah was ranked #8, and had an 8–0 record that included victories over Oregon

Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks refers to the sports teams of the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific-12 Conference in the Division 1 of the NCAA. With seventeen varsity teams, the Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and Track and Field...

 (eventual Pac-10 champion, #11 finish) and #12 Colorado State

Colorado State University

Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...

. They were heavy favorites to beat New Mexico, who had an unimpressive 3–8 record at the time.

During the game, Utah jumped out to a 21–3 halftime lead, however a slew of Utah turnovers resulted in a New Mexico rally. The Lobos cut the Ute lead to one point with just four minutes left in the game. Then, with just 32 seconds left on the clock, New Mexico hit a 22-yard field goal to seal the 23–21 victory, and destroy Utah's hopes for an undefeated season. New Mexico went on finish the season at 5–7. Utah, on the other hand, would go on to a 10–2 record, which included victories over #20 BYU

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 and #14 Arizona

Arizona Wildcats

-Athletic program:The University of Arizona participates in the NCAA's Division I-A in the Pacific-12 Conference Arizona participates in the conference's South Division, along with Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, and Utah...

 in the Freedom Bowl

Freedom Bowl

The Freedom Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, from 1984 to 1994. Beginning with the 1995 season, the Freedom Bowl's WAC tie-ins were merged with that of the Holiday Bowl and the game was dissolved...

. But they would be condemned to forever wonder what might have been had the New Mexico game turned out in their favor.

1939 Sun Bowl

Incidentally, the first meeting between the two teams was in the 1939 Sun Bowl

Sun Bowl

The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...

, in El Paso, Texas

El Paso, Texas

El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...

. The game was touted as the most evenly-matched of the five major bowl games of the 1938 season. Nevertheless, the Utes dominated from the start, scoring three first-half touchdowns, including a 1-yard run on fourth-down by Ray Peterson.

In the second half, New Mexico had numerous opportunities to close the gap following Utah turnovers. However, the famous Lobo aerial attack couldn't capitalize. Overall, New Mexico was held to 59 yards passing, and was intercepted four times. Furthermore, they were unable to cross Utah's 40-yard line during the entire game. Utah, on the other hand, racked up 366 yards rushing, and outgained the Lobos 384–212.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

• Utah- Tom Pace 15-yard run (Bernard McGarry kick)
• Utah- Ray Peterson 60-yard interception return (Bernard McGarry kick)

Second Quarter

• Utah- Ray Peterson 1-yard run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

• Utah- Clarence Gehrke 10-yard run (kick failed)

2002–2006

BOWL RECORDS
School	Wins	Losses	Ties	Last 5	Streak
Utah	12	3	0	5–0	W9
New Mexico	3	7	1	1–4	W1

From 2002 to 2006, New Mexico defeated Utah four out of five times. Prior to each of those meetings, the Lobos were seen as the underdog

Underdog (competition)

An underdog is a person or group in a competition, frequently in electoral politics, sports and creative works, who is popularly expected to lose. The party, team or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the rare case where an underdog wins, the outcome is an upset. These...

. In 2002, New Mexico tied the game by scoring a touchdown with only 46 seconds remaining in regulation. They would complete the upset in double-overtime. The next year, with Utah nationally ranked for the first time since 1996, the Lobos scored 28 third-quarter points and held on to win, 47–35 in Salt Lake City. Utah's lone victory against New Mexico during this span came in 2004 when the Utes crushed the Lobos en route to an undefeated season and Fiesta Bowl

2005 Fiesta Bowl

The 2005 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 1, 2005, was the 34th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game was played between Utah and Pittsburgh, in front of 73,519 fans. It is notable for being the first BCS game to feature a team from a non-BCS conference, and the only BCS bowl to feature a...

 championship. But in 2005, the Utes gave up an eight-point halftime lead, were held scoreless in the second-half, and allowed the Lobos to score the game-winning touchdown by recovering a Utah fumble in the endzone. To add injury to insult, Utah's starting quarterback, Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson (quarterback)

Brian Delance Johnson is an American football quarterbacks coach for the University of Utah. He played college football at Utah and was drafted by the New York Sentinels in the UFL Premiere Season Draft in 2009....

, suffered a knee injury in that game, which ended his season. Johnson would also have to redshirt

Redshirt (college sports)

Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...

 the following season in order to allow his knee to fully heal. Finally, in 2006, the Utes gave up a 24–3 lead in the second-half, including the game winning touchdown with just two minutes left.

Date	Favorite	Line	Score				Location
26 October 2002	Utah	-6	New Mexico	42	Utah	35	Albuquerque	(2OT)
25 October 2003	Utah	-8	New Mexico	47	#23Utah	35	Salt Lake City
1 October 2004	Utah	-10	#14Utah	28	New Mexico	7	Albuquerque
12 November 2005	Utah	-6	New Mexico	31	Utah	27	Salt Lake CIty
19 October 2006	Utah	-7	New Mexico	34	Utah	31	Albuquerque

During that same period, each team appeared in four post-season bowl games. But whereas Utah won all four of their bowls, New Mexico lost all four of theirs. In 2006, Utah defeated Tulsa

University of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...

 in the Armed Forces Bowl

Armed Forces Bowl

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is an annual postseason college football bowl game that was inaugurated in 2003 as the Fort Worth Bowl under corporate sponsorship of PlainsCapital Bank. In 2005, the game was without corporate sponsorship...

 to extend their bowl winning-streak to six games (the second longest such streak in the nation). Earlier that same day, New Mexico lost to San Jose State

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

 in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl, which was played at the Lobo's home stadium in Albuquerque.

2007

November 17, 2007 • Salt Lake City, Utah

Although both teams entered the game with an identical record (7–3, 4–2), Utah defeated New Mexico 28–10, eliminating the Lobos from MWC Championship contention. The Utes went on to defeat Navy 35–32 in the Poinsettia Bowl, and New Mexico won the second annual New Mexico Bowl with a 23–0 shutout over Nevada.

2008

November 1, 2008 • Albuquerque, New Mexico

Utah (8–0, 4–0) was off to its best start since 2004, and was the front running "BCS Buster". New Mexico (4–5, 2–3) was battling injuries and struggling to become bowl eligible. Utah was a 7.5 point favorite coming into the game, nevertheless New Mexico came as close to beating the Utes as anyone else that year. But in the end, the Utes left Albuquerque with a hard-fought 3-point win.

2009

November 7, 2009 • Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah won a surprisingly easy matchup over New Mexico. Ironically, the Utes scored 21 of their points in the third quarter, almost half of their points during the game, a quarter that they have traditionally struggled against New Mexico in. After a close first quarter and somewhat close halftime score of 17–7, the first half of rope-a-dope football gave way to 21 points by the Utes, who held a commanding 38–7 lead before putting in reserves, scoring once more and allowing New Mexico to score a garbage time touchdown.