The mission is simple. “The Sun Bowl Association is committed to improve the quality of life by presenting, through its volunteers, the Southwest’s friendliest bowl game and a series of festive events appealing to El Paso’s diverse cultural heritage.” The Sun Bowl has a long history and some exciting times along the way with some college football legends thrown in the mix. The Sun Bowl is just that — big and bright. The Sun Bowl truly is BIGGER THAN THE GAME.
For more information, visit sunbowl.org.
HISTORY
| YEAR |
TEAM |
SCORE |
TEAM |
SCORE |
| 2016 |
Stanford |
25 |
North Carolina |
23 |
| 2015 |
Washington State |
20 |
Miami |
14 |
| 2014 |
Arizona State |
36 |
Duke |
31 |
| 2013 |
UCLA |
42 |
Virginia Tech |
12 |
| 2012 |
Georgia Tech |
21 |
USC |
7 |
| 2011 |
Utah |
30 |
Georgia Tech |
27 |
| 2010 |
Notre Dame |
33 |
Miami |
17 |
| 2009 |
Oklahoma |
31 |
Stanford |
27 |
| 2008 |
Oregon State |
3 |
Pittsburgh |
|
| 2007 |
Oregon |
56 |
South Florida |
21 |
| 2006 |
Oregon State |
39 |
Missouri |
38 |
| 2005 |
UCLA |
50 |
Northwestern |
38 |
| 2004 |
Arizona State |
27 |
Purdue |
23 |
| 2003 |
Minnesota |
31 |
Oregon |
30 |
| 2002 |
Purdue |
34 |
Washington |
24 |
| 2001 |
Washington State |
33 |
Purdue |
27 |
| 2000 |
Wisconsin |
21 |
UCLA |
20 |
| 1999 |
Oregon |
24 |
Minnesota |
20 |
| 1998 |
TCU |
28 |
USC |
19 |
| 1997 |
Arizona State |
17 |
Iowa |
7 |
| 1996 |
Stanford |
38 |
Michigan State |
|
| 1995 |
Iowa |
38 |
Washington |
18 |
MEMORABLE GAMES
2009:
Ryan Broyles set a bowl record with three touchdown catches from quarterback Landry Jones, who passed for 418 yards in Oklahoma’s win over Stanford. The Sooners won in spite of a strong performance by Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, the nation’s leading rusher with 1,736 yards for the year, who finished with 135 yards and scored two TD’s in the first half.
2006:
Oregon State was favored, but it took two late scores and a gutsy play to take a 39-38 win over Missouri. The Tigers led by 14 with 12 minutes left before QB Matt Moore led two scoring drives, the last touchdown coming with 0:23 left. OSU chose to go for the two-point conversion, which was converted by Yvenson Bernard for the win. Moore threw for 356 yards and a bowl record four scores and also ran for a score.
1984:
Maryland, which had come back from 40 points down to beat Miami in the regular season, rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit to top Tennessee 28-27 in the second-biggest Sun Bowl comeback ever. Maryland fullback Rick Badanjek score twice, the final one a winning one-yard run with 2:28 left. The game marked the third visit by coach Johnny Majors with a third team after bringing Iowa State in 1971 and Pittsburgh in 1975.
STANDOUT PLAYERS
Priest Holmes, RB, Texas, 1994
Rushed for 161 yards on 27 carries and scored four touchdowns in leading Texas to a 35-31 win over North Carolina. He had 106 rush yards in the second half, including a nine yard TD run with 6:35 left that pulled Texas within three points and a five-yard scoring run on the game-winning late drive.
Alex Van Pelt, QB, Pittsburgh, 1989
Completed 20 of 40 passes for 354 yards and two scores, including the game winning 44-yard strike to Henry Tuten with two minutes left to give Pittsburgh a 31-28 win over Texas A&M.
Thurman Thomas, RB, Oklahoma State, 1987
Set Sun Bowl records for rushing attempts (33) and touchdowns (four) in leading the Cowboys to a 35-33 win over West Virginia and QB Major Harris.
MORE
- In 1975, Tony Dorsett rushed for 142 yards for Pittsburgh in a 33-19 win over Kansas. In that game, Pittsburgh set an all-time NCAA bowl record by having three players rush for over 100 yards in the same game. No bowl team has done that since that time.
- The 1987 Sun Bowl was dubbed the “Snow Bowl” with an unusual snowy Christmas Day in El Paso, but it didn’t hamper the offenses as Oklahoma State held on for a 35-33 win over a Major Harris-quarterbacked West Virginia squad. Harris actually hit tight end Keith Winn with a potential tying two-point conversion pass, but Oklahoma State’s Shawn Mackey stopped Winn short of the goal line to preserve the Cowboy win.
- In the 1984 regular season, Maryland had the greatest comeback in college football history with a 42-point second half rally to down Miami 42-40. In the Sun Bowl that year, the Terrapins had a similar performance, coming back from 21 down at halftime to top Tennessee 28-27.
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