Three Things to Know About BYU vs SMU in the New Mexico Bowl
On Sunday, the BYU football program announced that it will take on SMU in the New Mexico Bowl. Here are three things to know about the New Mexico Bowl.
1. The History
The first New Mexico bowl was played in 2006 between San Jose State and New Mexico. The New Mexico bowl trophy is a Native American clay pot that is "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."
The New Mexico Bowl is always one of the first bowls of the bowl season. This year, it is the fourth bowl game of the bowl season. The payout is reported to be $1,050,000.
This will be BYU's second appearance in the New Mexico Bowl. The first appearance came in 2010 when BYU beat UTEP 52-24.
2. How to Watch
The New Mexico Bowl between BYU and SMU will kick off in just under two weeks on December 17, 2022. The game will be televised on ESPN and will start at 12:15 PM MDT.
3. BYU-SMU Series History
BYU is 3-0 all time against SMU. The last time BYU played SMU was in 1997 when the Cougars won a low-scoring 19-16 game.
The most iconic game of this series came in the 1980 Holiday Bowl. BYU trailed SMU by 20 points in the fourth quarter before rallying and scoring 21 points in the final 2:33 of the game. BYU's last touchdown was a game-winning Jim McMahon Hail Mary on the last play of the game.
That game was later nicknamed the "Miracle Bowl".
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