HISTORY: This is another one of those gerrymandered (as opposed to "gerrymathered" which is reconfiguring political districts to look like The Beaver from Leave It To Beaver) bowls that started with the infamous, ill-fated Garden State Bowl many years ago. The idea being to assure the local, B-, C- or D-list squad a place to play if they reach the requisite number of wins and assure a payday for the school and the local economy. This deal came about when New Mexico (UNM) ended up home after the 2005 season despite a 6-5 record and three bowl trips in the previous 3 years. Times were good, Head Coach Rocky Long had led the Lobos to five straight 6 or more win seasons so the bowl was born and the school delivered qualifying for the first two New Mexico Bowls that drew respectable crowds of around 35,000. Since then, however, Long has been fired, UNM has won six games in 3 years and attendance has plummeted in Alburquerque faster than the ratings for Sarah Palin's Alaska, dropping to under 25,000 in 2009. Considering temperatures expect to be in the 30s in Albuquerque this weekend and UNM and New Mexico State (yes they play at the FBS level too) don't figure to be bowl eligible again until the Tricentennial we may be viewing this game's beginning of the end-or in other words kinda like watching William Shatner's new sitcom.
One other historical note. This game is partially sponsored by the Presbyterian Ear Institute (no lie), a fine organization that fortunately had the foresight not to attach its name to the game as mention of the "Ear Bowl" could only conjure up images of those High School documentaries on the Holocaust we had to watch.
BYU: Before TCU and Boise State were screwing up the National Rankings there was BYU. When Arizona and Arizona State bolted the wiggity-WAC in 1978 it left the conference weaker than a six pack of O'Doul's. That's when BYU, having played Alydar to ASU's Affirmed for most of the previous 7 seasons, suddenly became a threat on the national stage. From '78-'83 BYU played only 3 ranked teams in the regular season (going 2-1) and managed to put together 3 one-loss seasons. This was a problem for the major conferences waiting to happen, but 1984 was not supposed to be that year. For one thing BYU lost their greatest player, Steve Young, to the NFL and opened with preseason #3 and expected powerhouse Pitt. Unfortunately, Pitt was coached by the "King of the Old Boy Coaching Network" Foge Fazio. A man who could do less with more better than anyone this side of a Rube Goldberg cartoon. BYU snuck by Pitt 20-14 on the road (year end #6 Oklahoma trounced the Panthers 42-17 in Pittsburgh the next week) and then cruised through the rest of its unranked opponents to go 11-0. Meanwhile the other majors were falling faster than BP stock and in the pre-BCS days there was no way to break into the major bowls. BYU was locked into the Holiday Bowl where they drew 6-5 Michigan, QBed by current Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. When the vastly undersized Cougars slipped by 24-17 to become the only undefeated team in the nation MU coach Bo Schembechler was asked if thought they were the #1 team in the country. "Yes," belligerant Bo replied, "they're the #1 holding team in the country!"
In short, BYU was nowhere near the best team in the country in 1984, but the greatest argument for a playoff system ever slid by the boards with nary a consideration. That said this year's squad is a safe distance from National Champion. Their best win is by 3 at home over SD State and their QB, Jake Heaps, has completed a whopping 55% with an 11-8 TD/Int. ratio which by college football terms is NFL Ryan Leaf-like in its inefficiency. And all this without a RB topping 820 yards. If there's a God, at least this one will be quick.
Former BYU coach Lavell Edwards changed the face of College Football. If only College Football had returned the favor.UTEP: The best thing we can say about UTEP is that they're coached by everyone's favorite lap-dance loving coach Mike Price. For the uninitiated Price parlayed a 30-8 record and two bowl wins at Washington State from 2000-02 into one of the most coveted jobs in the nation- head coach of Alabama. He then decided to celebrate Pac Man Jones-style with an evening at a Florida strip joint. That may have passed muster, but in a move that makes Keifer Sutherland go-go bar antics look like genius(http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-celebrity-strip-club-adventures-round-ii/P1/) married Mike took his favorite dancer back to his hotel for the night. After running up a several hundred dollar room service breakfast bill said dancer spilled the story to the press and Price, having never actually coached a game for the Crimson Tide, ended up at Texas-El Paso where he has toiled, like George Costanza's proverbial Podiatrist, in virtual anonymity ever since.
This year's squad has done little to change that squeaking in to the bowl picture at 6-6. Their QB Trevor Vittatoe is even less accurate (54.5%) than Jake Heaps and no RB here has run for as much as 625 yards. Did someone say Under?
Finally, UTEP is the third name that the school has competed under in athletics. Originally, known as the Texas School of Mining and Metallurgy the school opted for the more user friendly Texas Western under which they were known in 1966 when they played in the historic basketball matchup versus Kentucky that became the subject of the 2006 movie Glory Road. Yes, I am a font of useless information.
