The 2010 New Mexico Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 18, 2010, at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was one of the 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games concluding the 2010 season. The organizers introduced a new logo to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the game on September 29, 2010.

The game, which was telecast at noon MST on ESPN, featured the UTEP Miners from Conference USA and the BYU Cougars from the Mountain West Conference. Both were former members of the Western Athletic Conference where the Cougars dominated the series with a 28–7–1 record. BYU, making its 29th bowl appearance, came into the game winning five out of seven games after a 1–4 start. UTEP, in just its 13th bowl, had dropped six of seven after opening the season 5–1. Both teams were making their first New Mexico Bowl appearance. UTEP was the first team from outside the WAC or MWC to play in the game due to the bowl organizers wanting a more regional matchup.

BYU won the game in dominating fashion by a score of 52–24. Freshman quarterback Jake Heaps took home MVP honors with a game-record four touchdown passes, helping his team to a 31–3 second quarter lead. UTEP extended its bowl game losing streak to five, the second-longest streak in the nation.

Game summary Scoring summary Scoring Play Score 1st QuarterBYU - Bryan Kariya 4 yard run (Mitch Payne kick), 10:29BYU 7–0BYU - Jake Heaps 9 yard pass to Luke Ashworth (Mitch Payne kick), 4:37BYU 14–0UTEP - Dakota Warren 52 yard field goal, 2:42BYU 14–3BYU - Mitch Payne 38 yard field goal, 0:34BYU 17–3 2nd QuarterBYU - Jake Heaps 31 yard pass to Cody Hoffman (Mitch Payne kick), 14:42BYU 24–3BYU - Jake Heaps 3 yard pass to Cody Hoffman (Mitch Payne kick), 8:55BYU 31–3UTEP - Trevor Vittatoe 67 yard pass to Kris Adams (Dakota Warren kick), 8:38BYU 31–10 3rd QuarterBYU - JJ Di Luigi 2 yard run (Mitch Payne kick), 8:18BYU 38–10UTEP - Trevor Vittatoe 37 yard pass to Kris Adams (Dakota Warren kick), 4:55BYU 38–17BYU - Jake Heaps 29 yard pass to Cody Hoffman (Mitch Payne kick), 0:14BYU 45–17 4th QuarterBYU - Joshua Quezada 8 yard run (Mitch Payne kick), 12:00BYU 52–17UTEP - Trevor Vittatoe 49 yard pass to Kris Adams (Dakota Warren kick), 9:48BYU 52–24

Statistics

Statistics BYU UTEP First downs 28 13Rushes–yards (net) 50–219 22–12 Passing yards (net) 295 245Passes, Att–Comp–Int 36–26–2 33–14–3 Total offense, plays–yards 86–514 55–233 Time of Possession 38:16 21:44

Game notes

UTEP was playing in their first bowl game since 2005. The Miners have lost five straight bowl games, tied for the second longest active streak in the nation. UTEP hasn't won a bowl game since defeating Ole Miss in the 1967 Sun Bowl (held on their campus). BYU's Jake Heaps became the first freshman quarterback to start a bowl game in school history. In the second quarter, Heaps broke Ty Detmer's 22-year-old BYU freshman record for most passing TDs in a season with 15. Heaps' four touchdown passes in the game set a New Mexico Bowl record. The game was BYU's final as a member of the Mountain West Conference. They began to play as an independent starting in 2011.

References

External links ESPN box score