The New Mexico Bowl has long been considered the most glamorous of all the non-BCS bowl games. With a spirited game of Family Feud, a trip to the prized city casino, and a much anticipated chili contest at stake, it's the place where all college football players aspire to be in late December.
And now, Larry Scott has received the prize of a lifetime--Albuquerque! Forget the new TV contract with ESPN and Fox, this could be the biggest news to date for the Pac-12, which will have their seventh bowl tie-in. It will follow the Rose, Alamo, Holiday, Sun, Las Vegas, and Kraft Fight Hunger Bowls in relative importance. The New Mexico Bowl will definitely ensure that at least seven Pac-12 bowl eligible teams will be playing in the postseason in 2011.
Currently, the New Mexico Bowl will pit a Pac-12 team against a Mountain West squad, which will make it similar in structure to what the Pointsettia Bowl has been in previous seasons. It'll be the first bowl of the 2011-12 college football season, contested on December 17th at 2 PM ET/11 AM PT on ESPN, a pretty early time for a Pac-12 contest. But hey, that's the price you pay for coveting the fabled lands of Albuquerque.
Is the New Mexico Bowl the right tie-in for the Pac-12? Let us know in the comments.