The 1945 Sun Bowl was a postseason college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

held at

Kidd Field Kidd Field is an athletic facility used primarily by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in El Paso, Texas. Constructed for its then-primary use as a football field in 1938, it was the site of the Sun Bowl until 1963 when Sun Bowl Stadium op ...

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, on January 1, 1945, with approximately 13,000 spectators in attendance. The game featured the

Southwestern Pirates Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwestern o ...

representing

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwestern o ...

and the representing the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). This game was the first time an American football bowl game has included a team from Mexico. The next time an American Division-1 college would play a Mexican opponent was the 2011 Kilimanjaro Bowl. Mexico entered the game with a 4–0–1 record and had outscored its opponents 182–24. Southwestern was considered a "slight" favorite over the Mexican team. One reason given was that the game played at

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

was 6,000 feet lower in elevation to what the Mexicans were accustomed. Southwestern won with a score of 35 points to 0, becoming the first team to win back-to-back Sun Bowl championships. Southwestern set a record for the most penalty yards gained (109 yards) while Mexico set records for the fewest passing yards, fewest offensive plays, fewest offensive yards, lowest offensive average per play, fewest first downs, and fewest first down passes. Southwestern also set the record for most points scored in the Sun Bowl up to that point.SOUTHWESTERN TOPS MEXICAN ELEVEN, 35-0
''The New York Times'', January 2, 1945.

References

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Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

Sun Bowl Southwestern Pirates football January 1945 sports events in the United States