The 1967 Sun Bowl featured the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

and the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

Background

Ole Miss had qualified for a bowl game every season since the 1957 season, and this was their 11th consecutive bowl season. They tied for 6th in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

. The Miners were playing their first season after being renamed from Texas Western College to UTEP. This was their eighth bowl game, the previous seven also being in the Sun Bowl.

Game summary

UTEP's

Billy Stevens William Samuel Stevens (born August 27, 1945) is a former quarterback in the National Football League. Stevens was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1968 NFL Draft. He played two seasons with the team. He was later acqui ...

was named MVP for the second time, having been named MVP in 1965. Bruce Newell gave the Rebels their only score of the day on a touchdown run set up by Mac McClure's interception return. Trailing 7–0 in the fourth, Stevens went to work, leading the Miners on a 76-yard drive culminating with a touchdown pass to David Kerns to tie the game. A forced fumble by

Fred Carr Freddie Alton Carr (August 19, 1946 – February 19, 2018) was an American football player who played linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1977. Carr attended Phoenix Union High School, where ...

recovered by Dennis Bishop set up the Miners in the position to win the game, and Larry McHenry scored four plays later with 7:52 left. But Ole Miss could not make a successful drive as UTEP held on to win their second Sun Bowl in three years. Stevens went 13 of 26 for 155 yards, outyarding the entire Ole Miss team, who only had 109 yards of offense.

Aftermath

This is to date the last bowl game the Miners have won, and they have lost their past six bowl games. They would join the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

the year after this game. They have not reached the Sun Bowl since this game as well. Ole Miss would continue their bowl streak until 1971. Coincidentally, they also have not reached the Sun Bowl since this game.

Statistics

References

{{UTEP Miners bowl game navbox

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 Ole Miss Rebels football bowl games UTEP Miners football bowl games 1967 in sports in Texas December 1967 sports events in the United States