The 1988 Independence Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

postseason

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 ...

between the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

and 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, ...

Background

This was Southern Miss' first bowl game since 1981 and first Independence Bowl since 1980. This was UTEP's first bowl game since

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. The two teams had met before, in the 1954 Sun Bowl.

Game summary

Reggie Barrett threw a 30-yard pass to Pat Hegarty for a touchdown to give the Miners the 7-0 lead in the first. Southern Miss countered with a field goal as the first quarter ended. Southern Miss took the lead on a

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...

touchdown pass to Reginald Warnsley (after a missed field goal by the Miners) that culminated an 80-yard drive to take a 10-7 lead at halftime. James Henry increased the lead on his 55-yard punt return for a touchdown. Southern Miss made the lead 24-7 on a rushing touchdown by Gandy. Henry scored once again on a punt return touchdown to make it 31-7. UTEP narrowed the lead to 31-10 on a field goal at the end of three quarters. Gandy scored his second touchdown of the day to make the lead 38-10. UTEP could only muster one other touchdown, on a David Flores touchdown pass. Southern Miss' 108 punt return yards ultimately contributed to the victory, overshadowing UTEP having more offensive yards than the Golden Eagles.

Aftermath

Stull left for Missouri after the season ended. It would take 12 years for UTEP to return to a bowl game, which they also lost. Hallman left for LSU before Southern Miss' next bowl game in 1990.

Statistics

References

{{UTEP Miners bowl game navbox

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...

Independence Bowl Southern Miss Golden Eagles football bowl games UTEP Miners football bowl games December 1988 sports events in the United States 1988 in sports in Louisiana Brett Favre