The 2020 New Mexico 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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

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 ...

played on December 24, 2020, at Toyota Stadium in

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...

, with kickoff at 3:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. local CST) on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. It was the 15th edition of the

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Owned and operated by ESPN ...

, and was one of the 2020–21 bowl games concluding the 2020 FBS football season. When the schedule for 2020–21 bowl games was announced in late October, a site for the New Mexico Bowl was not specified, due to health concerns related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

; it was also reported that contingency plans could result in the bowl being played in Texas. All prior editions of the bowl were played at

Dreamstyle Stadium University Stadium (officially Dreamstyle Stadium from 2017 to 2020) is an outdoor football stadium in the western United States, located on the south campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is the home field of New ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. On November 24,

ESPN Events ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events ...

announced that the bowl would be played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Teams

Based on conference tie-ins, the bowl was expected to feature teams from

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C-USA) and the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

. The matchup was announced on December 13, with the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

from the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(AAC or "The American") facing the

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

from Mountain West. This was their second meeting, coming almost exactly 17 years after the

2003 Hawaii Bowl The 2003 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl was played on Christmas Day 2003, in Honolulu and matched the hometown Hawaii Warriors with the Houston Cougars. This was the second Hawaii Bowl, and the first time Hawaii and Houston played each other. The game was ...

, a triple-overtime 54–48 win by Hawaii. That game ended with fighting between the teams, as players got into shouting matches and punches were thrown.

Hawaii

Hawaii entered the bowl with a record of 4–4, having only played conference games. Hawaii's most recent bowl game appearance in the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

had been the

2008 Sugar Bowl The 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was the 74th Sugar Bowl. It was played on January 1, 2008, in the Lo ...

. From 2008 through 2019, the program played in five editions of the

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athle ...

Houston

Houston entered the bowl with an overall record of 3–4 (3–3 in conference games). They became one of a limited number of teams to enter a bowl game with a losing record.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Hawaii Warriors bowl game navbox

New Mexico Bowl Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football bowl games Houston Cougars football bowl games