The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). In most of its early history, the game pitted the champion of the Border Conference against an at-large opponent. Games are now played at Sun Bowl Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. The first three were played at El Paso High School Stadium (1935–1937), then switched to Kidd Field until the present stadium was ready in 1963. For its first 24 years of existence the game was played on January 1 (New Year's Day) or January 2; since then, with the exception of a January 2 game in 1977, the game has been played in December with the last 15 games played on or near December 31.
The game's current full title is the Hyundai Sun Bowl, which became the name after Hyundai Motor Company's American subsidiary bought naming rights to the bowl from Helen of Troy Limited on June 24, 2010. Hyundai becomes the fourth title sponsor of the Sun Bowl, after Helen of Troy (through its Vitalis and Brut brands), Norwest/Wells Fargo, and John Hancock Insurance; the bowl was known as the John Hancock Bowl for the last five years of the firm's contract with the bowl. Hyundai signed a four year contract with the Sun Bowl committee, which runs through the 2013 game.
Beginning in 2010, the Sun Bowl matches the Pac-12 Conference against the ACC. The Sun Bowl will have the third selection after the BCS from the Pac-12 and either the ACC Championship Game runner-up or the third pick after the BCS from the ACC. The current agreements with the Pac-12 and ACC run from 2010 through 2013. With this most recent agreement with the Sun Bowl the ACC keeps its Sun Bowl ties for at least four more years; the most recent prior Sun Bowl agreement was done in conjunction with the Gator Bowl, where the ACC, Big East, and Big XII conferences (as well as Notre Dame) had a rotating arrangement with the two bowls.
Its contract with CBS Sports is the longest continuous relationship with one network, spanning since 1968. It is one of only two college football games on CBS that does not involve the Southeastern Conference (the other being the Army–Navy Game) and one of only two bowl games that is not aired on one of the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ABC all air bowls; the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, which airs on Fox, is the other). In January 2010, the Sun Bowl Association extended its agreement with CBS through the 2013 Hyundai Sun Bowl. The game traditionally kicks off at "High Noon" MST, or 2 p.m. EST. Helen of Troy has also sponsored the halftime show, which has recently featured such artists as Los Lonely Boys, The Village People, Baby Bash, David Archuleta, Rihanna, and Diamond Rio.
The 1992 game was the final head coaching appearance of College Football Hall of Famer (and future AFCA Executive Director) Grant Teaff of Baylor. Teaff's Bears won over Arizona.
The 2008 Sun Bowl set the record for fewest points scored, when the Oregon State Beavers beat the Pittsburgh Panthers by a score of 3–0.
Read more about Sun Bowl: Game Results, C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player, Jimmy Rogers, Jr. Most Valuable Lineman, John Folmer Most Valuable Special Teams Player, Most Appearances
Famous quotes containing the words sun and/or bowl:
“If you meet a sectary, or a hostile partisan, never recognize the dividing lines; but meet on what common ground remains,—if only that the sun shines, and the rain rains for both; the area will widen very fast, and ere you know it the boundary mountains, on which the eye had fastened, have melted into air.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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