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. Usually held near the end of December, games are played at the Sun Bowl stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. Since 2011, it has featured teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Pac-12 Conference. This arrangement will continue through the 2025 season, with either Pac-12 schools, or Pac-12 "legacy schools" fulfilling previous Pac-12 bowl obligations for the next two seasons.
Since 2019, the game has been officially known as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, after the mascot for Frosted Flakes. Previous sponsors include John Hancock Financial, Norwest Corporation, Wells Fargo, Helen of Troy Limited, and Hyundai Motor Company.

History

The first Sun Bowl was the 1935 edition, played on New Year's Day between Texas high school teams; the 1936 edition, played one year later, was the first Sun Bowl contested between college teams. In most of its early history, the game pitted the champion of the Border Conference against an at-large opponent. The first three editions were played at El Paso High School stadium, then switched to Kidd Field until the present stadium was ready in 1963. Through the 1957 season, the game was played on January 1 or January 2; since then, with the exception of the 1976 season, the game has been played in late December, with a majority of games played on or near New Year's Eve and on several occasions played on or about Christmas Day or Christmas Eve.

Notable games

The 1940 game set the record for fewest points scored, when the Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe Bulldogs played the Catholic University Cardinals to a scoreless tie, the only 0–0 result in Sun Bowl history.
In advance of the 1949 game, Lafayette College turned down an invitation from the Sun Bowl Committee because the committee would not allow an African American player to participate. This bid rejection led to a large student demonstration on the Lafayette campus and in the city of Easton, Pennsylvania, against segregation.
Due to a freak snowstorm before the 1974 game, followed by warming temperatures as the sun created a rising steam from the field during the first half, the game was nicknamed the "Fog Bowl."
The 1992 game was the final head coaching appearance of 2001 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Grant Teaff of Baylor; his Bears won over Arizona.
The 1994 game was voted the greatest Sun Bowl ever played, and included four touchdowns by Priest Holmes, as Texas defeated North Carolina, 35–31.
The 2005 game set the record for most points scored, as UCLA defeated Northwestern, 50–38.
The 2011 game is the only Sun Bowl decided in overtime ; Utah defeated Georgia Tech, 30–27.
The 2020 edition of the bowl was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On December 26, 2021, the Miami Hurricanes announced they would not be able to play in the 2021 edition due to COVID-19 issues so organizers stated they would try to secure a replacement team to face the Washington State Cougars. The following day, the Central Michigan Chippewas were named as the Sun Bowl replacement team. The Chippewas had originally been scheduled to face the Boise State Broncos in the Arizona Bowl, until Boise State withdrew from that bowl due to COVID-19 issues.

Sponsorship

The bowl's first title sponsor was John Hancock Financial, who entered a three-year, $1.5 million partnership in June 1986. This came at a time that corporate sponsorship was not common for bowl games, and followed the Fiesta Bowl entering a sponsorship agreement that had made its January 1986 edition the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl. In March 1989, with Sun Bowl organizers and John Hancock Financial negotiating a renewal of the sponsorship agreement, it was reported that an extension might involve renaming the bowl. That came to pass in June 1989, with the annual game changing its name to John Hancock Bowl. Cited as the reason for the change was that, under the prior agreement, the sponsor's name "wasn't mentioned enough in national media to justify the expense." Even after the formal name change, some newspapers continued to refer to it as the Sun Bowl. Five editions of the game were staged as the John Hancock Bowl, from 1989 through 1993. After the 1993 playing, John Hancock Financial reduced its support of the bowl game, to dedicate more of its promotional budget to the 1996 Summer Olympics. The name reverted to Sun Bowl, and to ensure the game would continue, the El Paso city council allocated $600,000 to cover expenses in case of a shortfall.
Subsequent title sponsorship came from Norwest Corporation, which then merged into Wells Fargo, El Pasobased Helen of Troy Limited—using its brand names of Vitalis and Brut —and Hyundai Motor Company.
In August 2019, it was announced that Kellogg's had been named the new title sponsor, and that the game would be branded as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl—referencing Tony the Tiger, the mascot of the company's cereal brand Frosted Flakes. In 2023, Kellogg's spun-off its cereal business as WK Kellogg Co. In July 2024, the Tony the Tiger sponsorship was renewed "for at least two more years." During 2025, WK Kellogg Co was acquired by Italian confectioner Ferrero International SpA.

Conference tie-ins

Until the demise of the Border Conference in 1962, the Sun Bowl usually featured the champion of that conference, which was considered the "host" team, against an at-large team.
The bowl was later aligned with the Big Ten Conference, then established a longtime partnership with the Pacific-10 Conference, commonly known as the Pac-10 and later renamed the Pac-12. In 2010, the bowl entered a four-year contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference along with the Pac-10. A later six-year contract with the ACC and Pac-12 ran through the 2025 edition—under that contract:

For the ACC, the Sun Bowl was placed in the second group of bowls behind the College Football Playoff. The first group was the Holiday Bowl, Pop-Tarts Bowl, and Gator Bowl. The Sun Bowl was grouped with the Pinstripe Bowl and Duke's Mayo Bowl in the second group.
For the Pac-12, the Sun Bowl was grouped with five other bowls behind the CFP.
Game results

Three editions of the bowl ended in a tie—1936, 1940, and 1985—they are denoted by italics in the below table; overtime has been used in bowl games since the 1995–96 bowl season. The inaugural game in 1935 was contested between high school teams. For sponsorship reasons, the 1989 through 1993 editions were known as the John Hancock Bowl.
Rankings are based on the AP poll, prior to game being played.
Note: the bowl's game programs indicate that organizers consider the unplayed 2020 game to have been the 87th edition, as the 2021 game is referred to as the 88th edition, the 2022 game as the 89th edition, etc.
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Awards

C. M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player Trophy

Awarded since 1950; named after the first Sun Bowl Association president, Dr. C. M. Hendricks.

Two players have been two-time MVPs; Charley Johnson and Billy Stevens.

Game	MVP	Team	Position
1950	Harvey Gabrel	Texas Western	HB
1951	Bill Cross	West Texas State	E
1952	Junior Arteburn	Texas Tech	QB
1953	Tom McCormick	Pacific	HB
1954	Dick Shinaut	Texas Western	QB
1955	Jesse Whittenton	Texas Western	QB
1956	Jim Crawford	Wyoming	HB
1957	Claude Austin	George Washington	RB
1958	Ken Porco	Louisville	RB
1958	Leonard Kucewski	Wyoming	G
1959	Charley Johnson	New Mexico A&M	QB
1960	Charley Johnson	New Mexico State	QB
1961	Billy Joe	Villanova	FB
1962	Jerry Logan	West Texas State	HB
1963	Bob Berry	Oregon	QB
1964	Preston Ridlehuber	Georgia	QB
1965	Billy Stevens	Texas Western	QB
1966	Jim Kiick	Wyoming	TB
1967	Billy Stevens	UTEP	QB
1968	Buddy McClinton	Auburn	DB
1969	Paul Rogers	Nebraska	HB
1970	Rock Perdoni	Georgia Tech	DT
1971	Bert Jones	LSU	QB
1972	George Smith	Texas Tech	HB
1973	Ray Bybee	Missouri	FB
1974	Terry Vitrano	Mississippi State	FB
1975	Robert Haygood	Pittsburgh	QB
1977	Tony Franklin	Texas A&M	K
1977	Charles Alexander	LSU	TB
1978	Johnny "Lam" Jones	Texas	RB
1979	Paul Skansi	Washington	WR
1980	Jeff Quinn	Nebraska	QB
1981	Darrell Shepard	Oklahoma	QB
1982	Rob Rogers	North Carolina	TB
1982	Ethan Horton	North Carolina	TB
1982	Brooks Barwick	North Carolina	TB
1983	Walter Lewis	Alabama	QB
1984	Rick Badanjek	Maryland	FB
1985	Max Zendejas	Arizona	K
1986	Cornelius Bennett	Alabama	DE

Game	MVP	Team	Position
1987	Thurman Thomas	Oklahoma State	RB
1988	David Smith	Alabama	QB
1989	Alex Van Pelt	Pittsburgh	QB
1990	Courtney Hawkins	Michigan State	WR
1991	Arnold Ale	UCLA	LB
1992	Melvin Bonner	Baylor	WR
1993	Cale Gundy	Oklahoma	RB
1994	Priest Holmes	Texas	RB
1995	Sedrick Shaw	Iowa	RB
1996	Chad Hutchinson	Stanford	QB
1997	Mike Martin	Arizona State	RB
1998	Basil Mitchell	TCU	TB
1999	Billy Cockerham	Minnesota	QB
2000	Freddie Mitchell	UCLA	WR
2001	Lamont Thompson	Washington State	S
2002	Kyle Orton	Purdue	QB
2003	Samie Parker	Oregon	WR
2004	Sam Keller	Arizona State	QB
2005	Kahlil Bell	UCLA	RB
2005	Chris Markey	UCLA	RB
2006	Matt Moore	Oregon State	QB
2007	Jonathan Stewart	Oregon	RB
2008	Victor Butler	Oregon State	DE
2009	Ryan Broyles	Oklahoma	WR
2010	Michael Floyd	Notre Dame	WR
2011	John White IV	Utah	RB
2012	Rod Sweeting	Georgia Tech	CB
2013	Brett Hundley	UCLA	QB
2013	Jordan Zumwalt	UCLA	LB
2014	Demario Richard	Arizona State	RB
2015	Luke Falk	Washington State	QB
2016	Solomon Thomas	Stanford	DE
2017	Nyheim Hines	NC State	RB
2018	Cameron Scarlett	Stanford	RB
2019	Jayden Daniels	Arizona State	QB
2021	Lew Nichols III	Central Michigan	RB
2022	Rodney Hammond Jr.	Pittsburgh	RB
2023	Jordan Faison	Notre Dame	WR
2024	Harrison Bailey	Louisville	QB
2025

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