New Mexico State to play in Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit

Dec. 5—The Big Ten's boost was New Mexico State's window of opportunity.

The inclusion of Michigan and Ohio State in the College Football Playoff opened the door for the Aggies to land a spot in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit. The bowl and NMSU made the announcement Sunday afternoon.

The Aggies (6-6) will face Bowling Green (6-6) on Dec. 26, a game that will air nationally on ESPN and be played at Ford Field, the home of the NFL's Lions. It's NMSU's second bowl bid in 62 years, each of them coming since 2017.

NMSU athletic director Mario Moccia said there are undoubtedly those who would have preferred a game closer to home, say the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl (Tucson, Ariz.), the Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas) or the game up Interstate 25, the New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque).

"It just didn't really work out this time, you know, logistics, things like that," Moccia said. "There's a lot of things that they [the New Mexico Bowl] don't control when it comes to game selection, but we'll do whatever we can to see if our supporters can help raise some funds for the band tickets and things like that."

The New Mexico Bowl extended bids to BYU and SMU, marking the first time in the game's history it will not have a team from its primary conference tie-in, the Mountain West. The game will be played Dec. 17 in Albuquerque, nine days before the Aggies take the field in Detroit.

The Dec. 26 date is ideal for NMSU, Moccia said. It's the only college football game that day and it doesn't go head-to-head with that day's lone NFL game, a Monday night contest between the Chargers and Colts. There are only a handful of NBA games, and they're all that evening.

"It's played in an NFL stadium, so it's going to be great for our current student-athletes [and] I think great for recruiting — and a great commercial for three-plus hours for the entire institution that the country can watch," Moccia said.

The Quick Lane Bowl has tie-ins to the Big Ten and Mid-American conferences, but when the Big Ten landed two teams in CFP, it opened a slot for an at-large team. Enter New Mexico State, a team that was granted an NCAA waiver to earn bowl eligibility despite having two of its wins against Football Championship Subdivision teams.

NCAA rules allow FBS teams to count no more than one win against FCS programs toward bowl eligibility.

For Aggies first-year coach Jerry Kill, it's something of a homecoming. At one time, he was the youngest head coach in the country when, at age 32, he was hired in 1994 to lead Saginaw Valley State. He spent five seasons at the NCAA Division II school before moving on, eventually coaching in the Big Ten at Minnesota.

"I've got a lot of ex-players wanting tickets right now," Kill said. "I've been a part of a bowl game before there, and it's a good experience and our kids will love it."

The Aggies bounced back from an 0-4 start this season, winning five of their last six games. Their roster features 13 players from New Mexico high schools, including starting quarterback Diego Pavia from Volcano Vista in Albuquerque.

The Quick Lane has a projected payout of $1 million per team. Moccia said a decent portion of that will go toward travel expenses for the players, coaches, support staff, administration, cheer squads and spirit band.

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NMSU Bowl History

2017 Arizona Bowl — beat Utah State, 26-20 (OT)

1960 Sun Bowl — beat Utah State, 20-15

1959 Sun Bowl — beat North Texas, 28-8

1935 Sun Bowl — tied Hardin-Simmons, 14-14