2011 New Mexico Bowl, Temple Vs. Wyoming: Owls Run Over Pokes, 37-15

Temple’s defense held Wyoming from there, allowing a meaningless touchdown with three seconds left and the game already out of reach in a 37-15 victory. It was the Owls’ first bowl win in 32 years.

For more, check out Wyoming blog Cowboy Altitude and MAC blog Hustle Belt. For more on college football, stay tuned to SB Nation’s college football news coverage. And visit our many college football blogs.

10.2: Value, in equivalent points (as defined here), of Wyoming’s three turnovers. They were unable to force any of their own as well, and for a team so incredibly dependent on the turnover battle (they were fifth in the country with a plus-15 turnover margin), this was a killer.

61: Length of the touchdown pass from Chris Coyer to Rod Streator that effectively ended the game. Wyoming had just finished grinding out an 11-play, five-minute touchdown drive to cut Temple’s lead to 21-7 with 31 seconds left in the first half, but Coyer found Streator deep on the very next play, and when the Wyoming safety slipped in coverage, Streator was able to take the ball to the house, and Temple went up 28-7. After five minutes of hard work, Wyoming found themselves still down by 21 points.

As far as bowl season openers go, this one was quite a dud, especially given that Nelly has apparently replaced B.o.B. as this year’s relentless interstitial musician.

Wyoming may have had the dual trials of playing in the 2011 college football bowl season’s first game and coming back from a 21-0 deficit to Temple before it in the first half of the 2011 New Mexico Bowl, but that didn’t stop the Cowboys from doing exciting things.

First, Wyoming’s Josh Doctson made a fantastic one-handed catch to get the Cowboys on the board despite what looks like at least a sprinkling of pass interference.

The yardage battle leans Temple’s way, 278 to 160. Four Temple runners have 20 or more yards on the ground, three of them exceeding 35 apiece.

Steve Addazio’s offense has 137 yards rushing with 40 minutes to go. The biggest blowout in New Mexico Bowl history was BYU by 28 over UTEP. I’m just saying.

Could Temple win a bowl while attempting fewer than 10 passes? Only four so far.

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The highlight of the game so far: Gildan’s CEO showing up in a commercial to dryly inform us we already own many Gildan products. They make T-shirts, apparently all of them, and really want us all to know that we should not be alarmed to discover they’ve already got us. I must not understand branding, because this all feels quite unnecessary.

The touchdown that capped it was Pierce’s 52nd for Temple, extending his school record.

For more on Wyoming, check out Cowboy Altitude. For more on college football, stay tuned to SB Nation’s college football news coverage. And visit our many college football blogs.

Game date, time: 2p.m. ET, Saturday, December 17, 2011

Location: University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Now THIS is what bowls are all about: two teams who have played once before, facing off on a field 600 miles from one school and 1,900 miles from the other. People who love bowls, love this. People who hate them have probably already talked about how ridiculous this is. Regardless, the bowl season kicks off in Albuquerque, with Temple attempting to get a measure of REVENGE!!! for Wyoming’s 38-24 win over the Owls in 1990.

Personal aside: when I was in grad school, I made Stupid, Impromptu Sports Road Trip No. 114 to Albuquerque to watch Missouri play in the second round of the 2002 NCAA Basketball Tournament. The game itself made the trip worth it -- or as ‘worth it’ as an 1,800-miles-in-a-weekend trip can be -- but what made the largest impression of the trip (aside from incredible eastern New Mexico crosswinds)? Wyoming fans. They were unbelievable. And drunk. And really fun to be around. And every single one of them began to root for Missouri when this happened. I’ve rooted for the Cowboys ever since, and that has doubled since they hired a former Mizzou assistant as their head coach.

Wyoming on the other hand is returning to a familiar spot in the New Mexico Bowl, where they defeated Fresno State in double overtime in the 2009 instance of the game. “We had such a tremendous time down here last time and we were really looking forward to the opportunity to come back again,” Mountain West coach of the year Dave Christensen said. “We were hoping that this was the bowl we were going to get to. I think it is the perfect location for where we are located for our fan base to get to.”

Game date, time: 2:00 pm ET, Saturday, December 17

As always, we are here to clarify the matter. All games listed below are on December 17th, also known as Bowlmas. Like most of the gifts you open first on Christmas morning, you will forget you ever saw them.

GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL: WYOMING VS. TEMPLE (2:00 p.m., ESPN)

For more on the Temple Owls, visit SB Nation’s MAC blog Hustle Belt. Also stay tuned to SB Nation’s 2011 college football bowl game bids coverage.

The sixth Gildan New Mexico Bowl will kick off the 2011-12 bowl season on Saturday, December 17. Clay Matvick, Brian Griese & Jessica Mendoza will be working the ESPN broadcast and will have their work cut out for them if they want to keep your interest the entire time.

It’s the first year that Gildan is the bowl sponsor. Gildan is an apparel company whose HQ is located in Montreal, Canada, so your guess is as good as mine as to how they ended up here.

Somehow, Temple coach Steve Addazio’s presence on the list stirred up something beyond just, “Hey, that’d be ____.” Houston’s Kevin Sumlin is also on the list, but nobody’s tweeting, “Kevin Sumlin, next Illinois coach? Chicago Tribune reports ...” about him.

All of this led to Addazio [AUTOPLAY VIDEO AD WARNING] denying whatever it was that was reported: