1959 Sun Bowl

American college football game August 2023 December 2025 Sun Bowl December 31 1959 1959 North Texas State Eagles 9–1 Odus Mitchell Missouri Valley 0 0 8 0 New Mexico State Aggies 7–3 Warren B. Woodson Border Conference 14 7 7 0 bg Kidd Field El Paso, Texas Curly Hays (Border;split crew: Border, Missouri Valley) 14,000 1958 The 1959 Sun Bowl featured the New Mexico State Aggies and the North Texas State Eagles. Background New Mexico State represented the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association (BAAA) and finished tied for third in Warren B. Woodson's second season as head coach for the Aggies. North Texas State was co-champion of the Missouri Valley Conference with Houston in Odus Mitchell's 14th year. This was the Eagles first bowl game since the 1948 Salad Bowl. Game summary New Mexico State - Atkins 57 yard touchdown pass from Johnson (Gaiters run), 14:20 remaining New Mexico State - Locklin fumble recovery (run failed), :01 remaining New Mexico State - B. Kelly 15 yard touchdown pass from Johnson (Villanueva kick), 4:05 remaining New Mexico State - Gaiters 44 yard touchdown run (Villanueva kick), 13:50 remaining North Texas State - Christie 51 punt return (Perkins pass from Duty),:01 remaining Charley Johnson was named Sun Bowl MVP, going 7–of-15 with 124 yards passing and two touchdowns along with 31 yards rushing. Billy Ray Locklin had a defensive touchdown for the Aggies when he recovered a fumble as they led 21–0 at halftime. The Eagles could only muster a second half touchdown by Billy Christle and even though Abner Haynes had 174 all purpose yards, Bob Gaiters put the game out of reach with his 44 yard touchdown.http://www.sunbowl.org/the_sun_bowl_game/recap/26 New Mexico State 28, North Texas 8 | Recaps - Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl | December 31, 2021 | el Paso, Texashttp://viewer.zmags.com/publication/c94984ee#/c94984ee/28 Archived copy 2017-01-13 2016-10-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20161014135624/http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/c94984ee#/c94984ee/28 dead Statistics New Mexico State North Texas State First downs 18 20 Yards rushing 206 152 Yards passing 136 182 Total yards 342 334 Passing (C-A-I) 8-16-0 15-31-2 Penalties-Yards 8-69 5-35 Fumbles-Lost 4-2 8-6 Aftermath New Mexico State returned to the Sun Bowl the following season after winning the BIAA once again. Mitchell coached the Eagles for seven more years and won the conference title twice. The program did not reach another bowl game until the 2001 New Orleans Bowl, 42 years later. References Sun Bowl Category:Sun Bowl Category:New Mexico State Aggies football bowl games Category:North Texas Mean Green football bowl games Sun Bowl Category:December 1959 sports events in the United States