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New Mexico State to play Utah State in NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl

A rematch of the Aggies’ last bowl is set as they will face an old WAC rival.

NCAA Football: Arizona Bowl-South Alabama vs Air Force Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Am I back in 1960? It sure feels like it.

That’s because the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl announced that the New Mexico State Aggies will play against the Utah State Aggies on December 29th in Tucson, Arizona.

The “Aggie Bowl” is a rematch of the last bowl game the NM State Aggies played in, a 20-13 win over Utah State in the Sun Bowl in 1960.

There was a big bru-haha about the Arizona Bowl losing a team, which led to many people thinking NMSU was heading elsewhere, but apparently it was with the Mountain West, which was expected to send Utah State.

All was well that ended well though, and it ended up being the Aggrizona Bowl after all.


Game Snapshot

Date: Friday, December 29, 2017

Time: 3:30 p.m. MT

Location: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

TV and Streaming: CBS Sports Network and CBSSN Live

Opponent: Utah State Aggies (6-6 overall, 4-4 MWC)

How to Get Tickets: Visit the Pan Am ticket office or call 574-646-1420


Reaction

Obviously, everyone involved with New Mexico State is incredibly happy with the bowl invitation and the opponent. Not only did we get our cake, we get to eat it too.

Chancellor Carruthers made it clear that the only bowl game the NM State Aggies could go to was the Arizona Bowl, so to have them invite us and give us a close bowl game to travel to is just awesome.

The team and fans are pumped up to go to the bowl and I’m expecting a good crowd of NM State fans and a good showing from the Aggies!

Utah State

This will be USU’s 12th bowl game appearance and its sixth in the last seven years. They did not reach a bowl game last year. Their series with NMSU is the seventh most played in school history and they hold a 30-7 advantage with a three game win streak (last played in 2012).

This will be a fun game as the two schools have been conference rivals for 26 years (Big West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conference).

Final Thought

I saw this and took some major pride out of it. What other school can say this?