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 (ACC) and the Pac-12 Conference. This arrangement continued through the 2025 season, with either Pac-12 schools or Pac-12 "legacy schools" (the 10 schools that left the conference in 2024 for the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC) fulfilling previous Pac-12 bowl obligations for two seasons.
Since 2026, the game has been sponsored by General Mills' Old El Paso brand and officially known as the Old El Paso Sun Bowl; previous sponsors have included John Hancock Financial, Norwest Corporation, Wells Fargo, Helen of Troy Limited (using its Vitalis and Brut brands), the Hyundai Motor Company, and Frosted Flakes (via its mascot Tony the Tiger).
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 (1935–1937), 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 (88), as UCLA defeated Northwestern, 50–38.
The 2011 game is the only Sun Bowl decided in overtime (the NCAA started the use of overtime in Division I bowl games in 1995); 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 (1996–1998), which then merged into Wells Fargo (1999–2003), El Pasobased Helen of Troy Limited—using its brand names of Vitalis (2004–2005) and Brut (2006–2009)—and Hyundai Motor Company (2010–2018).
In August 2019, it was announced that Kellogg's had been named the new title sponsor of the Sun Bowl; the game was sponsored via its Frosted Flakes brand as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. In July 2024, the WK Kellogg Co. (a 2023 spin-off of the Kellogg's cereal business) renewed its sponsorship for "at least two more years".
On September 15, 2026, the Sun Bowl Association announced that the WK Kellogg Co. would not renew its sponsorship agreement. Two days later, General Mills announced that it would become the new title sponsor via its Old El Paso brand, rebranding the game as the Old El Paso Sun Bowl.
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 (ACC) 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 (CFP). 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 (including its legacy members after 2023), the Sun Bowl was grouped with five other bowls (Alamo Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, LA Bowl, and Independence Bowl) 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.
No.Date played Winning team Losing teamAttnd.Notes1January 1, 1935 El Paso All-Stars 25 Ranger (Texas) 21 3,000 notes2January 1, 1936 Hardin–Simmons 14 New Mexico A&M 14 12,000 notes3January 1, 1937 Hardin–Simmons 34 Texas Mines 6 8,000 notes4January 1, 1938 West Virginia 7 Texas Tech 6 12,000 notes5January 2, 1939 Utah 26 New Mexico 0 13,000 notes6January 1, 1940 Arizona State 0 Catholic 0 13,000 notes7January 1, 1941 Western Reserve 26 Arizona State 13 14,000 notes8January 1, 1942 Tulsa 6 Texas Tech 0 14,000 notes9January 1, 1943 Second Air Force 13 Hardin–Simmons 7 18,000 notes10January 1, 1944 Southwestern 7 New Mexico 0 18,000 notes11January 1, 1945 Southwestern 35 0 13,000 notes12January 1, 1946 New Mexico 34 Denver 24 15,000 notes13January 1, 1947 Cincinnati 18 Virginia Tech 6 10,000 notes14January 1, 1948 Miami (Ohio) 13 Texas Tech 12 18,000 notes15January 1, 1949 West Virginia 21 Texas Mines 12 13,000 notes16January 2, 1950 Texas Western 33 Georgetown 20 15,000 notes17January 1, 1951 West Texas State 14 Cincinnati 13 16,000 notes18January 1, 1952 Texas Tech 25 Pacific 14 17,000 notes19January 1, 1953 Pacific 26 Mississippi Southern 7 11,000 notes20January 1, 1954 Texas Western 37 Mississippi Southern 14 9,500 notes21January 1, 1955 Texas Western 47 Florida State 20 14,000 notes22January 2, 1956 Wyoming 21 Texas Tech 14 14,500 notes23January 1, 1957 No. 17 George Washington 13 Texas Western 0 13,500 notes24January 1, 1958 Louisville 34 Drake 20 13,000 notes25 December 31, 1958 Wyoming 14 Hardin–Simmons 6 12,000–13,000 notes26 December 31, 1959 New Mexico A&M 28 North Texas State 8 14,000 notes27 December 31, 1960 No. 17 New Mexico State 20 Utah State 13 16,000–16,200 notes28 December 30, 1961 Villanova 17 Wichita 9 15,000 notes29 December 31, 1962 West Texas State 15 Ohio 14 13,000–16,000