LOGAN — The Aggies are headed to the Land of Enchantment for their school-record fourth straight bowl game.
Utah State accepted a bid from the Gildan New Mexico Bowl Sunday afternoon that will match the Aggies (6-2 in the Mountain West, 9-4 overall) up with Texas-El Paso (5-3 in Conference USA, 7-5 overall) on Dec. 20.
Kickoff is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. at University Stadium in Albuquerque, and the game will be televised live on ESPN.
“We gladly accept the invitation to represent Utah State University and the Mountain West Conference in the 2014 Gildan New Mexico Bowl,” USU head coach Matt Wells said. “This bowl game is a great reward for our team and its accomplishments this year and solidifies the strength of this program as we will be playing in our fourth-straight bowl game for the first time in school history.”
The New Mexico Bowl will be the third-ever meeting between UTEP and Utah State. The Aggies recorded a 20-7 road win in 1960 and a 21-6 victory in Logan in ’61.
UTEP finished in a tie for second-place in the West Division of Conference USA after defeating Middle Tennessee 24-21 at home in its regular season finale on Nov. 29. The Miners are 1-0 against the Mountain West this year as they posted a season-opening 31-24 win at New Mexico on Aug. 30.
The Miners went 2-10 in 2013, the first season under head coach Sean Kugler.
“We are excited to prepare for a quality UTEP team that had an outstanding season," Wells said. "Our staff has great respect for UTEP head coach Sean Kugler and the Miners team with the turnaround they accomplished this season."
UTEP last played in a bowl game in 2010 when it lost to BYU, 52-24, in the New Mexico Bowl. The Miners have lost five straight bowl games, with their last win coming in 1967 against Ole Miss in the Sun Bowl in El Paso.
“We’re excited to be in the New Mexico Bowl, and we’re going to work our hardest to make the El Paso fans happy,” Kugler said.
This is the ninth edition of the New Mexico Bowl. Last year, Colorado State edged Washington State 48-45 in front of 27,104 fans at University Stadium.
“I think we have another great matchup with two tremendous teams,” said Jeff Siembieda, Gildan New Mexico Bowl executive director. “It looks like we are set up for another exciting show at the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.”
“We are really excited to have Utah State making their first appearance in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl,” Siembieda continued. “They are a first-class program loaded with talent and have had a really nice season. We look forward to hosting the Aggies and their great fan base to Albuquerque for what should be a fun week.”
The game represents a return to Albuquerque for Wells, who served as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at New Mexico in 2007-08 under Rocky Long. When Long resigned, Wells spent the 2009 season at Louisville, only to return to New Mexico as wide receivers coach in 2010.
A year later, Wells turned down an offer to serve as the Lobos' offensive coordinator in order to take a job under Gary Andersen at Utah State.
"Wyatt's excited," Wells said of his 6-year-old son who was born in Albuquerque. "This isn't about Wyatt, though. My family and I spent three years there, and it's a special place to us. But this isn't about Matt Wells — it's about our players and we have an opportunity to go out and represent Utah State University and the Mountain West Conference.
"Hopefully some Lobo fans will root for us because of Mountain West connection, but if they pull for the Aggies because of my connection to New Mexico, we'll take that, too. But I really hope USU fans fly down or drive down to support these kids because they sure deserve it."
The Aggies head into the New Mexico Bowl with an opportunity to become just the second USU team to ever reach double figures in victories. Utah State went 11-2 under Andersen in 2012, finishing up the season with a 41-15 victory over Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Utah State lost to Ohio in the 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, but beat No. 24 Northern Illinois 21-14 in last year's Poinsettia Bowl.
This will be USU's 10th appearance in a bowl game, and Wells, who was a freshman quarterback on the Aggie team that beat Ball State in Las Vegas Bowl II in 1993, has been involved in half of them as either a player or a coach.
The second-year head coach's name has come up as a possible candidate for several job vacancies over the past week, most recently at Oregon State and Tulsa. Wells said he's "never said that I won't listen" when other schools call with a potential job opportunity, "but I'm very happy at Utah State."
"I love it here," he added. "I work for the best athletic director/president combo in Utah State history, and Scott Barnes and President Albrecht have been awesome to me. I'm an alum, and this is where I want to be."
After winning five straight games, the Aggies wrapped up the regular season on Nov. 29 with a humbling 50-19 loss at Boise State. Wells admitted that he and the Aggies are anxious to get back on the field and "get the bad taste out of our mouths."
"It was a total bludgeoning that we took," he noted.
After playing nine straight weeks without a bye, Wells said he and his staff gave most of USU's everyday players last week off (with the exception of running and lifting) to help their bodies recover. While he said he didn't know much about UTEP as of Sunday afternoon, Wells said the team will start up regular practices again on Wednesday, and that the Aggies are scheduled to travel to Albuquerque on Dec. 17.