On the first day of the 2014-15 bowl season, the 9-4 Utah State Aggies will take on the 7-5 UTEP Miners in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The game begins at 2:20pm and it will be the second bowl game to kick off, followed only by the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl which starts three hours prior.
Utah State is currently the favorite with the odds makers expecting the Aggies to win by ten points. Both teams boast strong defenses, as evidenced by the over/under currently set at a mere 46.5 points, lower than all but two bowl games this year. Zach and Nick Vigil lead the Utah State defense, having accounted for 261 tackles this season, including 16 sacks. They’ll try to rope in Miners running back Aaron Jones who led the team with 1,233 rushing yards on the season.
Neither of these teams have a particularly strong football following when it comes to demand on the secondary ticket market. According to TiqIQ.com, there are only six tickets available for resale, meaning almost everyone who attends the game will be there because they have purchased directly through the team. Attendance is expected to be respectable, so you’ll find a lot of fans coming in from Logan, Utah and EL Paso, Texas. Nightly rates for Albuquerque hotels start at $71, according to Hipmunk.com. Considering face value tickets could be had for less than $30, most fans won’t need to spend more than $100 for a ticket and a room.
For the best location possible, Hipmunk recommends booking a room in one of the hotels near Central New Mexico Community College, such as the Staybridge Suites Albuquerque or the DoubleTree by Hilton Albuquerque. New Mexico Community College is less than a five minute walk to University Stadium so fans will be able to roll out of bed and be right next to the turnstile!
With two stout defenses, the game should be low-scoring and, thus, very close. Fans who do make the trip to see the Gildan New Mexico Bowl are most likely in for quite a treat.
