Where Will the UTEP Miners Go Bowling? Here Are the Best Options
Now that the UTEP football team guaranteed themselves a winning season for 2021, there is no more uncertainty about whether or not the Miners will go to a postseason bowl game. In his fourth season as head coach, Dana Dimel will have his team playing in December, and the only question now is where will UTEP be headed and will they win their first bowl game since 1967?
Based on all the bowl projections, the two most logical games would be the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque and the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl at Toyota Stadium. Both sites make sense for a ton of reasons. If the Miners go back to Albuquerque, plenty of El Pasoans will be able to make the three and a half hour drive to watch the game. It would also be the third time in the last 11 years that UTEP would be playing at University Stadium. The New Mexico Bowl also pays out over a million dollars.
The other destination that has been receiving a lot of traction is the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl. That game would be played at Toyota Stadium, which is the home of FC Dallas as well as the FCS Championship game. If the Miners end up in Frisco, the bowl game pays out $650,000, which is about 65% of what the school would receive as opposed to the New Mexico Bowl. Despite the smaller payout, there are a ton of UTEP alumni living in Dallas and the surrounding cities in central Texas. They always make the trip to watch the Miners whenever they are playing schools like North Texas, Rice, or UTSA and they would be in Frisco to root them on.
Below is a list of all the major online football bowl projections for the Miners, who will play their final game of the regular season on Friday at noon in Birmingham against UAB.
College Football News: UTEP vs. Utah State, Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
247 Sports: UTEP vs. Wyoming, New Mexico Bowl
CBS Sports: UTEP vs. Louisiana, New Orleans Bowl
Athlon Sports: UTEP vs. Wyoming, New Mexico Bowl
ESPN: Kyle Bonagura: UTEP vs. Boise State, New Mexico Bowl; Mark Schlabach: UTEP vs. Utah State, Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
Sporting News: UTEP vs. Miami (Ohio), Bahamas Bowl
Action Network: UTEP vs. Wyoming, New Mexico Bowl.