Arizona holds off late New Mexico rally to win New Mexico Bowl

New Mexico head coach Bob Davie speaks during an NCAA college…

Albuquerque Food and Funhouse was the place to be, as Arizona players like Casey Skowron got in a little bowling before the bowl game.

The annual Gildan New Mexico Bowl features a combined team dinner on the Thursday night before the game. Both teams were into it with New Mexico providing a great push. New Mexico fell to 3-8-1 in the postseason.

Arizona had the ball for only 19:08 (5:10 of which came on its final, game-sealing drive) in the game, but the Wildcats were able to rely on its hurry-up offense and a number of big plays to jump out to a sizeable lead over the Lobos. By the end of the game, Arizona’s quick-strike scoring had built enough of a lead for the Wildcats to beat New Mexico 45-37 and finish 2015 with a 7-6 record, the fourth straight winning season in Tucson.

Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Arizona Desert Swarm for Arizona fans and Mountain West Connection for New Mexico fans.

New Mexico quarterback Lamar Jordan rushed for three touchdowns and threw a 92-yard touchdown pass to Delane Hart-Johnson before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury. Arizona Wildcats scored 29.3 points compared to allowed 27.0 points with point differential of 2.3. UNM, meanwhile, comes into its first bowl berth since 2007 on a high, finishing out the season with wins over bowl-bound Utah State (6-6), Boise State (8-4) and Mountain Division champion Air Force (8-5).

The game is scheduled for Saturday at noon, and Wednesday, the Wildcats were greeted with some New Mexico flavor by a mariachi band. The backfield duo of QB Anu Solomon and RB Nick Wilson were just sophomores, so RichRod’s attack should really be rocking and rolling in 2016. However, six starters return including most of the front seven – the production has to be there, though, especially without its superstar linebacker who made such a difference vs. New Mexico.