| 2006 New Mexico Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 23, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | University Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Albuquerque, New Mexico | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Offensive: WR James Jones, SJSU Defensive: LB Matt Castelo, SJSU | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Brian O'Cain (Pac-10) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 34,111 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$1,000,000 per team[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore, Trevor Matich and Stacey Dales | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 1.81 [2] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2006 New Mexico Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game held on December 23, 2006 at University Stadium on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque as part of the 2006–07 NCAA football bowl games. The game, telecast on ESPN, featured the San Jose State Spartans from the WAC and the hometown New Mexico Lobos from the Mountain West Conference. The game was the inaugural New Mexico Bowl and the first bowl game held in the state.
San Jose State controlled the action all game long, jumping out to a 20–3 lead before New Mexico tacked on 9 points in the final few minutes. Spartan quarterback Adam Tafralis threw three touchdown passes, two to offensive MVP James Jones, in a dominant performance. With the loss, New Mexico's postseason drought was extended to 45 years.