CFB Bowl Preview 2025: Isleta New Mexico Bowl

By Simon Carroll

Bowl season is in full swing and we will be previewing some of the bigger matchups over the next couple of weeks. This year’s Isleta New Mexico Bowl will be contested between the North Texas Mean Green and the San Diego State Aztecs. Simon Carroll takes a look at the key matchups.

Where and When

The North Texas Mean green take on the San Diego State Aztecs in the Isleta New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday 27th December at 5.45pm ET/10.45pm UK time. The game is being broadcast by ESPN, and in the UK you can watch on DAZN for free!

Story So Far...

Played annually since 2006, the New Mexico Bowl is a long-standing fixture on the college football postseason calendar. It has been sponsored by Isleta since 2023, a resort and casino that is an enterprise of the Pueblo of Isleta, a federally recognized Native American tribe based just south of Albuquerque where the game is held. One of the most unique aspects of this bowl game is the trophy the teams play for – a 20 inch piece of Zia Pueblo pottery, painted with Pueblo symbols, the New Mexico Bowl logo, football players, and the logos of the competing teams. And, if you’re lucky to be named an MVP, your trophy will likely be crafted from a traditional leather shield.

What an incredible year for North Texas, who came within a whisker of winning the American and booking a place in the college football playoffs. A loss to Tulane ended that dream, but 11 wins and an offense that was the envy of the nation is still impressive. Head coach Eric Morris departed Denton after the American Conference title game, taking his skills (and likely some talent) to Oklahoma State, meaning assistant Drew Svoboda will be in charge in an interim capacity.

No less impressive is the job Sean Lewis has done in his second year at San Diego State. We knew Lewis could coach, having done admirably at Kent State for five years before running Deion Sanders’ offense for a season. The Aztecs were happy to make him their head coach, and this year were a double overtime loss – on the very field they will play this bowl game – away from a ten-win campaign. Credit needs to go to a defense that held offenses to ten points or less eight times in 2025.

Both teams have experience in this game. North Texas played here in 2018 when they were a member of Conference-USA, a more traditional conference affiliation with the bowl. San Diego State played the following year and were more successful; neither team were expected to be as good as they have been in 2025, and will want to finish the job in style.

The Quarterbacks

NORTH TEXAS: DREW MESTEMAKER

Redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker has had the kind of season usually reserved for Hollywood scripts. Working in Morris’ high tempo offense, Mestemaker has made hay, throwing for 4,129 yards and 31 touchdowns, numbers comparable to Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. Sadly for the Mean Green, Saturday will be Mestemaker’s last for the school, having announced his intention to hit the transfer portal in January. Do not be surprised if he follows his head coach to Stillwater – the Big 12 has been put on notice.

SAN DIEGO STATE: BERT EMANUEL

The Aztecs have stumbled across some adversity ahead of their bowl game, with the announcement that starting quarterback Jayden Denegal underwent surgery to repair his shoulder and will be out against North Texas. That’s a blow for SDSU; Denegal’s stats aren’t impressive, with less than 2,000 yards and almost as many interceptions (8) as touchdowns (9). But the gutsy quarterback sustained the injury in Week 1 against Stony Brook and has gutted out a whole season. That sort of toughness is difficult to replace.

Step forward backup Bert Emanuel, who despite being in his fourth season has very limited experience. 32 career passes at least makes it difficult for North Texas to gameplan for him – Emanuel is the ultimate wildcard in this contest.

Who to Watch

North Texas

Wyatt Young, Wide Receiver – Running back Caleb Hawkins would also have been considered here, but his injury against Tulane looks set to keep him on the sidelines, making this decision easy. Receiver Wyatt Young has had such a big campaign I’m slightly surprised he’s not jumped into the transfer portal himself – the go to target for Mestemaker, Young has been torching defenses all season, registering 1,200 receiving yards at a filthy 19.2 yards per reception. The Katy, Texas native had just one Power 4 program offer him a scholarship out of high school – if he does decide to head elsewhere, that will not be the case this time round.

San Diego State

Lucky Sutton, Running Back – With just five carries in 2024 (with no injury to mitigate the lack of opportunities), nobody could have predicted the production that junior running back Lucky Sutton was going to bring to the Aztecs in 2025. Averaging a monstrous 103 yards a game, Sutton sits 13th in the nation with 1,237 yards on the season – and will likely jump up a few more sptots if he has another big game on Saturday.

Prediction

This one is quite simply a battle between the high octane, explosive offense of North Texas against the stingy, shutdown defense of San Diego State. Despite Mestemaker and Young’s heroics this year, I expect defensive backs Chris Johnson and Dwayne McDougle to throw enough at them to keep them in check. UNT will miss their potent ground game, but ultimately the lack of a passing game from SDSU likely means the Mean Green can key the run and neutralise Sutton’s threats. A close one, but give me North Texas to cap off a season for the ages.

NORTH TEXAS 24-21 SAN DIEGO STATE

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

LEAD WRITER, HEAD OF CONTENT

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST, COVERS COLLEGE FOOTBALL FOR DAZN AND THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

Twitter Envelope Linkedin Spotify Apple
Rated 5 out of 5