The 1945 Sun Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game held at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas, on January 1, 1945, with approximately 13,000 spectators in attendance.
[1] The game featured the Southwestern Pirates representing Southwestern University and the UNAM Pumas representing the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The next time an American Division-1 college would play a Mexican opponent was the 2011 Kilimanjaro Bowl.
[3] One reason given was that the game played at El Paso was 6,000 feet lower in elevation to what the Mexicans were accustomed.
[4] Southwestern won with a score of 35 points to 0, becoming the first team to win back-to-back Sun Bowl championships.