2025 Rate Bowl
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| 2025 Rate Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 36th Rate Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 26, 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Chase Field | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Phoenix, Arizona | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Jalen Smith (WR, Minnesota) Defense: Anthony Smith (DL, Minnesota) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Minnesota by 2.5[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Cravonne Barrett (Big 12) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 27,439 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN ESPN Radio | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst), and Dawn Davenport (sideline) (ESPN) Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Max Starks (analyst) (ESPN Radio) | |||||||||||||||||||||
The 2025 Rate Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 26, 2025, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The 36th annual Rate Bowl began at approximately 2:30 p.m. MST and aired on ESPN.[2][3] The Rate Bowl was one of the 2025–26 bowl games concluding the 2025 FBS football season. The title sponsor for the game was the Rate residential mortgage company.
The 2025 Rate Bowl featured the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7–5) of the Big Ten Conference and the New Mexico Lobos (9–3) of the Mountain West Conference. The score was 14–14 at the end of regulation. In the first overtime period, New Mexico scored a field goal, then Minnesota scored a touchdown to win the game by a 20–17 score.[4]
New Mexico Lobos
This was the first ever meeting between Minnesota and New Mexico.[5]
New Mexico opened their season with loss at Michigan, followed by three wins in a row. Back-to-back losses gave them a 3–3 record in mid-October. The Lobos then won all six of their remaining games, and entered the Rate Bowl with a 9–3 record.[6]
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota won three of their first four games; a loss to then top-ranked Ohio State followed by two wins gave them a 5–2 record in mid-October. The Golden Gophers lost three of their final five games, leaving them with a record of 7–5 entering the Rate Bowl.[7]