If for nothing else, for four hours on Dec. 26, the 36th edition of the Rate Bowl was the antithesis of everything people think college football has become.

The showdown in Phoenix at a baseball cathedral that substituted home runs for touchdowns and field goals was everything at the core of what makes college football unique.

Minnesota out of the mighty Big Ten conference facing off against a New Mexico program from the Mountain West in the midst of a gridiron revival in a first of its kind battle set the stage for a defensive struggle on diamond.

Two programs who were in the bottom half of the country all season on defense saved their best game for the biggest stage, a crowd of over 27,000 on hand, the largest crowd for the Rate Bowl since prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two programs with culture builders at the forefront, an FCS upstart coach with Power Four swagger in Jason Eck who turned the doormat of the Mountain West and the home of a basketball school into a football-crazed, turquoise and red wearing powerhouse in under a year.

And on the other side a fiery, intense leader whose charismatic leadership style embraces the new era of player empowerment with a tyrant-like twist in P.J Fleck.

In an era of money, lack of clear options or identity and instant gratification, both programs built their rosters with specific criteria in mind and an identity of which they wouldn’t waver from.

It’s with that identity that players such as Anthony Smith of Minnesota who was receiving NFL draft attention and offers to enter the transfer portal announced following the bowl game his intentions to return to the Gophers for one final season.

On the other side, a FCS star made the jump to FBS with coach Eck in Damon Bankston nearly carried the Lobos to a bowl victory with multiple big plays throughout the contest including a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 4th quarter that ultimately sent the game to overtime.

New Mexico will be the first to tell you, 2025 will not a blip on the radar and that trips to bowl games will become the expectation, and the Rate Bowl was an example as to why that’s likely to be the case.

The Gophers have multiple first round caliber players throughout the roster and yet for 60 minutes and two drives of overtime, Lobos held their own against Big Ten talent and took the punches while throwing some of their own.

That’s college football.

In an era where media pundits and commentators want to punish group of five programs and keep them separated from the top dogs, New Mexico even in a losing effort showed why the rush to separation is wrong.

New Mexico’s roster and coaching staff was littered with players who made the jump from the FCS level to the FBS and nearly won the program a conference championship and scored them a victory in a bowl game.

That’s college football.

A team of overlooked, underrated, and quality players could hold their own against the mighty Big Ten and garner the respect of their opponent in the process by making them earn the win rather than just rolling over because of a “blue-chip ratio” or how many stars are on a roster.

That’s college football.

As the clock turns to 2026, the debate rages on with playoff expansion conversations and if bowl season is worth it for a program that doesn’t make a playoff. Or whether college football needs to appease the lower tier conferences in its decision making.

But one thing is for certain, don’t tell anyone in Albuquerque that moments like this don’t mean anything because it didn’t result in a national title or a playoff spot.

Or people in Minneapolis that a Gopher program that won seven total bowl games in the 125 years of the program prior to coach Fleck that winning their seventh bowl game in a row doesn’t mean anything.

College Football has become a discussion piece for biased media with agendas and talking heads with agents feeding them information as to what they want fans and people alike to think and believe.

But for the true fans and those who care, nights like Dec. 26, and the Rate Bowl as a whole at its core is another example as to why college football is special and why the game was built for inclusion not separation.