The Miami football team is headed to the Sun Bowl to play Washington State for the second time in six seasons. Washington State defeated Miami 20-14 in El Paso in 2015. The Hurricanes were playing behind interim head coach Larry Scott. Miami could be playing with an interim head coach in the 2021 Sun Bowl.
Rumors are rampant that Miami is close to agreeing on a multi-year deal with Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal at $8 million per season. No information is available on who the potential interim head coach for Miami could be if Cristobal is hired before the Sun Bowl which would obviously relieve Manny Diaz as head coach.
The other Sun Bowl appearance for the Miami football team occurred in 2010 under then-interim head coach Jeff Southland who replaced fired head coach Randy Shannon. Washington State played most of their season under Jake Dickert who was named as the interim head coach during the season for Nick Rolovich who was fired.
Dickert was named the permanent Washington State head coach a day after the Cougars defeated Washington 40-13 to win the Apple Cup. Washington State is 7-5 this season and 3-2 under Dickert. In addition to Washington, the Cougars defeated Arizona and Arizona State under Dickert with losses to BYU and Oregon.
The 2015 Sun Bowl was the only time Miami and Washington State have played. This is the third Sun Bowl appearance for Washington State. Washington State also played in the 2001 Sun Bowl defeating Purdue 33-27. This will be the first bowl game for Washington State since 2019. The Cougars finished 1-3 in 2020.
Washington State’s last bowl win was 28-26 in the Alamo in 2018 over Iowa State. The Cougars are 7-8 all-time in bowl games and have lost four of their six. Miami has lost 10 of their last 11 bowl games. The Hurricanes’ last bowl win was a 31-14 victory over West Virginia in the 2015 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.