| Year Game Played: | 2005 |
| Title Sponsor: | Vitalis |
| Game Name: | Sun Bowl |
| Football Season: | 2005 |
| Visitor Name Short: | Northwestern |
| Visitor Nickname: | Wildcats |
| Visitor School: | Northwestern University |
| Home Name Short: | UCLA |
| Home Nickname: | Bruins |
| Home School: | University of California at Los Angeles |
| Visitor Record: | 7 - 4 |
| Visitor Conference: | Big Ten |
| Home Record: | 9 - 2 |
| Home Conference: | Pac-10 |
| Visitor Coach: | Randy Walker |
| Home Coach: | Karl Dorrell |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | NR |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | NR |
| Visitor Rank Bcs: | 25 |
| Home Rank Ap: | 17 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 17 |
| Home Rank Bcs: | 16 |
| Visitor 1Q: | 22 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 13 |
| Home 1Q: | 7 |
| Home 2Q: | 22 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 14 |
| Date Game Played: | December 30 |
| Stadium: | Sun Bowl |
| City: | El Paso, Texas |
| Mvp: | Chris Markey (UCLA RB) and Kahlil Bell (UCLA RB) |
| Anthem: | Northwestern Wildcat Marching Band |
| Referee: | Dan Romeo (WAC) [1] |
| Halftime: | Northwestern Wildcat Marching Band & Diamond Rio |
| Attendance: | 50,426 |
| Payout: | 1.575 million per team[2] |
| Us Network: | CBS |
| Us Announcers Link: | List of announcers of major college bowl games |
| Us Announcers: | Verne Lundquist, Todd Blackledge, Tracy Wolfson |
The 2005 Sun Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2005, in El Paso, Texas. Sponsored by the Vitalis brand of hair tonic made by Bristol-Myers, the game was officially known as the Vitalis Sun Bowl. It was the 72nd Sun Bowl. It featured the UCLA Bruins, and the Northwestern Wildcats. UCLA overcame a 22–0 deficit to Northwestern in the first quarter to win 50–38. UCLA running backs Chris Markey and Kahlil Bell shared the most valuable player award, the first such shared award in Sun Bowl history. Defensive tackle Kevin Mims of Northwestern won the Jimmy Rogers, Jr. Most Valuable Lineman award. This was the biggest comeback in UCLA football history,[3] until the 2017 UCLA vs. Texas A & M game, in which the Bruins scored 34 points.[4] It still stands as of 2021 as the largest comeback in Sun Bowl History.[5] It also is the highest scoring Sun Bowl game.
The game would unexpectedly be Randy Walker's last as Northwestern head coach. Walker died of an apparent heart attack the following June.
The weather was clear and 56 degrees Fahrenheit.
Northwestern's Joel Howells started the scoring with a 33-yard field goal to give Northwestern an early 3–0 lead. Kevin Mims later scored on a 33-yard interception return to increase Northwestern's lead to 9–0. Mark Philmore rushed 19 yards for a touchdown to put Northwestern up 15–0. However, the kicker missed his second consecutive extra point attempt.
Nick Roach intercepted another UCLA pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to give Northwestern a 22-0 first quarter lead. At the end of the quarter, running back Kahlil Bell put UCLA on the board, by rushing for a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 22–7. Less than 2 minutes later, quarterback Drew Olson connected with wide receiver Ryan Moya for a 58-yard touchdown pass, to cut the lead to 22–14.
Kahlil Bell scored his second rushing touchdown of the game by rushing 6 yards for a touchdown. Drew Olson then found tight end Marcedes Lewis for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 22. With 29 seconds left in the first half, Olson found wide receiver Marcus Everett for an 8-yard touchdown pass to give UCLA a 29-22 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Olson connected with Michael Pitre for a 5-yard touchdown pass, to extend the lead to 36–22. Amado Villarreal connected on a 31-yard field goal for Northwestern, to cut the lead to 36–25.
The last 2:30 of the game featured a lot of scoring. Quarterback Brett Basanez found Mark Philmore for an 8-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 36–31 with 2:29 remaining. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Brandon Breazell and returned 42 yards for a touchdown, extending UCLA's lead to 43–31. With 24 seconds in the game, Basanez found wide receiver Shaun Herbert for a 5-yard touchdown pass, pulling NU to 43–38. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Breazell, and once again returned 45 yards for a touchdown. That made the final margin 50–38.
| Statistic | NU | UCLA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 33 | 24 | |
| First downs rushing | 11 | 18 | |
| First downs passing | 17 | 4 | |
| First downs penalty | 5 | 2 | |
| Third down efficiency | 5–20 | 6–13 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 4–5 | 1–2 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 102–584 | 74–453 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 32–168 | 50–310 | |
| Yards per rush | 5.3 | 6.2 | |
| Yards passing | 416 | 143 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 38–70 | 10–24 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 3 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 5–12 | 1–20 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 6–74 | 6–156 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 5–31.0 | 5–40.4 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 4–1 | 2–1 | |
| Penalties–yards | 6–49 | 8–69 | |
| Time of possession | 30:50 | 29:10 |
| Wildcats passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38–70 | 416 | 2–2 | |||
| Wildcats rushing | |||||
| 18 | 84 | 0 | |||
| Brett Basanez | 8 | 32 | 0 | ||
| Brandon Roberson | 3 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Mark Philmore | 1 | 19 | 0 | ||
| Jonathan Fields | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Wildcats receiving | |||||
| Ross Lane | 7 | 136 | 0 | ||
| Tyrell Sutton | 7 | 67 | 0 | ||
| Jonathan Fields | 6 | 64 | 0 | ||
| Shaun Herbert | 7 | 61 | 1 | ||
| Mark Philmore | 7 | 45 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 27 | 0 | |||
| Tonjua Jones | 1 | 16 | 0 | ||
| Sam Cheatham | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bruins passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10–24 | 143 | 3–3 | |||
| Bruins rushing | |||||
| 24 | 161 | 0 | |||
| 19 | 136 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Drew Olson | 3 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1 | -11 | 0 | |||
| Bruins receiving | |||||
| Ryan Moya | 1 | 58 | 1 | ||
| Maurice Jones-Drew | 2 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Brand Breazell | 2 | 17 | 0 | ||
| Marcus Everett | 2 | 14 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 11 | 0 | |||
| Chris Markey | 1 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 5 | 1 | |||
The 2005 Sun Bowl game, sponsored by Vitalis, had a $1.5 million payout.[6]
This was the third record setting comeback for the 2005 UCLA Bruin football team. Until the 2017 season, they ranked first, second, and third in all-time scoring comebacks to win for the UCLA Bruins.
The Northwestern Wildcats broke five records.
The UCLA Bruins broke three records.
Together Northwestern and UCLA broke or tied six records.
In addition, Brett Basanez tied the individual record of 38 completions and broke the offensive yardage record at 448 yards.
CBS Announcer Verne Lundquist who had been the Sun Bowl broadcaster starting in 1988, and former UCLA Bruins coach Terry Donahue were named Legends of the Sun Bowl.