Hurricanes heading to the desert to end the year at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas

The Miami Hurricanes are heading to a bowl game in the desert.

The Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl announced Sunday that the Hurricanes (7-5, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) will face the Washington State Cougars (7-5, 6-3 Pac-12) at 12 p.m. ET (CBS) Dec. 31 at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas — a short walk from the Mexican border.

The game is a rematch of the 2015 Sun Bowl — nicknamed the Snow Bowl after a rare snow storm hit the city during the game. In that matchup, the Washington State Cougars defeated the Hurricanes 20-14 and the Canes finished the season 8-5.

The only other time the Hurricanes played in the Sun Bowl was against Notre Dame in 2010, when the Irish dominated 33-17 and UM finished 7-6.

Both previous games were after UM coaches had been fired. In 2015 it was former tight ends coach Larry Scott serving as head coach after Al Golden had been dismissed. In 2010 it was offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland filling in for dismissed UM coach Randy Shannon.

The coaching situation at UM still hadn’t been resolved as of Sunday afternoon when the bowl game was announced. At that point, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal was deep in negotiations with Miami officials, according to sources, regarding a head coaching job at UM.

UM coach Manny Diaz canceled a recruiting trip on Sunday, according to CaneSport.

Wazzu has had its own ongoing coaching saga this season. Head coach Nick Rolovich and four assistants were fired Oct. 18 for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which was required for all state employees. Interim Washington State coach Jake Dickert, its defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, was announced as the permanent head coach on Thursday.

Miami has lost 10 of its 11 bowl games. The Hurricanes’ last bowl win was 2016 against West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Before that, their last bowl victory was against Nevada in the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl.