Counting Down The MVPs From The Last Five VRBO Fiesta Bowls

The 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes take on No. 6 Ole Miss on Thursday night in the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, which also serves as the semifinals for the 2025 College Football Playoff.

For the ‘Canes, they’re looking for their first trip to the national championship game since 2003, while the Rebels haven’t officially played in a national championship game in school history, although their last claimed national title came all the way back in 1962.

If either team hopes to keep its national championship hopes alive, it will need MVP-level performances on both sides of the ball.

We’re taking a trip down memory lane and looking back at the offensive and defensive MVPs from the last five Fiesta Bowls.

Fiesta Bowl MVP History

The first Fiesta Bowl was in 1971, and was born from frustration over the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) constantly having its champion locked out of the bowl picture.

Thus, the Fiesta Bowl was created, with the first one involving top-10-ranked Arizona State taking on top-20-ranked Florida State. The Sun Devils pulled out a 45-38 victory in a shootout, and first ever MVPs of the game were FSU quarterback Gary Huff and Arizona State DE Junior Ah You.

More than 50 years later, the bowl is flourishing and consistently hosts some of the sport’s top programs and most important games.

Without further ado, here’s a look back at some of the most-recent top performances in the Fiesta Bowl.

2025: Offensive MVP – Tyler Warren (Penn State); Defensive MVP – Zakee Wheatley (Penn State)

Tyler Warren had a breakout rookie season in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts after being selected with the 14th overall pick, and nobody who watched his 2025 Fiesta Bowl performance should’ve been surprised.

Warren, the 2025 Mackey Award winner as the best tight end in the nation, caught six passes for 63 yards and two touchdowns, including a fantastic back-shoulder catch mid-way through the third quarter to put the Nittany Lions back in control after their lead was cut to just three.

On the other side of the ball, safety Zakee Wheatley had just two tackles, but also recorded a key interception on the first play of the fourth quarter with Penn State ahead 24-14.

2024: Offensive MVP – Bo Nix (Oregon); Defensive MVP – Jeffrey Bassa (Oregon)

After narrowly missing out on the 2024 College Football Playoff, the last of the four-team playoff era, an angry Oregon Ducks team went into Glendale and smacked around Liberty to the tune of a 45-6 victory.

Quarterback Bo Nix threw complete 28 of his 35 pass attempts for 363 yards and five touchdowns, which propelled him to the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Nix is now the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos, who hold the No.1 seed in the AFC entering the playoffs.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa had eight solo tackles, including one for loss, to take home MVP honors. Bassa went on to become a fifth-round pick in the 2025 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.

2023: Offensive MVP –  Quentin Johnston (TCU); Defensive MVP – Dee Winters (TCU)

Technically speaking, the 2023 Fiesta Bowl was the second 2022 Fiesta Bowl, as it was held on New Year’s Eve, 2022, as the semifinal of that season’s College Football Playoff.

It saw the third-seeded and heavy underdog TCU Horned Frogs square off with the second-seeded Michigan Wolverines. However, someone forgot to tell TCU that it wasn’t supposed to win.

Sonny Dykes’ explosive offense went off for 488 yards on Michigan’s highly touted defense, led by an incredible performance by star wide receiver Quentin Johnston, who caught six passes for 163 yards and what ultimately proved to be the game-winning touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

On the defensive side of the ball, TCU linebacker Dee Winters took home MVP honors after a pivotal pick-six of Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy late in the third quarter that saw the Horned Frogs take a 34-16 lead.

2022: Offensive MVP – Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State); Defensive MVP – Malcolm Rodriguez (Oklahoma State)

While Oklahoma State is currently a program in flux after firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy, it wasn’t all that long ago that the Cowboys were a pretty darn good program.

In 2021, Oklahoma State was 11-1 headed into the Big 12 championship game and had an outside shot at making the College Football Playoff. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they lost the Big 12 title game to Baylor, ending any playoff hopes.

But they didn’t lose focus.

Instead, Oklahoma State came back and, as underdogs, knocked off Notre Dame, 37-35 in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.

Star quarterback Spencer Sanders went off to claim offensive MVP honors, completing 34 of his 51 passes for 371 yards and four scores. Sanders also had 17 carries for 125 yards to lead all rushers in the contest.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Rodriguez, who was a first-team All-American and has since gone on to become a starter for the Detroit Lions, led all players with 11 tackles to earn defensive MVP honors.

2021: Offensive MVP – Brock Purdy (Iowa State); Defensive MVP – O’Rien Vance (Iowa State)

The COVID-shortened 2020 college football season made for the bizarre 2021 Fiesta Bowl, which featured 8-3 Iowa State against 4-2 Oregon in front of no fans.

Oregon earned an auto-bid to the game after beating USC in the Pac-12 title game, while Iowa State served as the Big 12’s representative after losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, and the Sooners went to the College Football Playoff.

The game itself was a bit underwhelming, as Iowa State jumped out to a 28-14 lead in the second quarter and never looked back, claiming a 34-17 victory.

Brock Purdy, who now stars for the San Francisco 49ers, took home offensive MVP honors after throwing for 156 yards and a touchdown and adding 39 yards and another score on the ground.

Meanwhile, Cyclones’ linebacker O’Rien Vance earned MVP honors on the defensive side after recovering two of Oregon’s three lost fumbles in the contest.