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SAN DIEGO- The Colorado State Rams finally got this Holiday Bowl
thing right. After losing to Michigan and Kansas State in the 1994 and
'95 games, the No. 18 Rams were back in San Diego on Monday night and
beat the No. 19 Missouri Tigers 35-24 with big plays in the 20th Holiday
Bowl.
San Diego product Darran Hall raced untouched for a touchdown on a
Holiday Bowl-record 85-yard punt return in the third quarter to give the
Rams the lead for good (video), and scored on a 14-yard reverse on the game's
first drive.
Quarterback Moses Moreno, from neighboring Chula Vista and playing his
last college game, threw touchdown passes of 22 yards to Corey McCoy and
47 yards to Dallas Davis. And backup quarterback Ryan Eslinger provided
the wackiest play of the night, scoring from 23 yards on a fake field
goal to give the Rams a 35-24 lead with 10:44 left. The snap went
straight to Eslinger, the holder, who needed to get to the 13 to get a
first down. He got hit at the 20, but bounced off two tacklers and spun
free for the TD.
The Rams said they got fired up after Missouri players made some
disparaging remarks about the caliber of the Western Athletic Conference
while the teams were touring the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on Sunday.
"No respect on their part," Moreno said. "They were saying a lot of
things that ticked off a few of our players. It was just a great feeling
to come out here and outperform them. It was a grudge match all
throughout the game."
But it was more than that to Hall. "We're not a weak team by any means,"
he said. There might have been some pushing and shoving on the carrier,
but no punches were thrown, said Missouri's Shad Criss. "Just a little
testosterone running around," Moreno and Hall were selected as co-MVPs.
"This is what it's all about, having two local boys coming out and
playing their hearts out," Moreno said.
WAC champion Colorado State (11-2) won its ninth straight game. Missouri
(7-5) was in its first postseason game since losing 21-17 to BYU in 1983
when Steve Young caught the winning touchdown pass with 23 seconds to
play.
Missouri quarterback Corby Jones didn't have a good night. He did rush
for 132 yards on 20 carries, but couldn't get the passing game going. He
completed only 8-of-17 passes for 68 yards, and was intercepted by Erik
Olson deep in Colorado State territory in the final minutes.
The Tigers have had problems all year with their kicking game. "That
broke our backs," Ricky Ross said of the fake field goal. "We had him in
our grasp and somehow he got out of it." Eslinger was surprised. "You
never think a fake field goal is going to work that well," he said
Moreno was 18-of-24 for 206 yards. Davis caught six passes for 115
yards, and fullback Kevin McDougal had 110 yards on 18 carries.
Missouri's Devin West had 104 yards on 11 carries.
Hall's punt return gave the Rams a 21-17 lead with 10:36 left in the
third quarter. He fielded Vince Sebo's punt at the 15, immediately
picked up a key block by Terrence Gibson and sped through the coverage.
"As soon as I saw the seam, I knew I could make it happen," he said.
The old Holiday Bowl record was 83 yards by BYU's Vai Sikahema in 1980,
the game in which the Cougars rallied from 45-31 down with 2:33 left to
win 46-45 on Jim McMahon's 41-yard desperation pass as time expired.
 Hall went to Lincoln High, the same school that produced NFL stars
Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis. He played four years of minor league
baseball in the Cincinnati Reds' organization before spending one year
at a junior college. Less than five minutes after Hall's punt return,
Davis made an over-the-shoulder catch of Moreno's 47-yard pass for a
28-17 lead.
Missouri tried to keep pace, with senior Brock Olivo, the school's
leading career rusher, scoring on a 3-yard run to pull the Tigers to
28-24.
After a slow start, the teams got on a Holiday Bowl pace by exchanging
scores on three straight possessions late in the second quarter, with
Missouri leading 17-14 at halftime. Missouri got scoring runs of 4 yards
by Jones and 7 yards by Ernest Blackwell, sandwiched around an 18-yard
pass from Moreno to Corey McCoy. All the scoring came in a span of 2
minutes, 50 seconds, and each drive had a big running play. Jones had
19-yard keeper, McDougal a 52-yarder and West a 35-yarder.
Colorado State's victory gave the WAC a 6-11-1 record in the Holiday
Bowl.
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Attendance- 50,761
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CSU- Hall 14 run (Franz kick)
UM- FG Knickman 32
Second Quarter
UM- Jones 4 run (Knickman kick)
CSU- McCoy 22 pass from Moreno (Franz kick)
UM- Blackwell 7 run (Knickman kick)
Third Quarter
CSU- Hall 85 punt return (Franz kick)
CSU- Davis 47 pass from Moreno (Franz kick)
UM- Olivo 3 run (Knickman kick)
Fourth Quarter
CSU- Eslinger 23 run (Franz kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
CSU- McDougal 18-110, Washington 16-83, Eslinger 1-23, Hall 1-14
UM- Jones 20-132, West 11-104, Olivo 7-38, Blackwell 6-31
Passing
CSU- Moreno 18-24-206
UM- Jones 7-17-68
Receiving
CSU- Davis 6-115, Hall 4-20, McCoy 2-33, Turner 2-16, McDougal 1-12
UM- Brooks 2-26, Olivo 2-9, Layman 1-22
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