Colorado State Earns Some Respect

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, 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 TD passes of 18 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 toured the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk 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 the game’s 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.

Rams 35, Tigers 24 Colorado St. 7 7 14 7 35 Missouri 3 14 7 0 24 First quarter

CSUHall 14 run (Franz kick), 8:56.

Mo-FG Knickman 32, 1:39.

Second quarter Mo-C.Jones 4 run (Knickman kick), 4:28.

CSU-McCoy 22 pass from Moreno (Franz kick), 4:05.

Mo-Blackwell 7 run (Knickman kick), 1:38.

Third quarter CSU-Hall 85 punt return (Franz kick), 10:36.

CSU-Davis 47 pass from Moreno (Franz kick), 5:50.

Mo-Olivo 3 run (Knickman kick), 3:41.

Fourth quarter CSU-Eslinger 23 run (Franz kick), 10:44.

A-50,761.

CS Mis First downs 22 17 Rushes-yards 43-214 46-314 Passing 206 68 Comp-Att-Int 18-24-0 7-17-1 Return Yards 201 94 Punts-Avg. 5-30.6 4-44.3 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2 Penalties-Yards 5-59 5-39 Time of Possession 32:42 27:18 Individual statistics RUSHING-Colorado State, McDougal 18-110, Washington 16-83, Eslinger 1-23, Hall 1-14, Moreno 7-(minus-16). Missouri, C.Jones 20-132, West 11-104, Olivo 7-38, Blackwell 6-31, Janes 2-9.

PASSING-Colorado State, Moreno 18-24-0-206. Missouri, C.Jones 7-17-1-68.

RECEIVING-Colorado State, Davis 6-115, Hall 4-20, McCoy 2-33, P.Turner 2-16, McDougal 1-12, Workman 1-7, G.Turner 1-3, Washington 1-0. Missouri, Brooks 2-26, Olivo 2-9, Layman 1-22, West 1-9, Blackwell 1-2.