E.J. Watson ran for three touchdowns as No. 10 Colorado State, down by 21 points early, beat Fresno State 44-42 Saturday night to clinch the Western Athletic Conference title and a Holiday Bowl berth.
Watson, questionable for the game because of a sprained right ankle, ran 2, 24 and 22 yards for touchdowns as the Rams (10-1, 7-1 WAC) earned the WAC's host berth in the Dec. 30 game at San Diego. Colorado State will play Michigan, which was beaten 22-6 on Saturday by Ohio State.Colorado State won its first WAC title since joining the league in 1968 and finished the best regular season in school history.
Fresno State (4-7-1, 2-4-1), meanwhile, had its first losing season in 13 years.
Colorado State took its first lead of the game with 1:09 left in the third quarter when Raymond Jackson blocked John Brown's punt, scooped up the ball and ran 30 yards for a 31-27 lead.
Anthoney Hill's 78-yard pass to Paul Turner with 9:29 left increased the lead to 37-27.
The Bulldogs pulled within two points on a 1-yard scoring run by Reggie Brown, his second touchdown of the game, and a 2-point conversion.
Van Ward's 8-yard run with 2:02 left restored the margin, but Fresno State again cut it to 2 points with 48 seconds left on a 3-yard pass from Richie Donati to Michael Ross.
Colorado State recovered an on-side kick and ran out the clock.
New Mexico 25, Texas-El Paso 21
At Albuquerque, Stoney Case threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and ran for one Saturday to rally New Mexico to a season-ending 25-21 victory over Texas-El Paso.
Case, the most prolific quarterback in New Mexico history, finished his record-studded career by bringing the Lobos (5-7, 4-4 Western Athletic Conference) back from a 21-6 deficit in the game's final 13 minutes.
Case, 15-for-35 for 244 yards, finished his career with 9,460 passing yards, a school record that surpassed the previous mark of 9,382 by Jeremy Leach from 1988-1991.
The Miners (3-7-1, 1-6-1) seemed to have the game in hand when 230-pound halfback Toriano Singleton broke several tackles en route to a 51-yard touchdown with 13:29 left. Singleton, who finished the day with 217 yards and the year with 1,277 yards, also scored on a 10-yard TD in the first quarter.
But Case, frustrated through three quarters by the Miners' defense and wind gusts of up to 40 mph, suddenly found plenty of holes in UTEP's secondary and led the Lobos on two scoring drives in a span of 77 seconds.
Notre Dame 42, Air Force 30
At South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame got the wishbone, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.
Derrick Mayes caught two touchdown passes and set up another score Saturday as the Irish beat Air Force 42-30, breaking the Falcons' seven-game winning streak.
Ray Zellars, playing his second game since an ankle sprain against Stanford on Oct. 1, rushed for two touchdowns for the Irish (6-4).
The win kept alive bowl prospects for Notre Dame, which must finish with seven wins for a guaranteed spot in either the Orange, Sugar, Cotton or Fiesta bowls. The Irish (6-4) visit USC next Saturday.
Air Force (7-4) scored four touchdowns in the second half with its wishbone offense, but couldn't overcome the 28-3 lead that Notre Dame built at halftime, helped by several Falcons miscues.