The hometown guys made sure the Colorado State Rams didn't lose their third Holiday Bowl.
Darran Hall, who went to the same San Diego high school that produced Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis, had two big plays as No. 18 Colorado State beat No. 19 Missouri 35-24 Monday night in San Diego.Hall gave the Rams the lead for good when he raced untouched for a touchdown on a Holiday Bowl-record 85-yard punt return in the third quarter, and he scored on a 14-yard reverse on the game's first drive.
Then there was quarterback Moses Moreno, from neighboring Chula Vista and playing his last college game. He threw touchdown passes of 22 yards to Corey McCoy and 47 yards to Dallas Davis.
Colorado State lost the 1994 Holiday Bowl to Michigan, and Moreno had a horrible game in 1995 as the Rams were routed by Kansas State.
Moreno and Hall were selected co-MVPs.
Colorado State 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.
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 the 1983 Holiday Bowl when Steve Young caught the winning touchdown pass with 23 seconds to play.
Colorado State 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 old Holiday Bowl record punt return 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 beat SMU 46-45 on Jim McMahon's 41-yard desperation pass as time expired.
Carquest Bowl
GEORGIA TECH 35, WEST VIRGINIA 30: They couldn't count the times they were hurt by Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton, so all West Virginia's Mountaineers could do was add to their bowl losing streak.
Hamilton, a shifty sophomore, passed and ran for 356 yards and three touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets handed the Mountaineers their seventh straight postseason loss.