Colorado State's Darren Hall holds out the ball as he high steps into the endzone with a touchdown on a 14 yard run as Missouri's Shad Criss delivers a late hit during the first quarter of the Holiday Bowl Monday, Dec. 29, 1997, in San Diego. Hall's run was a reverse. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Web posted December 30, 1997

By Bernie Wilson
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- The Colorado State Rams finally got this Holiday Bowl thing right.

After consecutive losses in the 1994 and '95 games, the No. 18 Rams were back in San Diego and beat the No. 19 Missouri Tigers 35-24 Monday night 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 touchdown 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.

Western Athletic Conference 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.

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 and sped through the coverage.

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.