We expect our BCS Bowl games to be entertaining but it’s not often that we find ourselves in the middle of December watching an interesting and thrilling bowl game on the first weekend of the postseason. That was the case though in the New Mexico Bowl as Washington State and Colorado State put it all on front street to give us a shootout that kicks the bowl season off in epic fashion.
The score was already 35-23 at halftime and the scoring just continued from there. Things didn’t slow down in the second half and the most thrilling moments were saved for the final five minutes of the game where we saw two crucial fumbles and 18 points scored by Colorado State.
Many were looking at the Las Vegas Bowl for Carr’s performance but Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday out-dueled not only Carr and the USC Trojans, he more importantly out-dueled Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson who had a much less impressive day. Grayson didn’t have a terrible day though as he ended things with 2 touchdowns and an interception, throwing for over 350 yards on the day.
But the Rams hung in to the very end and it ended up paying off huge. They narrowed the lead to 45-37 in the final four minutes of the game and recovered a fumble with under two minutes left which allowed Colorado State to tie the game and successfully score a two-point conversion thanks to a Statue of Liberty play.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars fumbled the ball again and gave Colorado State the ball deep inside Washington State territory, allowing them to easily kick the game-winning field goal.
We typically snooze through these early bowl games, but Washington State and Colorado State put us on notice right off the bat. Not every bowl game will be this interesting but we’re off to a heck of a start to the bowl season and the highlights are already starting to pout in early.