The 1997 Holiday Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played December 29, 1997, in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. It was part of the

1997 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-A level, began in late summer 1997 and culminated with the major bowl games in ea ...

. It featured the

Colorado State Rams The Colorado State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Colorado State University (CSU). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and sp ...

from the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, and the Missouri Tigers from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. Colorado State opened the scoring following a 14-yard touchdown run from running back Darran Hall, giving CSU an early 7–0 lead. Scott Knickman got Missouri on the board after he drilled a 32-yard field goal, getting Missouri within 7–3. In the second quarter, Missouri scored on a 4-yard touchdown run from quarterback

Corby Jones Corby Jones is a former quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He played college football for the Missouri Tigers. During his two seasons as starter (1997–1998), Jones led the Tigers to their first two winning sea ...

, giving the Tigers a 10–7 lead. Colorado State quarterback

Moses Moreno Moses Nathaniel Moreno (born September 5, 1975) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 7th round (232nd overall) in the 1998 NFL Draft out of Colorado State. He attended Castle Park High School, w ...

found wide receiver Corey McCoy for a 22-yard touchdown pass, and Colorado State reclaimed the lead at 14–10. Missouri's

Ernest Blackwell Ernest Blackwell (19 July 1894 – 16 October 1964) was a footballer who played as a goalkeeper, spending the majority of his career at his hometown club of Sheffield United. Born in Sheffield he was the cousin of England keeper Sam Hardy and b ...

scored on a 7-yard touchdown run, again shifting the lead to the Tigers, 17–14. In the third quarter, Colorado State reclaimed the lead following an 85-yard punt return from Darren Hall, putting the Rams up 21–17. Moses Moreno later found wide receiver Dallas Davis on a 47-yard pass to increase Colorado State's lead to 28–17. Missouri's

Brock Olivo James Brockman Olivo (born June 24, 1976) is an American football coach and former player who is the tight ends coach at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his current job, he was the running backs coach for the Philadelphia Stars of ...

scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, pulling Missouri to within 28–24.

Ryan Eslinger Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

's 23-yard touchdown run gave Colorado State a 35–24 lead, and the final score held up.

References

{{Missouri Tigers bowl game navbox Holiday Bowl Holiday Bowl Colorado State Rams football bowl games Missouri Tigers football bowl games 1997 in sports in California