The 2008

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Owned and operated by ESPN ...

was a post-season American college football

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 Subdivi ...

held on December 20, 2008 at University Stadium on the campus of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

as part of the 2008-09 NCAA Bowl season. The game, telecast on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, 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 s ...

from the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

and the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

from the WAC. The two teams were rivals when Colorado State was in the WAC from 1968-98. Colorado State scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Fresno State, 40-35 behind running back Gartrell Johnson's 375 rushing and receiving yards, an NCAA bowl record.

Game summary

Scoring summary

*1st Quarter **FRES – Lonyae Miller 1-yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 11:46. ''Fresno State 7-0. Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards, 3:14.'' **CSU – Grant Stucker 18-yard run (Jason Smith kick), 09:37. ''Colorado State 7-7. Drive: 4 plays, 84 yards, 2:09.'' **FRES – Anthony Harding 2-yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 06:35. ''Fresno State 14-7. Drive: 7 plays, 73 yards, 3:02.'' **CSU – Jason Smith 29-yard field goal, 02:57. ''Fresno State 14-10. Drive: 9 plays, 66 yards, 3:38.'' *2nd Quarter **CSU – Jason Smith 22-yard field goal, 05:50. ''Fresno State 14-13. Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 5:35.'' **FRES – Lonyae Miller 69-yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 04:26. ''Fresno State 21-13. Drive: 4 plays, 80 yards, 1:24.'' **CSU – Kory Sperry 22-yard pass from Billy Ferris (Jason Smith kick), 00:02. ''Fresno State 21-20. Drive: 12 plays, 87 yards, 4:24.'' *3rd Quarter **FRES – Anthony Harding 2-yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 08:31. ''Fresno State 28-20. Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 3:51.'' *4th Quarter **CSU – Gartrell Johnson 1-yard run (Johnson run failed), 09:45. ''Fresno State 28-26. Drive: 7 plays, 32 yards, 3:41.'' **CSU – Rashaun Greer 69-yard pass from Billy Ferris (Jason Smith kick), 07:00. ''Colorado State 33-28. Drive: 3 plays, 73 yards, 1:07.'' **CSU – Gartrell Johnson 77-yard run (Johnson run failed), 01:46. ''Colorado State 40-28. Drive: 2 plays, 85 yards, 0:57.'' **FRES – Ryan Skidmore 7-yard pass from Tom Brandstater (Kevin Goessling kick), 00:55. ''Colorado State 40-35. Drive: 5 plays, 59 yards, 0:51.''

Game Notes

*Gartrell Johnson set an FBS bowl game record for yards from scrimmage with 375 *Johnson's 285 rushing yards were second most in FBS bowl history (P.J. Daniels, 307 in 2003) *Johnson's rushing performance ranked second in Colorado State history *Colorado State won their first bowl game since 2001

References

External links

Box Score - ESPN
{{Fresno State Bulldogs bowl game navbox

New Mexico Bowl Colorado State Rams football bowl games Fresno State Bulldogs football bowl games 2008 in sports in New Mexico