The 1997 Holiday Bowl was a
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
played December 29, 1997, in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, California. 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 ...
. 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 s ...
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, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington.
Due to ...
, and the
Missouri Tigers
The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...
from the
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...
.
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 s ...
, giving the Tigers a 10–7 lead.
Colorado State quarterback
Moses Moreno found wide receiver
Corey McCoy for a 22-yard touchdown pass, and Colorado State reclaimed the lead at 14–10. Missouri's
Ernest Blackwell 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 scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, pulling Missouri to within 28–24.
Ryan Eslinger'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
The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...
Holiday Bowl
1990s in San Diego
Colorado State Rams football bowl games
Missouri Tigers football bowl games
December 1997 sports events in the United States
1997 in sports in California