NCAA Football

Bowl Season '08: Gartrell Johnson Carries Colorado State to New Mexico Bowl Win

Posted Dec 20, 2008 6:41PM By Chris Burke (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Colorado State, Fresno State, Bowl Games

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Gartrell JohnsonFanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

One of the beautiful things about bowl season is that some very talented, but unknown college football stars get their moment in the spotlight. With that in mind .. America, meet Gartrell Johnson. The stocky senior running back put on an absolute show, leading Colorado State to a 40-35 come-from-behind win over Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl. The win was the Rams' first bowl win in seven years.

Johnson ran for a career-high 285 yards plus caught six passes for 89 -- giving him a whopping 374 total yards. Prior to Saturday, Johnson averaged 99 rushing yards per game in 2008.

Colorado State trailed 28-20 heading to the fourth quarter, but Tommie Hill intercepted Fresno State quarterback Tom Brandstater, swinging momentum in the Rams' favor. Johnson punched in from one yard out soon after to cut the Bulldogs' lead down to 28-26.

CSU finally jumped into the lead -- for the first time all day -- with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter. Rams' QB Billy Farris launched a bomb to Rashaun Greer, who made a nice catch, fought out of a tackle and took it in for a 69-yard score.

Johnson then put the game on ice, taking a handoff to the left side of Colorado State's line and busting free on a 77-yard TD scamper. Fresno scored late, but failed to recover a last-gasp onside kick.

Johnson's efforts overshadowed a strong rushing day for the Bulldogs. Anthony Harding and Lonyae Miler combined for 232 yards and four touchdowns on the ground for Fresno. It's not too often that you see a team popo in four rushing TDs and still come out on the losing end.

Fresno's inability to get a stop late made Harding and Miller inconsequential, though. Just as in early losses this year to Wisconsin, Louisiana Tech, Nevada and Boise State, the Bulldogs defensive line got gashed all afternoon. Johnson rumbled for 57 yards on his second carry and never looked back.



Not to imply that Fresno State didn't care one way or the other, but this looked like one of those cases where motivation proves to be the driving factor behind a lesser-bowl's outcome. While Fresno sort of put it in cruise control after taking that 28-20 lead, the Rams put their foot on the gas in the second half -- clearly, a win in the New Mexico Bowl was a big stepping stone for a recently struggling program. CSU finishes the year 7-6

That record matches Fresno's final mark -- but the Rams will be much, much happier to be in the "Just above .500" crowd than the Bulldogs will.

Remember that Fresno looked like a potential BCS buster before the season started. A 17-point win at Rutgers to kick things off simply added to that hype. But the Bulldogs dropped a tough one two weeks later to Wisconsin, lost a stunner to Hawaii on Oct. 4 and limped to a 2-3 mark down the stretch.

The Bulldogs clearly had bigger hopes for this season. As impressive as Pat Hill's coaching run at Fresno State has been (nine bowl games in 10 years), the 'Dogs have yet to get over the top and break into the BCS world.

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