Cougars collapse late in New Mexico Bowl loss to Colorado St.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- With just more than 2 minutes left in the New Mexico Bowl, Washington State held an eight-point lead against an opponent that had been outmanned and outclassed throughout the game and had no timeouts left.

Fans eyed the exits, reporters across the social media landscape wrote the game off as over and just about everyone in the stadium was certain that WSU had already won.

Everyone, including the Cougars.

"We got too complacent; kind of thought we won the game early," senior Justin Sagote said after the Cougars' 48-45 loss to Colorado State.

CSU linebacker Shaquil Barrett forced a fumble, recovered it himself, and the Rams promptly scored, tying the game on the two-point conversion by running a delayed handoff to Donnell Alexander known as the "Statue of Liberty" play.

"They had a lot of reasons to quit in this game," WSU coach Mike Leach said. "They could have quit at any point because they spent most of the game about 10 points, two touchdowns behind. They never did quit."

WSU quarterback Connor Halliday had fumbled on a quarterback keeper the previous play, but officials ruled that his knee touched the ground before the ball was loose after a lengthy review.

WSU's Teondray Caldwell fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Cougars' 24-yard line and Jared Roberts' field goal sailed through the uprights with no time left on the clock, giving CSU its first lead, and the victory.

"We were thinking the whole time they've just got to run the ball a few times, kneel it," Sagote said. "Then there are two turnovers in 10 seconds that changed the whole game."

Prior to Halliday's run, the Cougars passed the ball on three consecutive plays, electing not to keep the ball on the ground and ignoring the stopping of the clock with an incomplete pass. On their previous drive, up 45-30 with about 6 minutes left, the Cougars passed three times and ran three times.

The rest is here:
Cougars collapse late in New Mexico Bowl loss to Colorado St.