UNLV’s bowl path still has road blocks as CSU tops New Mexico, 20-6

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 | 9:36 p.m.

Aside from defeating San Diego State next weekend in Southern California, there's two things the UNLV football team needs to have happen to guarantee a bowl bid should it finish the year out at 6-6.

1) Colorado State must lose once.

2) Utah can't lose once.

That said, there was good news and bad news Saturday for the Rebels, who improved to 5-6 on Thursday night with a 22-14 victory over Wyoming.

The good is that Utah continued to plow its path towards the BCS with a 63-14 whipping of the lowly Aztecs Saturday in San Diego. Now the Utes must trump BYU - a 38-24 victor at Air Force - next weekend in Salt Lake City to make it a reality.

The bad, though, is that Colorado State improved to 5-6 with a 20-6 victory over New Mexico, who UNLV topped two weeks ago, 27-20. The Rams were powered by 127 yards and a score on the ground from senior running back Gartrell Johnson.

Now Colorado State travels to face Wyoming, with UNLV sorely needing help from the team it just dispatched.

Of course, should Utah end up 12-0 and UNLV and CSU both 6-6, it's not completely out of the question for the New Mexico Bowl committee to select the Rebels over the Rams, who won this year's head-to-head matchup, 41-28, in Fort Collins.

But that, of course, is no guarantee.