2009 New Mexico Bowl

The 2009 New Mexico Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 19, 2009 at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the 2009-10 NCAA Bowl season. The game, telecast on ESPN, featured the Wyoming Cowboys from the Mountain West Conference and the Fresno State Bulldogs from the WAC.This was the first trip to the New Mexico Bowl for Wyoming. It was also their first trip to a post season bowl game since the 2004 season when the Cowboys defeated the 24–21 in the Pioneer PureVison Las Vegas Bowl. This marked Fresno State's second straight trip to the New Mexico Bowl; they were defeated 40–35 by Colorado State in the 2008 contest. Before the 2009 New Mexico Bowl, Wyoming and Fresno State had played each other a total of six times, playing in consecutive years from 1992–1997 as rivals in the Western Athletic Conference; the teams have split their match-ups with each squad winning three games. The last meeting in 1997 was won by Fresno State, 24–7.

Behind freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels, Wyoming upset Fresno State 35–28 in the game, which went into double overtime after a late field goal by Cowboy kicker Ian Watts. Carta-Samuels threw three touchdowns in the win including the game-winner in overtime, a 13 yard strike to David Leonard.

Game summary
Wyoming wore their home Brown uniforms, and Fresno wore white visitor uniforms. Wyoming freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels, the offensive MVP, threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns including the game-winning 13-yard touchdown pass to David Leonard. Defensive MVP Mitch Unrein tallied six tackles and two sacks for the Wyoming defense including a forced fumble midway through the 4th quarter which led to the game-tying field goal. Wyoming stopped the nation's leading rusher, Fresno State's Ryan Mathews, on three rushing attempts from the 1 in the first overtime. The Bulldogs tried a quarterback sneak on third down, and Mathews came up short again on fourth down.

Scoring summary

 * 1st Quarter
 * WYO – Alvester Alexander 68 yard run (Ian Watts kick), 07:37. Wyoming 7-0. Drive: 1 play, 68 yards, 0:10.
 * 2nd Quarter
 * FRES – Ryan Matthews 4 yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 12:22. Fresno State 7-7. Drive: 7 plays, 51 yards, 3:29.
 * WYO – Greg Bolling 21 yard pass from Austyn Carta-Samuels (Jason Smith kick), 05:01. Wyoming 14-7. Drive: 15 plays, 95 yards, 7:21.
 * FRES – Jamel Hamler 10 yard pass from Ryan Colburn (Kevin Goessling kick), 00:33. Fresno State 14-14. Drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, 4:28.
 * 3rd Quarter
 * FRES – Jamel Hamler 43 yard pass from Chastin West (Kevin Goessling kick), 13:06. Fresno State 21-14. Drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 1:54.
 * WYO – Ian Watts 40 yard field goal, 08:19. Fresno State 21-17. Drive: 9 plays, 39 yards, 4:47.
 * 4th Quarter
 * FRES – Ryan Matthews 5 yard run (Kevin Goessling kick), 13:59. Fresno State 28-17. Drive: 2 plays, 6 yards, 0:46.
 * WYO – David Leonard 11 yard pass from Austyn Carta-Samuels (Carta-Samuels pass to Greg Bolling good), 10:15. Fresno State 28-25. Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards, 5:51.
 * WYO – Ian Watts 37 yard field goal, 00:20. Wyoming 28-28. Drive: 19 plays, 54 yards, 7:48.
 * 2nd Overtime
 * WYO – David Leonard 13 yard pass from Austyn Carta-Samuels (Ian Watts kick). Wyoming 35-28. Drive: 5 plays, 25 yards.

Game Notes

 * Matthews led the nation in rushing for the 2009 season.
 * Wyoming was playing in its first bowl since 2004.
 * Carta-Samuels was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year.
 * Fresno State made its second straight appearance - and loss - in the New Mexico Bowl.