Rams will spend New Year’s in Frisco

Las Vegas – In a season in which nothing came easy for the Rams,

two bright young stars — quarterback Justin Holland and tailback

Jimmy Green — made the Rams’ come-from-behind victory at UNLV look

easy.

Holland, called upon to perform the quarterback duties when the

Rams’ starting signal caller Bradlee Van Pelt left the game with a

broken hand, led the Rams to a 24-23 victory Nov. 22 in Las

Vegas.

“I just came in and did my job,” Holland said. “Hopefully

Bradlee can come back for the bowl game, but if not I’ll be

ready.”

Green, who ran for 113 yards and a touchdown, was able to

consistently move the chains for the Rams and keep the Rebel

defense guessing all night.

“He really played well,” head coach Sonny Lubick said. “We

really have a good running back there.”

With the victory the Rams finish the regular season with a 7-5

record, 4-3 in the Mountain West Conference, and will play in the

second Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. The Rams will face an

opponent from the Big East Conference on New Year’s Eve at 7:30

p.m. at Pacific Bell Park. With Big East teams Pittsburgh and

Virginia Tech accepting invitations to the Continental Tire and

Insight.com bowls, respectively, speculation is that the Rams will

face 7-5 Boston College. Regardless of whom they face, the Rams

believe they deserve the chance to prove their worth against a good

team from a conference affiliated with the Bowl Championship

Series.

“Do we deserve to play in a bowl game?” Rams’ receiver Chris

Pittman asked. “That’s like asking (defensive lineman) Patrick

Goodpaster if he is hungry. He is always hungry.”

In a season that looked like it could be a disappointment, the

Rams found the heart to come together as a team and send the

seniors off with a bowl game.

“A bowl game is a great thing,” senior defensive back Bennie

Mastropaolo said. “We deserve this.”