Victory Sweet for the Rams : College football: Colorado State, which hadn’t been to a bowl game since 1948, edges favored Oregon, 32-31 at Anaheim Stadium.

They lifted Earle Bruce to their shoulders, victorious, just as another, more famous team had three years ago.

Vindication adores this man.

It was Colorado State that raised Bruce high Saturday night. A team that was 1-10 two years ago recorded a thrilling 32-31 victory over favored Oregon in the Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams hadn’t been to a bowl game since 1948, when they lost to Occidental in Fresno’s Raisin Bowl.

Saturday night’s victory wasn’t easy, and it never seemed sure or even likely until 1:01 remained, a two-point conversion attempt by Oregon just barely failed.

Michael McClellan caught Bill Musgrave’s pass with his feet in the end zone, but the ball never crossed the plane of the goal line.

And then, in a visual echo of the day when Ohio State’s players marched onto the field carrying their fired coach after a victory over Michigan in his final game, Colorado State celebrated.

“I gotta tell you, I’m just so proud of those young men,” Bruce said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s really unbelievable that they just won the Freedom Bowl. I’m so proud of them. They showed what hard work and a little bit of wanting can do.”

Colorado State’s victory in front of 41,450 came despite a spectacular game by Musgrave, who passed for 392 yards and three touchdowns in his final game, completing 29 of 47 passes without an interception. His best receiver Saturday night was McClellan, who caught nine passes for 148 yards in his first game after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery during the season.

But it was McClellan’s failure that may live longest in the minds of Oregon fans hoping for the first back-to-back bowl victories in school history.

After closing the score to 32-31 on Sean Burwell’s one-yard run that capped a masterful drive by Musgrave, Oregon went for two.

“I would never kick an extra point in that situation, absolutely not,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said. “I like to win football games. It’s pretty simple. We didn’t come to a bowl game to tie. I’ve never gone for a tie in my life.”

The play worked to perfection--almost.

“The crowning blow was the two-point play,” Brooks said. “We didn’t run the route deep enough. We were about half a yard short of where we should have been to win the football game. I thought his feet were in. And the ball? I don’t know.”

The Ducks led at halftime, 17-14, but played a messy second half that included a botched handoff in the endzone for a Colorado State safety, two fumbles by tailback Burwell, and a nullified punt after officials ruled that punter Tommy Thompson’s knee touched ground as he fielded a snap.

“We gave you an exciting football game, by golly,” Brooks said. “Dropped balls, penalties, mistakes. You’ve got to give Colorado State credit. They took advantage of our mistakes. Unfortunately we played most uncharacteristic of the way we played all year.”

Colorada State cut the lead to one point in the third quarter, 17-16, on a safety when Oregon’s Bud Bowie fell on the ball after in the end zone after Musgrave and fullback Ngalu Kelemeni collided in the end zone.

“It was a checkoff play that I’d called one way all game and called the other away,” Musgrave said. “We didn’t have good communication and we botched it up.”

Colorado State led, 19-17, after Mike Brown’s 35-yard field goal.

But Musgrave brought the Ducks back, 25-19, with a 44-yard touchdown pass play to McClellan, who duck-walked through the end zone. Musgrave hit Burwell for the two-point conversion.

Colorado State came back with a big play of its own, a 49-yard touchdown pass play to Greg Primus from Mike Gimenez, one of two platooning quarterbacks.

Colorado State added to that 26-25 lead with the most unlikely touchdown a of all, a 52-yard run by fullback Todd Yert, the Rams’ bulldozing, short-yardage specialist.

“I was running and I thought I gotta put on a move,” Yert said. “Usually fullbacks run straight ahead. It was now or never.”

That touchdown, with 4:59 left, gave Colorado State a 32-25 lead after the kick was blocked by Marcus Woods.

Then came the drama of Oregon’s final attempts to save itself the embarrassment of being upset, particularly after a strong first half.

Colorado State gave Oregon surprise after surprise.

Bruce, who has confounded not only his quarterbacks but sometimes even his assistants with his quarterback platoon, shrugged at the fact that Mike Gimenez had been the starting quarterback the final games of the season.

Instead, he started Kevin Verdugo, the owner of the stronger arm and the starter in five earlier games, although his time was limited in the final three games because of a shoulder injury.

Oregon offered little resistance on the opening drive, as Colorado State mixed effective passing with its staple, the running game, much of it out of the wing formation.

Verdugo took the Rams to a first down at the six, and then, his part done for the moment, gave way to Gimenez, who played more than Verdugo. On fourth down, inside a yard, Gimenez looked to Bruce, and held his finger and thumb up, an inch apart. Seconds later he took the ball in himself, and Colorado State took a 7-0 lead.

Oregon marched back up the field to tie it after Musgrave’s short pass to Anthony Jones, who scampered most of the final 10 yards of a 16-yard pass play.

Musgrave completed five of six passes on the drive, including several off his back foot. The most critical one, on a third-and-eight play, went to Ronnie Harris for 16 yards, giving Oregon a first down at the 21.

With the touchdown, Musgrave broke the 8,000-yard mark for his career. He finished with 8,343, third in Pac-10 history behind Stanford’s John Elway and Oregon State’s Eric Wilhelm.

Musgrave directed the next scoring drive, although this time Oregon settled for a 23-yard field goal by Gregg McCallum. Colorado State didn’t manage a first down on the next possession, but just as it seemed the momentum was sliding Oregon’s way, Brian Brown fumbled the punt reception, and Colorado State’s Adolf Renaud pounced on it at the Oregon 33.

Verdugo took over for the Rams, but Gimenez quickly replaced him. Brian Copeland carried the ball around right end for a 22-yard gain for a first down at the nine. Twice, Oregon linebacker Joe Farwell stopped runs at the goal line before Alford finally went over for the touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Then Colorado State had a chance to show its defense, forcing a punt after a rare three consecutive incomplete passes by Musgrave, the final one batted away by Paul Hanks.