TUCSON, Ariz. -- From start to finish, Nevada relied on its running game to win the inaugural Arizona Bowl.

The Wolf Pack completed only six passes for 74 yards, but sophomore running back James Butler led a punishing running game that was hard to stop, even when Colorado State knew it was coming.

Butler rushed 24 times for 189 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown and the go-ahead score with 1:06 left, and the Wolf Pack beat Mountain West conference foe Colorado State 28-23 Tuesday night.

"The last drive was a thing of beauty," Nevada coach Brian Polian said of the eight-play, 72-yard drive that erased the Rams' 23-22 lead. "No need to start chucking it all over the yard, because that's not who we are."

The Rams ran out of time when receiver Jordon Vaden caught a 9-yard pass to the Nevada 12-yard line but could not stretch to get out of bounds to stop the clock. The final several seconds ticked off before Colorado State, out of timeouts, could snap the ball.

"Sometimes you cover things, but guys are in the moment," Colorado State coach Mike Bobo said of Vaden's inability to get to the sideline after making the catch on an out pattern.

"It's going to be a learning experience we all learn from. You hear it from coaches all the time -- one play doesn't cost us the game. There were plays all game where we could have really gone for the jugular, and we didn't get that knockout punch."

The Wolf Pack's winning touchdown came on third-and-goal from the 4. Butler broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and fought through two defenders to cross the goal line, capping a 271-yard rushing effort for the Wolf Pack.

"James was fantastic," Polian said of the sophomore who was selected the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player. "He gets hard yards. He makes people miss. He runs through arm tackles. ... James was fantastic. Sky's the limit for that guy."

Nevada defensive back Elijah Mitchell had a 96-yard kick return for a touchdown in the first half to help boost the Wolf Pack (7-6) past the Rams (7-6), who carried a four-game winning streak into the bowl.

Colorado State lost despite a 532-345 edge in total yards.

Nevada and Colorado State are in different divisions of the Mountain West and did not play in the regular season.

Wyatt Bryan kicked a 38-yard field goal with 3:40 left to give Colorado State its first lead at 23-22.

The Rams, with no timeouts, started their final drive at their 12 yard line with 59 seconds left.

Nevada, which led 19-13 at halftime despite passing for just 15 yards, extended the lead to 22-13 on the first possession of the second half.

Colorado State cut the margin to 22-20 when running back Jasen Oden scored on a 9-yard run with 3:55 left in third quarter.

Nevada defensive end Ian Seau, who had three tackles for loss, was chosen as the Defensive Most Valuable Player.

Seau, the nephew of late NFL great Junior Seau, forced a fumble on a sack on the game's first possession, with defensive tackle Rykeem Yates grabbing the ball in mid-air and returning it 9 yards to the Colorado State 41.

After a 10-play drive, the Wolf Pack settled for a 19-yard field goal from kicker Brent Zuzo for a 3-0 lead.

Zuzo put Nevada up 6-0 with a 37-yard field goal with 14:13 to go in the second quarter before the defense came up big again, stuffing running back Izzy Matthews for no gain on fourth-and-inches from the Nevada 4.

The scoring soon came in bunches.

Colorado State wide receiver Rashard Higgins took a slant pass 38 yards inside the 1, and quarterback Nick Stevens snuck in for a touchdown and a 7-6 lead 7:04 before halftime. Stevens finished with 310 yards on 22-of-42 passing.

Nevada had only 93 total yards when Butler took a handoff on the ensuing possession and burst untouched through the line en route to a 77-yard touchdown.

Higgins, a 2014 consensus All-American, recorded nine catches for 129 yards. He set the school career record for receiving yards (3,649). The old mark was 3,635, set by David Anderson (2002-05).

"You know what, coming to CSU, I never would have imagined I would have been close to the record," Higgins said. "But it was a huge accomplishment I set out for, and I'm glad I got it."

Higgins, a junior, said he has not made a decision about entering the NFL Draft.

The announced crowd was 20,425.

NOTES: The Arizona Bowl marked the first postseason game in Tucson since the 1999 Insight.com Bowl, which moved to Phoenix and is now known as the Cactus Bowl. ... The bowl marked the first time two teams from the same conference have played in a non-championship bowl since Nebraska and Oklahoma of the Big Eight met in the 1979 Orange Bowl. ... Nevada assistant head coach/receivers coach Jim Hofher called plays from the press box, filling in as an interim replacement for coordinator Nick Rolovich, who left to become the head coach at Hawaii. ... Colorado State used an interim defensive coordinator (linebackers coach Marty English) to replace Tyson Summers, who became the coach at Georgia Southern. ... Grammy Award-winning rock band Los Lobos performed at halftime.