The CSU Rams travelled to Boise, Idaho, Saturday night to take on the Boise State Broncos in their last matchup before becoming members of the Pac-12.
In a game that was largely a blowout, the Rams were
run over by a strong, yet struggling Broncos squad by a final score of 49-21. Colorado State (2-9, 1-6 MWC) turned the ball over 4 times, were outgained by over 200 total yards, and aside from a brief period after a successful onside kick at the start of the fourth quarter, the Rams never really looked as if they had much of a shot to win. Meanwhile, the Broncos (7-4, 5-2 MWC) kept their slim conference title hopes alive in their last game with a Mountain West logo on the field at Albertson’s Stadium.
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
8:55 – Sire Gaines 3-yd run (Colton Boomer PAT)
Colorado State 0 – Boise State 7
5:27 – Rocky Beers 3-yd pass from Darius Curry (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 7
2nd Quarter
11:32 – Malik Sherrod 1-yd run (Colton Boomer PAT)
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 14
3:37 – Colton Boomer 27-yd FG
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 17
1:59 – Dylan Riley 2-yd run (Colton Boomer PAT)
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 24
0:06 – Colton Boomer 32-yd FG
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 27
3rd Quarter
1:48 – Sire Gaines 8-yd run (Colton Boomer PAT)
Colorado State 7 – Boise State 34
4th Quarter
11:09 – Lloyd Avant 4-yd run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Colorado State 14 – Boise State 34
9:32 – Tay Lanier 6-yd pass from Darius Curry (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Colorado State 21 – Boise State 34
5:48 – Malik Sherrod 24-yd run (Cameron Bates 2-pt conversion pass from Max Cutforth)
Colorado State 21 – Boise State 42
2:29 – Seth Knothe 9-yd run (Colton Boomer PAT)
Colorado State 21 – Boise State 49
Final: Colorado State 21 – Boise State 49
Offense
Boise State’s defense has been far from the best in the conference this season, but you likely would not have known that fact from just watching this contest, as Colorado State couldn’t get much going offensively for the majority of the game. After scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the game, CSU went scoreless over their following 10 drives, consisting of 5 punts, 3 turnovers, a turnover on downs, and kneeling out the end of the first half.
Quarterback Darius Curry was given the nod to start this game, and was responsible for nearly the Rams’ entire offensive output. CSU backs Lloyd Avant and Justin Marshall accounted for 10 carries and just 17 combined yards, far and away the team’s worst day on the ground of the season. Curry himself was the team’s leading rusher, carrying the rock 6 times for 23 yards.
Curry had a performance that was nearly identical in nature to his substitute performance last week at New Mexico, slinging the rock left and right. Some of the night was great, as Curry went 26/46 for 293 yards with 2 TDs, but also suffered from a case of what is typically known as “Brett Favre Syndrome,” throwing 3 INTs.
On the bright side, CSU continues to make their case for taking Iowa’s spot as “Tight End U,” as Rocky Beers continued to ball out to the tune of a 7-for-94, 1 TD line. Javion Kinnard was the team’s second-leading receiver with 3 catches for 90 yards, but that should have been even more, if not for his 90-yard screen pass TD getting called back on the most ridiculous taunting penalty I have ever seen this side of the NFL (thanks, Mountain West refs).
Colorado State nearly came back into the game at one point, going from down 27 to being down by 13 in just 1:36 at the start of the 4th quarter thanks to two efficient drives bookending a crazy three-play sequence. First, Curry tried to pull back a pass, resulting in what was ruled an obvious fumble recovered by the Broncos. He also added to his resume in a disgusting way, following in the footsteps of Jalen Carter and Ja’Marr Chase before him by spitting on Boise State LB Jayden Virgin-Morgan, but was somehow able to get away with it (thanks, Mountain West refs). Not only that, but the play was reviewed and was inexplicably changed to being an incomplete pass, giving the ball back to the Rams (please stop with this garbage, Mountain West refs).
One play later, Lloyd Avant punched it in for a touchdown, after which the Rams executed a perfect onside kick to steal a possession away, proceeding to drive down and score another touchdown to make many a heart in Boise begin to race. Thankfully for Broncos fans, the home team recovered the Rams’ ensuing onside kick attempt, which was officially game over, despite there being nearly 10 minutes left. This is because the Broncos’ offense got to go back on the field and face the CSU defense.
Defense
It must be said that with games like this, Tyson Summers is not making a good case for himself to potentially become the Rams’ permanent head coach, as this was arguably his defense’s worst performance of the season. The only positive in this game from the Rams’ defense was their D-Line out-sacking Boise State’s defense 2-1. Outside of that, the numbers are grim.
Boise State’s offense has been largely great this season, but that was under the tutelage of preseason MWC OPOY frontrunner Maddux Madsen. Madsen got hurt in the second half of the Broncos’ blowout home loss to Fresno State, and has yet to return to the field since. Backup QB Max Cutforth got the nod to start against SDSU last week, which resulted in 268 yards of offense and just 7 points.
Cutforth started once more against the Rams, transforming from Max Cutforth into his starting QB counterpart against CSU’s leaky defense. Cutforth went 22-of-34 for 239 yards with 0 turnovers in a highly efficient outing, but this was not nearly the biggest problem for Summers’ defense.
CSU’s league-worst run defense, averaging 186 rushing yards allowed per game this season, provided as much resistence to the Broncos’ rushing attack as a wet paper bag. Combining the stats of Sire Gaines, Dylan Riley, and Malik Sherrod paints an ugly picture: 43 carries for a staggering 277 yards and a ridiculous 5 touchdowns. Even fourth-string local hero Seth Knothe got in on the fun late, adding 25 yards and a touchdown for good measure.
Removing Cutforth’s stats (3-for-negative 22) leaves the Broncos’ total ground damage at a monstrous 48 carries for 302 yards and 6 touchdowns. I could keep going, but there really is no point. Nothing summarizes the current state of the Rams’ defense quite like that stat.
Final Thoughts
Even though the final score was bad enough for Rams fans, their situation somehow keeps getting worse. Even though this season has been horribly disappointing for them, they could always take solace in the fact that, despite it all, the Rams had never occupied the bottom spot in the conference at any point this season.
Even that small victory has passed.
With Nevada’s last-second upset win over Wyoming in Laramie, the Wolf Pack clinched their second straight conference win, leapfrogging CSU in the standings. This means that the Colorado State Rams, in a season of high expectations, enter their final game of the season fighting to not wind up as the absolute worst team in the conference.
Coming Up
The Rams now travel back home for Senior Day at Canvas Stadium, their last football game as a member of the Mountain West Conference. Facing them will be a fitting opponent, the other side of a long-standing rivalry set to be lost to the waters of conference realignment. That opponent is none other than the Air Force Falcons (3-8, 2-5 MWC), the team located just two hours away in Colorado Springs.
The two teams have played each other in all but six seasons since 1957, and have played annually since 1980, yet no game has been scheduled for next year, and no future games are in the works as of now. Both teams have been eliminated from bowl contention, have little to look forward to, and are playing for pride and pride alone. It should be an interesting, possibly emotional matchup next week.
Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, November 28, at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Coverage will be provided by FS1.
