Rams remain unbeaten in conference play with 44-42 victory over Wolf Pack

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POSTGAME NOTES
PHOTO GALLERY (Don Reichert)
PHOTO GALLERY (Tomas Redondo)

by Grant Larson
Athletics Communications

FORT COLLINS, Colo.—The Colorado State Rams improved to 5-2 on the season (3-0 Mountain West) with a thrilling 44-42 win over Nevada (1-6, 1-2 Mountain West) on Saturday night in Fort Collins. The matchup marked the Rams' first night game on campus since 1966, and the homecoming sell-out crowd of 36,765 was the fourth-largest ever for a CSU home game.

Happy Homecoming, Rams! pic.twitter.com/SGYdNcMTeu
— CSU Rams Football (@CSUFootball) October 15, 2017

Senior wide receiver Michael Gallup had yet another super-human performance, recording a career-high 263 yards and three touchdowns on 13 catches. His 13 catches tied a career best and his 263 yards fell just two short of the CSU single-game record, set last season by Olabisi Johnson.

MICHAEL GALLUP CANNOT BE STOPPED!

13 catches.
263 yards.
3 TDs.

Rams lead 44-42! pic.twitter.com/oFUimuJckN
— CSU Rams Football (@CSUFootball) October 15, 2017

Not to be outdone by his superstar wideout, senior quarterback Nick Stevens completed 71.3 percent of his passes (26-of-37) for 384 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Stevens has now eclipsed 300 yards in five games this season and has thrown for multiple touchdowns in all but one. Through three Mountain West games, the signal-caller has passed for 1,028 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions, all while completing 73.3 percent of his passes (66-of-90).

On the ground, senior running back Dalyn Dawkins rushed for a career-best 191 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries, for an impressive 11.2 yards per carry average. It marks the 12th career 100-yard game for Dawkins—fifth-most by a Ram—and his the third consecutive to open Mountain West play. Junior running back Izzy Matthews scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the season, to crack the school's top-10 career list (23), while carrying 10 times for 40 yards.

The Rams opened up a quick 14-0 lead, but struggled to stop the Wolf Pack offense after a strong start, and found themselves trailing 42-31 late in the third quarter. Gallup's third touchdown of the game, coming with 12:08 remaining in the fourth quarter, gave the Rams a 44-42 lead. A CSU defensive unit that gave up a season-high 508 passing yards stood strong when it mattered most, not allowing a point in the fourth quarter and closing the game with a crucial fourth-down stop. Junior linebacker Josh Watson, who tallied a team-high-tying seven tackles, recorded the game-winning pass breakup on Nevada's fourth-down play.

The CSU offensive line was dominant yet again, allowing just one tackle for loss to a Wolf Pack defense that came into the game averaging 8.3 per game, a figure that ranks sixth in the country. The Rams are allowing 0.29 sacks per game this season and have now gone 22 consecutive quarters without allowing one.

Stat of the Game:
The Rams' 608 yards of total offense marked the third time this season—and fourth in the last eight games, dating back to last season—that the Rams have eclipsed 600 yards.

In Their Words...
Head Coach Mike Bobo:
On his team's performance
"There were a lot of things that we didn't do well, but the fight was tremendous all night. We were down 11 points in the second half but no one really wavered. The energy was good and the spirits were good. We gave up some big plays but we continued to play. We had some big stops there in the fourth quarter."

On the play of the offense
"I can't say enough about the offense's play tonight. Nick Stevens was outstanding tonight, like he's been for the last 10 to 12 games. Michael Gallup really had a good look in his eye during warmups and wanted the ball all night. Every time we threw it to him he came up with the play. Dalyn Dawkins was huge tonight and I thought our offensive line played well. It was just good to see our guys continue to play and put enough points on the board to find a victory."

Senior quarterback Nick Stevens:
On the team's ability to handle adversity
"We did handle some adversity, and I think we could have handled some of it better. In that second half we stalled out on a few drives, but then we were able to get the ball moving down the field. The momentum just stopped, and we weren't able to feed off each other. I have said it before and it's what we've done really well this year--the offense feeds off defensive plays and defense feeds off us. We hit a stall and it put the defense in a tough situation. At the end of the day, we were in a position where we had to score, down 11 in the second half. We went and scored and got the job done that's the biggest piece to takeaway."

Senior wide receiver Michael Gallup:
On his individual performance
"I don't know if it's as good a game as I can have, but it was a pretty good game. We had fun and we faced adversity pretty well."

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