Colorado State University Athletics
CSU true freshman Thomas earns Player of Week
9/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 27, 2010
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Like a previous local quarterback that made a habit out of winning games on fourth-quarter drives, Pete Thomas led the Rams to a dramatic, 36-34 triumph over Idaho Saturday.
Thomas, a 6-foot-5, 218-pound true freshman from El Cajon, Calif., has earned Mountain West Player of the Week honors after an impressive performance in only his fourth college game, the conference office announced Monday morning.
Reminding state fans of John Elway, who incidentally also started as a true freshman at Stanford, Thomas orchestrated a 12-play, 66-yard drive over the final 2 minutes, 38 seconds of regulation, setting up Ben DeLine’s 35-yard game-ending field goal at the final gun.
He also guided the Rams on six other scoring drives, the most critical of which were quick touchdown marches in the final 5 minutes of the first half, erasing a 13-0 deficit and giving the Rams an important advantage entering the locker room. In a game that featured three lead changes and a tie, he also orchestrated a seven-play, 64-yard touchdown drive, hitting T.J. Borcky on an 11-yard score, that nearly tied the contest at 34 with just over 6 minutes left (prior to a missed PAT).
The third-youngest QB in CSU history, he completed 29-of-36 pass attempts (80.6 percent) for 386 yards and three touchdowns, against a defense that entered ranked No. 7 in the country against the pass, allowing just 120.33 yards per game.
His 386 passing yards were the most by a CSU QB since Justin Holland had 419 in a 39-31 win over Wyoming in Fort Collins, Oct. 22, 2005. Thomas, who earned his first win as a collegiate QB, became the first Rams player to string together consecutive 300-yard passing games since Holland threw for 405 vs. Wyoming (Oct. 22, 2005) and 312 at New Mexico (Oct. 28, 2005), a 35-25 win.
In completing 80.6 percent of his passes (29 of 36), he notched the sixth-best single-game completion percentage in school annals. However, his mark is the No. 1 percentage among CSU passers with at least 36 attempts. After his first-quarter interception, he threw the last 32 without a pick.
Thomas, who ranks 21st in the nation with 270.2 passing yards per game, becomes the first CSU player to win the MWC’s weekly offensive award since RB Gartrell Johnson on Oct. 6, 2008.
Carter earns Rivals.com Mountain West Player of the Week honors
The quarterback wasn’t the Rams’ only honored player this week.
RB Raymond Carter, like Thomas a four-star recruit out of high school, earned Rivals.com Mountain West Player of the Week recognition. He became the first CSU player since Lawrence “The Clutch” McCutcheon 40 years ago to top 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game. A future NFL star, McCutcheon did it on Oct. 31, 1970, in a 20-13 win over Utah State at Hughes Stadium (104 rushing yards, 117 receiving). Carter also joined McCutcheon (twice in 1970, also at Wyoming), as one of only two running backs in CSU history to eclipse 100 yards receiving.
Carter’s 72-yard TD reception from Pete Thomas that gave the Rams a 27-24 lead late in the third quarter was the longest CSU play from scrimmage since Johnson’s 77-yard touchdown run in the 2008 New Mexico Bowl vs. Fresno State, Dec. 20, 2008, at University Stadium in Albuquerque. Carter also ripped off a career-long run on the Rams’ first drive, 37 yards.
