Game notes: Rams bid for best start since '06

Sept. 26, 2011

Complete release | Depth chart | Updated bios | Supplemental stats

This week's notable storylines...

The Rams lead the nation with 16 sacks, and rank tied for third, behind Stanford and Texas A&M, with 4.0 per game.
CSU also is tied for fifth in the country in pass defense, and ranks 31st in total defense, pacing the Mountain West in both categories.
The Rams have not allowed a point in the first quarter, joining Stanford and Pitt as one of only three such teams in the nation. Only CSU and Pitt have pitched shutouts in four games. Stanford has three.
CSU plays its 88th homecoming game. The Rams are 45-41-1 all-time since the tradition began in 1922. This is the first homecoming game against a non-conference opponent since 2003, when the Rams defeated Fresno State.
A pair of 2010 freshman All-Americans, SJSU's Keith Smith and CSU's Weston Richburg, square off.
The Rams bid to start a season 4-1 for the first time since 2006, and only the fifth time since 1993 (5-0 in 1994, 4-1 in 2000 and `02).
CSU hopes to avoid a letdown after one of the most remarkable victories in program history, which garnered the team its first-ever trio of Mountain West Players of the Week.
With another sack, national leader Nordly Capi would have the most by a CSU player this century, since Clark Haggans had eight in 1999. A sack in a fifth consecutive game would match the longest streak by a Ram since Haggans' five-game streak in 1998.

The setting...
Date: Saturday, Oct. 1
Kickoff: 2:06 p.m. MDT
Location: Fort Collins, Colo.
Site: Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium
Capacity/Surface: 32,500/FieldTurf
Series: CSU leads, 3-1-0

Broadcast information
Television -- The Mtn.
 DirecTV: Ch. 616
 DirecTV: Ch. 616-1 (HD)
 Comcast Digital
  Cable: Ch. 411
 Comcast HD: Ch. 948
 DISH Network: Unavailable
Play-by-play: Todd Harris
Color Analyst: Todd Christiansen
Sideline Reporter: Roger Bailey
Producer: Mike Helling

Colorado State Sports Network
 Flagship station: KLZ, 560-AM, Denver
 Internet: CSURams.com/allaccess
Voice of the Rams: Brian Roth
Color Analyst: Kevin McGlue
Engineer: Bob Greenfield

The Colorado State radio broadcast begins with a pregame show two hours prior to kickoff.

LiveStats: CSURams.com (GameTracker)

Player of the Week trio: CSU linebacker Shaquil Barrett (defense), long-snapper Tanner Hedstrom (special teams) and running back Chris Nwoke (co-offense) have earned respective Mountain West Player of the Week honors, the conference announced Monday morning.

This marks the first time the Rams have claimed three Player of the Week honors in the same weekend. On seven previous occasions since joining the Mountain West in 1999, CSU has had at least two such awards after a game, most recently Oct. 24, 2005, when QB Justin Holland (offense) and DB Joey Rucks (special teams) did it.
The last time a Mountain West team won as many as three Player of the Week awards in one weekend was Nov. 22, 2008, when Utah's Brian Johnson (offense), Paul Kruger (co-defense with SDSU's Luke Laolagi) and Louie Sakoda (special teams) accomplished the feat just prior to the Utes' triumph over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
CSU earned the honors after a remarkable, 35-34 win in double overtime at Utah State Saturday night, three weeks after Utah State arguably should've beaten the defending national champion, Auburn, at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Barrett, a 6-2, 244-pound sophomore from Baltimore, Md., was paramount in the triumph, after helping CSU pull back into the contest in the second half, then win it in double overtime. He gave life to the Rams with USU up 14-3 in the third quarter, scooping up a Michael Smith fumble in the backfield and returning it 15 yards for his first career touchdown. Then, on the next series, Barrett sacked QB Chuckie Keeton, rushing from a DE position, to force a punt. Earlier in the evening, he made a leaping pass deflection to prevent a possible TD, and finished the contest with a team-leading 14 tackles. A 2011 transfer from Nebraska-Omaha, Barrett was immediately eligible because UNO disbanded its football program after the '10 season. A key cog in the middle of the Rams' defense after the fractured ankle sustained by All-America candidate Mychal Sisson, Barrett played at Boys Town High School, a boarding institution in Nebraska, and also had interest from Miami, Fla., before choosing the Rams.
Hedstrom, a 6-1, 220-pound sophomore from Fort Collins (Colo.) High School, has been CSU's primary long-snapper for punts and placements since Game 5 of his freshman season, when he replaced an injured Scott Albritton, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Saturday night, he was life-saving in the win, recovering not one but two muffed punts, one late in the fourth quarter with the Rams trailing 21-13 and only 2:06 left in regulation. By pouncing on an Eric Moats muff at the USU 15, Hedstrom set up Nwoke's game-tying TD and the ensuing two-point conversion in the final minute that sent the game to overtime. Earlier, Hedstrom recovered another muffed punt to give CSU possession at the USU 35, and made a tackle on a previous punt.
Nwoke, who shared offensive honors with New Mexico WR Deon Long, also was principal in the win, especially on the Rams' final three possessions, when he picked up 47 hard-earned yards on 11 carries, including a career-best two touchdowns. With 42 seconds left in regulation, he helped CSU erase a 21-13 deficit with a 1-yard score (just before Pete Thomas hit Crockett Gillmore for a game-tying two-point conversion to send the game to OT. Then in the extra periods, he ran seven times for 32 yards, setting up Gillmore's game-tying TD and then scoring the eventual game-winning points with a 2-yard TD of his own. In the first half, Nwoke also converted a pair of third-and-1 attempts, one on an important second-quarter FG drive to put CSU on the board. A 6-0, 215-pound power back from ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., Nwoke leads the Rams with four touchdowns this season.
None of the three individuals had previously earned a Mountain West weekly honor.
The Rams now have claimed two weekly defensive honors. DE Nordly Capi won the conference award, as well as the Nagurski national award, after setting a single-game NCAA record with four forced fumbles in the Rams' season-opening win at New Mexico, Sept. 3. Capi continues to lead the nation in sacks for the third time in four weekends this season.

Tickets moving quickly: Tickets to CSU's next two home games, a Homecoming battle Saturday vs. San Jose State and an Oct. 15 clash with No. 4 Boise State and Heisman candidate Kellen Moore, are selling quickly.

Fans should not wait to purchase their seats. In addition to free student tickets on the east side, only west-side seats remain for those games. Tickets are available online at CSURams.com/tickets, at any King Soopers or City Market location in Colorado, over the phone at 1-800/491-RAMS, or in person during normal business hours at the McGraw Athletic Center box office.

Cans Around the Oval kickoff: The San Jose State game also gives fans an opportunity to feed the hungry in Northern Colorado, as it kicks off the university's annual Cans Around the Oval campaign, in which the institution strives to line the campus landmark with non-perishable food items for the less fortunate every fall.

First, just by purchasing a ticket, fans will make a difference, as Head Coach Steve Fairchild and his wife, Nancy, again will donate 10 cents per fan at the SJSU contest to the Larimer County Food Bank. A sold-out stadium would mean a $3,250 donation.
Second, fans coming to the game are asked to bring non-perishable food donations. Coaches' wives will be at every gate, as well as Ram Town, collecting those items in addition to financial donations for the hungry.

Homecoming success: Saturday's matchup against San Jose State is the centerpiece of Colorado State University's annual Homecoming and Family Weekend. The celebration annually draws some of the largest crowds to Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, and for good reason. The CSU football team has had great success in its annual homecoming game, posting an 18-7 mark over the past 25 years when welcoming back alumni and family to Fort Collins.

Colorado State is looking for its second consecutive homecoming victory. The Rams rolled the UNLV Rebels, 43-10, in the 2010 homecoming game.
San Jose State is the first non-conference opponent for the Rams on homecoming since CSU defeated Fresno State, 34-10, in 2003.
The Spartans also visited Fort Collins for homecoming during the 1996 season, then as Western Athletic Conference rivals. CSU captured a 36-13 victory, behind impressive offensive performances from running backs Damon Washington (106 rushing yards), Calvin Branch (99 rushing yards, two touchdowns) and quarterback Moses Moreno, who threw for 359 yards and one score, while running for another.

Homecoming record: With a tip of the cap to the incredible and unselfish John Hirn, author of Aggies to Rams, Saturday is officially the 86th homecoming game in program history. The Rams are 45-41-1 over the previous 85, including a 1922 triumph over Colorado School of Mines at Colorado Field in Fort Collins, the first such game.
u The first "homecoming" was established by former CSU president Dr. Charles Lory in 1914. On Oct. 3, 1914, the alumni football team played the varsity team with the alumni winning, 3-0. It was designed as a preseason scrimmage that was meant to bring former students and players back to the campus and have alumni involved with their old college after graduation. The alumni-varsity tradition lasted only a few years at homecoming and was later moved to spring.

No intercollegiate "homecoming" games were found in newspaper files until 1922, making that game the first traditional homecoming game, according to records. However, the tradition did not fully take off as an intercollegiate game
The lone homecoming tie was 1951 against Utah State. Colorado State has played Utah State 17 times on homecoming, more than any other school; the last time was in 1973.
Teams from Utah have played at a CSU homecoming game 32 times. The first was Utah State in 1926 and the most recent was Utah in 2009.
The 1942 homecoming was officially postponed due to World War II, and travel restrictions, but the students voted to have it as a scaled-down homecoming weekend. Six homecoming games have been played in the month of September, 64 in the month of October and 15 in the month of November.
Rams are 12-6 in homecoming games since 1993, having won 10 of the last 15 years.
Before last season's triumph over UNLV, the previous three homecoming games were hard-to-swallow losses.
On Oct. 10, 2009, CSU met Utah, and nearly registered a landmark victory. But the Utes overcame CSU's 17-3 lead late in the third quarter, thanks to three Robert Johnson interceptions, and won, 24-17.
uNearly a year earlier, in 2008, CSU lost a tough 13-7 game to TCU, who would go on to finish No. 7 in the final AP and USA Today rankings. In that contest, the Rams shut out the Horned Frogs in the second half, but dropped two sure touchdown passes near the goal line.
The previous year, 2007, in a heart-pulverizing loss to San Diego State, the Rams completed a late touchdown pass to go up 20-17, before a CSU defender slipped on the Aztecs' final drive, allowing a long pass play that set up the game-winning TD in the final seconds.

No Colorado Spartans:  San Jose State's roster features 94 players from the state of California, and Saturday's matchup marks the first for the Rams this year against an opponent without a single player from the state of Colorado. 

On the flip side, CSU's roster features 18 players from the Golden State, including starting QB Pete Thomas, starting RB Raymond Carter, preseason all-MW offensive lineman Paul Madsen (from the Bay Area), and defensive starters CB Elijah-Blu Smith and SS Ivory Herd.

Happy birthday:  Colorado State senior LB and team captain Mycal Sisson turns 23 on Saturday. Sisson, who was born Oct. 1, 1988, in Indianapolis, Ind., entered the 2011 season as one of the top linebackers in the nation, but is out of the CSU lineup indefinitely after suffering a broken ankle in a Sept. 10 victory over Northern Colorado. Sisson had not missed a game in his CSU career prior to the injury, and before his redshirt season as a true freshman had not missed a game since seventh grade. At the time of his injury, he ranked as the nation's active career leader in tackles for loss (40.0). 

Few and far between: Saturday's matchup against San Jose State marks the fifth in the series between the Rams and the Spartans, but the first meeting between the two schools since 1997. 

Following the Rams' 1964 victory, the two programs did not meet again until the mid-1990s as members of the 16-team Western Athletic Conference's Pacific Division. The Rams welcomed newly added SJSU to the WAC with a 36-13 victory at Hughes Stadium in 1996, and handed the host Spartans a 55-20 loss in 1997. The two programs did not meet during the 1998 season, CSU's final campaign before the formation of the Mountain West, with the Rams rotating to the WAC Mountain Division prior to that season.

Last meeting, Fort Collins: On Oct. 19, 1996, San Jose State's last trip to Fort Collins, the Rams jumped out to a 13-0 second-quarter lead and slowly pulled ahead en route to a 36-13 win.

Moses Moreno put the Rams on the board with a 60-yard strike to Jeremy Calhoun. The quarterback then ran in from 1 yard out to give the Rams a two-score advantage.
CSU put the game away in the fourth quarter, with a pair of touchdowns to separate a one-score game, which stood at 22-13 entering the final stanza. First, Calvin Branch punched in a 1-yard touchdown. Then Moreno, who was 19-of-23 for 359 yards, with two TDs and one interception, connected with Darrell Ballard, now the Rams' offensive graduate assistant, on a 23-yard score to put the game out of reach.
The Rams racked up 580 yards of total offense, including 221 on the ground. They fell 1 yard short of having two backs with 100 yards, as Damon Washington was 23-for-106, while Branch had 99 yards on 17 carries, including an earlier touchdown. Calhoun had three catches for 100 yards, and Nate Kvamme had 13 tackles, including a sack.
The victory kicked off a four-game winning streak, including a dramatic comeback, 42-41 triumph at Air Force, in which the Rams scored 28 unanswered points in the final quarter-plus.

Kerr connection: The Kerr family name has become synonymous with Colorado State Athletics. Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Larry Kerr was Head Coach Steve Fairchild's first hire upon returning to Fort Collins in 2007. Now in his second stint at CSU - he was the long-time defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under Sonny Lubick from 1993-2002 - Kerr has undoubtedly made his mark on the CSU community. In addition, his two daughters, Kelly and Lindsey, each played large roles in the success of the CSU volleyball program, having helped the Rams to multiple MW championships during their time on the court at Moby Arena. However, Kerr is also deeply rooted in the San Jose State program as a former player (two-year starting linebacker), alumnus (class of 1975) and assistant coach (1980-83) for the Spartans.

Boise State part of attractive MW mini-plan: Fans can save when purchasing Boise State tickets as part of a mini-plan season-ticket package still available. The Broncos, ranked No. 4 in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls this week, could be the highest-ranked team ever to visit Fort Collins. TCU was No. 5 last season when it visited the Rams, as was CU in 1996.

Boise State will play a historic game at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, the team's first conference contest as a member of the Mountain West.
The Mountain West mini-plan features not only Boise State, but also San Diego State and Air Force -- three teams that have at least received votes in the national rankings this season. San Diego State and its own NFL Draft prospect Ryan Lindley, is 3-0, including big wins at Army and at home against Washington State. The Aztecs come to town Nov. 12, while the Falcons travel up I-25 on Nov. 26. All three games are 4 p.m. kickoffs.
The MW mini-plan is $90, a savings of $10 off the combined face value of the three tickets. Ram Club members can purchase MW Plans in donor seating levels. Prices do not include delivery fees ($7 mail, $10 will call), but there is no $5 per-ticket processing fee on any mini-plan purchase. For more information, contact the CSU ticket office at 1-800/491-RAMS (7267).

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