Colorado State University Athletics

Saturday, October 6
San Jose, Calif.
8:30 PM MT / 7:30 PM PT

Colorado State

2-4 , 1-1

42
at
30

San Jose State

0-5 , 0-2

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Colorado State
14
14
0
14
42
San Jose State
0
0
30
0
30

Rams Breakthrough Leads to 42-30 Victory over the Spartans

10/6/2018 11:59:00 PM | Football

Box ScoreCSU vs. San Jose State -- Postgame Notes & MorePhoto Gallery

CSU rallies in fourth quarter to beat SJSU

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Colorado State (2-4, 1-1 Mountain West) came out strong Saturday night after a bye week with a 42-30 win over the San Jose State Spartans (0-5, 0-2 MW) at CEFCU Stadium.

The Rams' offense scored early, recording its first touchdown on its opening possession of the game. Wide receivers Preston Williams and Warren Jackson were primary targets for quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels, scoring four of Colorado State's touchdowns. Carta-Samuels passed for 162 yards and senior running back Izzy Matthews rushed for 125 yards and contributed a touchdown of his own that proved to be the eventual game winner.



Junior defensive end Jan-Phillip Bombek had three sacks in the game, including a huge 12-yard loss sack at the beginning of the second quarter to put a stop to a potential scoring drive for the Spartans. The Rams' defense held San Jose State to -6 rushing yards in a shutout first half.

After the Spartans came back with 30 points in the third quarter, the Rams responded to the pressure. Colorado State scored two touchdowns in a span of 1:38 of clock time, the first coming after a momentum-changing 11-play, 83-yard drive, capped by Matthews' 1-yard scoring run. On the ensuing Spartans possession, true freshman cornerback Rashad Ajayi recorded his first career interception and returned it for a touchdown to give the Rams a 42-30 lead they would not relinquish.

NOTES:
  • Colorado State drove the ball 77 yards on just six plays on its opening possession, culminating in a 5-yard TD pass from K.J. Carta-Samuels to Preston Williams to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.
    • Marked the first time this season CSU has jumped out to a 7-0 lead on its opponent.
  • CSU held SJSU scoreless on its opening drive. CSU's opponents have been scoreless on their opening drives in each of the last four contests.
  • The Rams took a 14-0 lead with 3:04 remaining in the first quarter. That was the first time this season that the Rams had held a double-digit point lead on their opponent.
  • CSU forced SJSU to punt on each of its first five receptions of the game. It's the first time CSU has forced its opponent to punt on its first five possessions since Oct 7, 2017 at Utah State (Rams won 27-14).
  • CSU rushed for a season-high 219 yards in the game.
    • This included 169 yards in the first half, which eclipsed CSU's previous season-high total for a game (134 vs. Illinois State)
    • CSU outrushed SJSU 169 to -6 in the first half.
    • The last time CSU rushed for 200+ yards was also against SJSU, last season. The Rams ran for 301 yards against the Spartans on 11/18/17.
  • SJSU scored 30 unanswered points, all in the third quarter, to take a 30-28 lead going into the final frame.
  • In their first drive of the 4th quarter, the Rams put together an 11-play, 83-yard scoring drive to reclaim the lead at 35-30. RB Izzy Matthews capped the drive with a 1-yard TD rush on the Rams' third attempt from the 1-yard line.
  • CSU had a season-high 6 sacks.
    • It's the most sacks the Rams have tallied since registering 7 sacks at Utah State last year (10/7/17).
  • Junior DE Jan-Philip Bombek sacked SJSU's Josh Love on consecutive plays in the Spartans' first possession of the 4th quarter. CSU had just reclaimed the lead (35-30), then Bombek had sacks on first and second down. On 3rd-and-15, Rashad Ajayi intercepted Love and returned it 55 yards for a TD to give the Rams a 42-30 lead.
  • The Rams outgained the Spartans 391-285 for the game.
    • This included a 275-80 edge for the Rams in the first half.
    • SJSU outgained CSU 185-25 in the third quarter.
    • After scoring 30 unanswered points to take the lead in the third quarter, SJSU gained only 20 total yards in the fourth quarter (average of 1 yard per play).
 
 

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Team Stats

CSU
SJSU
Total Yards
391
285
Pass Yards
172
237
Rushing Yards
219
48
Penalty Yards
61
45
1st Downs
21
16
3rd Downs
5
4
4th Downs
0
1
TOP
34:03
25:57
1st Quarter
Logo

CSU 7, SJSU 0

CSU - WILLIAMS, P. 5 yd pass from CARTA-SAMUELS (BRYAN, W. kick) 6 plays, 77 yards, TOP 2:51

Logo

CSU 14, SJSU 0

CSU - WILLIAMS, P. 16 yd pass from CARTA-SAMUELS (BRYAN, W. kick) 5 plays, 55 yards, TOP 2:41

2nd Quarter
Logo

CSU 21, SJSU 0

CSU - JACKSON, W. 16 yd pass from CARTA-SAMUELS (BRYAN, W. kick) 12 plays, 87 yards, TOP 4:43

Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 0

CSU - JACKSON, W. 8 yd pass from CARTA-SAMUELS (BRYAN, W. kick) 5 plays, 42 yards, TOP 1:55

3rd Quarter
Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 7

SJSU - HARTLEY, Tre 24 yd pass from LOVE, Josh (CRAWFORD, Bryce kick) 3 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:50

Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 14

SJSU - NEVENS, Tyler 6 yd run (CRAWFORD, Bryce kick), 4 plays, 61 yards, TOP 1:08

Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 21

SJSU - HARTLEY, Tre 51 yd pass from LOVE, Josh (CRAWFORD, Bryce kick) 4 plays, 77 yards, TOP 1:10

Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 28

SJSU - COTTRELL, Thai 1 yd pass from LOVE, Josh (CRAWFORD, Bryce kick) 4 plays, 17 yards, TOP 1:30

Logo

CSU 28, SJSU 30

SJSU - ROBERTS, Boogie 2 yd safety

4th Quarter
Logo

CSU 35, SJSU 30

CSU - MATTHEWS, I. 1 yd run (BRYAN, W. kick), 11 plays, 83 yards, TOP 3:24

Logo

CSU 42, SJSU 30

CSU - AJAYI, R. 55 yd interception (BRYAN, W. kick)

Game Leaders

1

K.J. Carta-Samuels

CMP
14
TD
4
YDS
162
INT
2
15

Collin Hill

CMP
1
TD
0
YDS
10
INT
0

Players Mentioned

4

Rashad Ajayi

CB
/ Football
9

Warren Jackson

WR
/ Football
24

Izzy Matthews

RB
/ Football

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