Rams Topple UNLV for Third Consecutive Win

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Behind the early flash and glitter, the gritty stuff was taking hold.

Defensively, Colorado State was making a stand, time and time again, and that was important. It looked great when Anthony Hawkins returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. An 18-yard scoring run from Marcus McElroy, followed by an 11-yard jaunt from Jaylen Thomas had the Rams up comfortably on UNLV 21-0 before the first quarter expired.

But Saturday at Canvas Stadium was not to be an offensive showcase for the hosts in a 37-17 victory, making the defensive performance all the more important. The effort marked the fourth consecutive game where the defense allowed less than 400 yards of total offense, the Rebels finishing at 387.

At no point last season was there such a run by the Rams' defense. Heck, they haven't had that kind of run since the first four games of the 2011 season. They haven't had such a stretch against FBS teams since 2006.

"They have a lot of good skill players, and our coach warned us it's a really good team," CSU defensive end Jalen Bates said. "We just took that, ran with it and took the challenge. They had the leading rusher in the conference, and we took that challenge. We tried to play as hard as we can against the run, and I felt like we stopped the run. That was one of our goals."

The Rams (4-5, 3-2 Mountain West) entered the game allowing 216.6 yards per game on the ground, and UNLV back Charles Williams was coming off a 113-yard performance against San Diego State. They held him to 83, the Rebels to 107. Part of that was due to a strong pass rush producing five sacks (25 yards in losses) by five different Rams, the first time that's happened since 2017 against Colorado.

They didn't do it with flash, with just six tackles for loss in total. Instead, the effort was grinding and situationally smart.

"Loved how the defense played in the first half. They were extremely aggressive," CSU head coach Mike Bobo said. "I thought they got after the quarterback and made him uncomfortable. We really played great all day. We gave up those two touchdowns when we had some reserves in the game. You hate to see that happen, but it's good for those guys to get on the field, and it's not worth getting anybody hurt in that situation."

There were no turnovers created, and CSU shut out an opponent in the first half for the first time since San Jose State last season. The Rebels hit the board on the first drive of the second, getting three cracks at a field goal before it was true. If not for the defense jumping offside on the second attempt, the Rams would have come away clean.

That score actually shot the mood a bit, but Colorado State came back strong until allowing the two scores at the end of the game.

"We came in with a mindset to not give up any points," said safety Jamal Hicks, who had his fifth double-digit stop game with 11 tackles. "We were mad at three points when they kicked that field goal. We knew we had to come and ball. Defense wins games at the end of the day."

The Rams' offense struggled in the game finishing some drives in the middle portion, but the trio of field goals (a 50-yarder by Cayden Camper, two shorter kicks from Max Poduska) packed some punch.

All of the drives covered at least 11 plays, and each took more than five minutes off the clock as the Rams owned time of possession at 31:45.

Warren Jackson continued his run of tormenting defenses, turning six catches into 133 yards, many of them in big moments. He now has 657 yards in the past four games, eclipsing a run in 2017 by Michael Gallup (644).

"Wooooo, that defense played incredibly … I don't know what the word is, but really, really good," Jackson said. "I just feel like the offense and defense in the past three games have been playing complementary football. They go out and get a stop and we go and score. That's how the game of football is won. They're giving us a lot of confidence when we go out on the offensive side to put up points. We don't want to let them down, because they've been so good to us."

The balance has put the Rams on a three-game win streak, the first of that length since winning four in succession in the 2017 season. This one leads the team into a bye week, then a stretch drive against two rivals (Air Force and Wyoming) and Boise State the day after Thanksgiving.

It's a key run, and a lot to absorb. Right now, the team is simply thankful for a defense making winning so much easier.

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