Defense Puts Up Historic Performance in Road Win

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There was nowhere to go all night long.

Led by the stingiest defensive performance of the season, Colorado State strung together Mountain West victories for the first time since 2019 with a 36-7 victory over New Mexico on Saturday evening at Dreamstyle Stadium. It was the program's 11^th consecutive win over the Lobos.

"We're practicing hard, growing and I feel like our guys are locked in," CSU coach Steve Addazio said. "It's one week at a time man, just one week at a time. I thought we played really hard and physical today, really as a football team. That's been a trend we've been on now for a number of weeks. We're bearing some fruit. These are tough wins. We're still building; we're still growing obviously."

The win improved the team to 3-3 overall, but more importantly the Rams stand at 2-0 in conference play.

The Rams made the game a nightmare offensively for New Mexico and first-time starting quarterback C.J. Montes. The Rams weren't just good, but historically so as the Lobos generated just 76 yards of total offense, the second-least allowed in program history.

The Rams were maybe a little bit inspired by Montes' saying pregame he felt the Lobos should move the ball and score at will.

"I think any time an opposing player probably gives you bulletin-board material, it makes for more emotions going into the game, of wow, why would he say such a thing like that?" defensive end Scott Patchan said. "What inclined him to say that? We had a little chip on our shoulder coming into the game, especially when somebody makes an arrogant statement like that."

The unit forced a pair of turnovers, getting interceptions in the bookend quarters from Marshaun Cameron and Logan Stewart off of Montes, who was just 3-of-19 passing for 11 yards before being replaced late in the fourth quarter. New Mexico's only score of the game came on a punt return of 63 yards by Luke Wysong in the second quarter, cutting the Rams' lead to 10-7 at the time.

The Rams allowed just 1.7 yards per carry and 1.4 yards per play, which is a program record. New Mexico's longest drive in terms of plays was nine, and generated just 12 yards. It's longest in terms of yardage was 33, and the Rams ended it with Cameron's pick. The longest play from scrimmage was a 15-yard run.

It was a shutdown performance, through and through.

"We bring that attitude every game," Patchan said. "I feel like we had that, we just weren't clicking, we had certain guys out, things of that nature for the first two games. But I mean, as a defense, I feel everybody is where they're supposed to be, we're rolling, we're hitting, and we're still continuing to grow. As we continue to grow, we can put up more dominant performances, I believe."

The offense welcomed the return of running back David Bailey to the starting lineup, a development which took on greater importance when backup A'Jon Vivens – coming off his first 100-yard game – left with an injury in the first half. Bailey had to play the role of bruiser against the Lobos' style of defense, which he did, with 58 yards on 21 carries.

The Rams created a pair of momentum touchdowns on the second drive of the game and the one to open the second half, both on 2-yard runs by Bailey.

The one out of the halftime gates pushed the lead to a more comfortable 20-7 margin, and Cayden Camper, while not perfect, made five-of-six field goal attempts.

"It felt great. It feels good to get a momentum swing during these type of games," Bailey said of his scoring runs. "It was a tight battle at the beginning, but for us to pound in a score, I feel that flipped the whole team actually."

The Rams moved the ball well, generating 452 yards of offense and owned time of possession with 34:16, and quarterback Todd Centeio helped make it work by connecting on four explosive passing plays, each covering at least 35 yards. Two went to tight end Trey McBride, who finished with a career-best 135 yards on seven catches, but another went to his mate in his position room, when Centeio connected with Gary Williams for a 43-yard touchdown in the fourth which made the game a certain no-doubter.

The fourth was a 41-yard reception by Ty McCullouch, as he finished with 77 receiving yards with Centeio hitting 16-of-25 passes for 286 overall.

"They're huge. It's hard to move the ball 80 yards against that style of defense without having big strikes, but when you go for those big strikes, it's hard to protect," Addazio said. "It's play-action and it's hard to protect when the team is recklessly coming after you. Jaylen Thomas did a phenomenal job in there today as a back having to pick up a free rusher and support the pocket on a couple of those shots; the one to Gary for example. He was phenomenal in his pass protection. Feast or famine sometimes, you know? We really wanted to hit on more of those shots, but we hit on a fair amount of them."

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