Rams Fall on Road at Air Force

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – On a night when they really needed each other, both sides fell short early.

Colorado State's offense couldn't move the ball, and the defense had a difficult time with the most fundamental rule against an option offense, leading to a 24-12 loss to Air Force at Falcon Stadium on a chilly Saturday night.

The final score looks closer than the way the game played out, with Colorado State getting on the board with a couple of late plays, but head coach Jay Norvell knew the chance to make it game had already passed the Rams.

The goal of stopping the fullback was not met as Air Force's Brad Roberts rushed for 184 yards in the game, 111 of which came by halftime, complete with a 34-yard scoring run to make it a 14-0 game.

"We made some adjustments, and we played that play a little bit better," Norvell said. "They got him out on the perimeter a couple of times, just like they do … It was a pretty typical Air Force game to be honest with you. We just didn't counter and put any pressure on them. We scored a couple of times at the end, but we really needed to do that earlier in the game.

"The thing that happens when you play them is you run out of time. You have to be more efficient with your possessions and when you're not efficient early, you get behind the eight ball, and that's what happened to us."

The Falcons' first drive of the game was typical for them, one the Rams have seen too often through the years. They ate 9:24 off the clock, running the ball 15 consecutive times, ending the 80-yard march with an 11-yard scoring run by DeAndre Hughes. They tacked on at the end of the half, running a play out what looked like a victory formation, a 34-yard gain which led to a 44-yard field goal by Matthew Dapore as time expired and a 17-0 advantage at the break.

The chance to cut into the margin came in the second quarter, when on fourth-and-two, Clay Millen completed a pass to Avery Morrow, but it gained no yards, ending at the AFA 29.

Their next drive, virtually the same thing. At the Air Force 28, a much longer fourth-down attempt couldn't deliver a connection between Millen and Tory Horton.

"I think in the second quarter, that was the one," Millen said. "We obviously have to score early. I think that put us in a huge hole, especially against Air Force. You know you're only going to get a limited amount of possessions and you're going to be on the sideline a lot. Every single possession you have to make count. We only got three of four possessions in the first half, so it's like every single possession you've got to be moving the ball at least, you have to be finding a way to score points and we didn't do that to start off the game and it put us in a huge hole.

"We get the two touchdowns late in the game but it's obviously not enough because we started off so slow. As a quarterback it's my job to find a way to start quicker and find a way to put points on the board."

The CSU defense started the second half with a three-and-out, starting a string of better play for the unit to close out the game. The Falcons did put up one more strong drive, a 12-play march to cover 72 yards with John Lee Eldridge III scoring on a 4-yard run. Even when they didn't score, they moved the chains, leading to 359 yards of total offense without completing a single pass and controlling the clock to the tune of 37:29.

By establishing Roberts early, the Falcons set their offense up for anything.

"It definitely does. It especially hurt, especially when we got them to third-down-and-long and they converted it," CSU's C.J. Onyechi said. "It kind of crushes your spirit, but we know our defense is strong and we have a strong mindset, so it's always the next play. It definitely opened up a lane for their offense, and they started feeling comfortable running some certain stuff, but when we changed it up, they had to keep adjusting, adjusting, adjusting. They just got the better of us on certain plays."

Colorado State finished with 244 yards of total offense, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the second half. The first came as a result of an Air Force miscue when they failed to catch a punt, setting up the Rams at the AFA 22.

Tory Horton, the Mountain West's leading receiver, needed 35 yards for his first 1,000-yard season; he reached it when he hauled in a 28-yard scoring pass with 37 seconds remaining in the third.

After Air Force missed a field goal on its next drive, the Rams came back with a nine-play, 64-yard drive capped when Millen, who completed 19-of-24 passes for 179 yards while being sacked seven times, found true freshman Jordan Williams for a 21-yard scoring play, the first of Williams' career.

The Rams tried an onside kick, but the Falcons recovered and virtually ran out the game.

Now 2-9 on the year and 2-5 in the Mountain West, the Rams close the season at home on Friday when they host New Mexico at Canvas Stadium.

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