Hopes Alive: Rams Post Win on Veterans Day

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If it's a game a team has to win, it will use any means necessary.

A stifling defense which scores. A couple of trick plays. A freshman running back who makes his debut by surpassing the century mark. It was all on the table Saturday night as Colorado State held off San Diego State at Canvas Stadium in a 22-19 victory which keeps bowl hopes alive.

The Rams' first points of the game came off a safety – and Mohamed Kamara's 29^th career sack, placing him second all-time on the school list. They led 5-0 after one, 15-0 at halftime as the defense held the Aztecs in check with just 55 yards of total offense.

"I think we did. I think we were playing off each other and playing for each other tonight," defensive back Dominic Morris said. "That was a big difference. We weren't really worried about anybody's opinions or anything like that outside of who's in this group. That really allowed us to play free and go out there and get the goal accomplished."

The night wasn't necessarily pretty, but Colorado State (4-6, 2-4 Mountain West) did enough. They improved on third down, converting more than 50 percent of the time for the second game this year (9-of-17). The Rams scored in the third quarter – just a touchdown – but it mattered.

Defensively, the Rams gave up more yardage in the second half as the Aztecs tried to rally, but in the third, the group bowed up to force two field goals instead of allowing touchdowns.

The Rams misfired on some drives, too. Penalties in the red zone erased prime scoring chances – one after the Aztecs muffed a punt – resulting in a pair of Jordan Noyes' field goals. Needing a boost, they opened the playbook on one second-quarter drive, fueled by a 42-yard pass from Tory Horton to Dylan Gaffney, setting up tight end Dallin Holker's 1-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat.

"We've run that on them before, we just kind of window-dressed it," CSU coach Jay Norvell said of the Horton pass. "They're a good defense. They're hard to make yards on. If you don't do something a little different and keep them off balance, it's tough to get big plays. Tory executed that really well. The whole offense did, and we needed that right there. We needed that score in the second quarter."

The biggest jolt was the insertion of true freshman Justin Marshall into the running back rotation. His first career carry came in the first quarter, good for 12 yards. By halftime he had 63 yards on six carries, finishing with 119 on 18 carries. He became the first CSU freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since Ron Harris did it in 1974 against New Mexico.

Nobody had it on their bingo card for Week 10, and better yet, Marshall didn't know he'd see action.

"I didn't even know I was going to get in the game, to be honest with you," he said. "As soon as they called my name, I was ready to go."

He's probably going to play more now after Colorado State outrushed a SDSU team which prides itself on its run game, 183-145. It was a jolt they needed, because he found the end zone in third quarter on a 5-yard run, pushing the CSU lead to 22-6.

It was just enough, as the Aztecs scored 13 points in the fourth to tighten the game, and Colorado State's best threat ended in a Vann Schield fumble.

"We were better. We still needed to be more productive in the second half," Norvell said. "I thought we were better, and when we had the lead at halftime, we talked a lot about we've been here before and we have to go out and play well. We could have put a little more distance on them, but I think we did a lot of things really well tonight as a team."

The prior two weeks, the Rams were either tied with a team or trailed by three at half, only to see it go sideways in the third.

Still, it was the running game which sealed the victory, taking the final 2:04 off the clock as Avery Morrow rushed three times to pick up a first down – the Aztecs wasting time outs in the process. The Rams had just five explosive plays all night, but three came in the run game.

Morrow's carries afforded the Rams the opportunity to settle in the formation Holker said they've all wanted to run.

"We just talked about how badly we wanted to end that game in victory formation. That was something we've talked about a lot, like every Friday when we practice it," Holker said. "That was the main thing, just everybody was talking about in the huddle, let's end this thing, get in formation and take a knee."

The Rams still have bowl hopes, needing to win the final two. It's a far better position than the Aztecs, who can no longer qualify for the postseason.

It would be nice for a program which has sat out the process since 2017, but that's not how the Rams view the setup. This is the playoffs now, and Norvell said the team is now 1-0 and will advance. The goal for him is to continue to improve, a sentiment Kamara reiterated.

"I think what were focused on is winning one game at a time. We're not really looking to – what's the word -- please everybody outside of the facility," he said. "We just want to play for each other, and that's what we were doing all week. Even during practice, we still love each other despite how we've been losing. Practice, we still have a lot of fun. Once it comes down to game time, we were all just focused. Defensively, that's how we looked at it."

It gives them another week to look forward to with an extra game on the horizon as a possibility.

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