FORT COLLINS — Those expecting a plethora of points Saturday afternoon at Canvas Stadium were no doubt surprised, if not disappointed.
But Colorado State did what it needed to do and beat New Mexico 17-6 to keep its Mountain West Conference title hopes alive.
Coach Jay Norvell was thrilled with his team’s poise and ability to make the big play in key moments — even if the Rams’ overall aesthetic wasn’t quite as pleasing.
“We’re not really worried about style points, to be honest with you,” Norvell said. “We want to do the things we have to do to win. We still have to be better offensively in the second half. … That was disappointing.”
The Rams beat the Lobos for the 13th consecutive time, improved to 3-0 in the Mountain West and 5-3 overall. On a perfect autumn afternoon, the Rams won in front of an announced sellout crowd of 36,980 on homecoming weekend.
Three big plays — a long touchdown reception by Caleb Goodie, an 82-yard punt return TD by Kobe Johnson and a fumble recovery by Henry Blackburn — keyed the Rams’ third straight victory.
The Rams are now one victory away from being bowl-eligible as they look toward next Saturday’s game at Nevada. They haven’t been to a bowl game since 2017, but they insist they aren’t projecting.
“It’s next game, next task,” said linebacker Chase Wilson, who made 10 tackles and also had a fourth-quarter interception. “We know that next week could make us bowl-eligible and that’s exciting. But that’s just extended noise.”
Coming into Saturday, New Mexico had scored 50-plus points in three consecutive games. Although they outgained the Rams 453-334 in total yardage, New Mexico never got into the end zone. Four takeaways from the CSU defense had a lot do to with that.
“We obviously heard 50-50-50 all week,” said cornerback Dylan Phelps, who had six tackles and a forced fumble. “But we knew that if we keep following (defensive coordinator Freddie) Banks’ game plan, and following our fundamentals, good things would happen.”
CSU’s 17-3 halftime lead was courtesy of two momentum-turning plays.
Early in the second quarter, trailing the Lobos 3-0, quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi spied Goodie behind the secondary and hit the sophomore receiver in stride for a 46-yard TD pass and 7-3 lead.
With star wide receiver Tory Horton out for the season with a knee injury, Goodie has become Fowler-Nicolosi’s big-play target. Goodie made a sensational, one-handed catch and turned it into an 85-yard TD against Air Force last Saturday.
“It’s exciting that they trust me to make plays, ” Goodie said. “It’s grown every week.”
Johnson’s electrifying punt return put CSU ahead 14-3 with 12:41 left in the half. Johnson caught the ball at the 18-yard line, pinballed through traffic, cut across the field, found daylight, and ended up with the second return TD of his career. He ran back a kickoff last season.
The Rams’ Jordan Noyes booted a 47-yard field goal with 25 seconds for the 17-3 lead.
New Mexico botched a chance to get back in the game on the first drive of the second half. The Lobos drove 74 yards to the CSU 1-yard line, but a false start penalty put them in a third-and-six predicament. Devon Dampier, who utilized the quarterback draw/keeper frequently, got tied up in traffic and defensive tackle Cam Bariteau forced a fumble. Blackburn recovered for CSU, ending the Lobos’ best TD bid.
“That was huge,” Wilson said. “You never stop playing, even if they are on the 1-yard line. You always shoot for a turnover and that’s what happened right there.”
CSU was shut out in the second half but its defense shut down a Lobos offense that entered the game averaging 37.4 points per game. CSU ended two New Mexico fourth-quarter drives with interceptions from Buom Jock and Wilson.
“We didn’t (commit) any turnovers and we had four takeaways,” Norvell said. “That was the key to the game.”
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