Saturday, January 29, 2011
#24 CSU won 52-20 over Air Force.
Blake named player of the game after 166 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Gordon King had 3 rushing touchdowns.
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| Sep 27, 2014 - UTAH at CSU | |||||||
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE | ||
| # 14 Utah (3-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 | ||
| Colorado State (3-0) | 7 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 17 | ||
Colorado State had a 10-0 lead at halftime and was up 17-0 going into the final quarter, when Utah finally decided to start playing on offense, and managed to score twice in the final frame, the Utes ended the game by recovering an onside kick, however didn't have enough time to march down the field as there was only 12 seconds remaining in the game. Had there been a couple more minutes in this game, the outcome may have been drastically different.
"The boys did a great job over the first 3 quarters, however we didn't help out in the 4th, as I think they found where the mismatches in our defense were and who they could exploit. I'll be working with the secondary a lot this week to go over helping others and how to decide on who to double team." CSU coach Drew Gill commented on the performance.
Soph QB Brandon Berg had a mediocre game as he was 11 of 23 passing for 235 yards and two touchdowns, while also throwing two interceptions.
Utah shut down the running game as Washington and King managed 85 yards combined and an average carry of only 3 yards per attempt.
Taylor Pino reaches out for the TD catch
Blake bounces off a defender on the way to a 70 yard TD
Taylor Pino had a diving TD catch on what would end up being the winning touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Bernard Blake also recorded a 70 yard TD catch and had 123 yards total on 3 catches, as he made defenders miss him on every play. "I've been moved to the slot receiver this year, which is perfect for me, I get to catch the ball in open space almost every time, and I like my chances one on one in the open field. I've had years of practice making defenders miss me." Blake told reporters after the game.
Christian Walter Celebrating his fumble recovery after a 3rd quarter punt
TJ Brown had 8 tackles on the day and was all over the receivers when they caught the ball. LB Mike Orakpo was off to a strong performance until bruising his ribs in the 2nd quarter. He still managed 7 tackles and one for a loss, returning to the game in the closing minutes after icing his ribs and bandaging them up.
For Utah, Jr QB Tim Jones had a strong day trowing for 329 yards and two touchdowns on 25 of 38 passing attempts. "I know I could have lead us to the victory had there been just a little more time, it's very disappointing to lose the first conference game of the year."
Sr HB Lucky Radley had an off day running for only 26 yards on 11 attempts. Slot receiver Jr Kelvin McCloud had a strong day with 12 receptions for 192 yards and a TD. Mo Lee also caught a TD.
Colorado State played host to the following recuits:
#10 DT Tyler Hill, #8 SS Steven Brewer, #5 Ath Quinton Hamby
Around the NCAA:
-#7 LSU defested #17 Georgia 47-29
-#22 North Carolina put down undefeated Florida State 34-14
-In the game of the week #2 Penn State went home from #1 Ohio State with a 39-24 victory
- Pittsburgh defeated #13 Rutgers 41-31
- Tennessee upset #4 Auburn 35-28 in overtime
- Winless Colorado destroyed #25 Missouri 34-3
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
"We really had to battle for this win. We trailed until the end of the 3rd quarter when we finally scored the go ahead touchdown." Coach Drew Gill commented.
The Rams were lead by Sophmore QB Brandon Berg who was 14 of 28 passing for 182 yards and one touchdown while throughing two interceptions. Berg was injured with a couple minutes left in the first half when Brian Chambers came in for a series and went 4 of 7 passing for a TD and 70 yards. Berg was able to play the remainder of the game as there was nothing too serious.
Washington pounding his chest after running 22 yards into the endzone.
The CSU rushing was a two headed attack as Gordon King ran for 79 yars on 17 carries and Ryan Washington had 15 carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns. "We didn't get a whole lot of space out there but a couple of times the line opened up and allowed me to run all the way to the endzone."Washington commented after the game.
Andrew Gill lead the receivers with 5 catches for 90 yards, while Derrick Rhodes and TE Kelechi Atkins both had a TD catch.
Atkins covering up the ball as he scrambles into the endzone after an 8 yard reception
Courtney McCarthy had a strong game on defense with 2 sacks and 5 tackles total, whileFreshman CB Brandon Jackson had an interception and a recovered fumble on the following series to give the Rams the field position to score the go ahead touchdown. "I was really having a feel for the ball today, I know that I allowed a TD catch early on, but I think I more then made up for it in the 3rd quarter giving the offense some great field position to work with."
Jackson staring down the Texas A&M sideline after his 3rd quarter interception
On top of losing the game Texas A&M received more bad news that starting QB Jameill Showers tore his MCL and will miss the remainder of the season. Luckily they have a senior backup in Matt Joeckel who has some experience to step in and hopefully not miss much of a beat.
Senior HB Ben Malena averaged 8.2 yards per carry as he rushed for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns on the day. "I knew I had to step up when I saw Showers go down. So I did what I had to do."
Around the NCAA:
-Tennessee upset #8 ranked Oklahoma 31-17
-#1 Ohio State dismantled #9 Virginia Tech 38-13
-#11 Nebraska needed overtime to oust #12 Miami 34-31
-#24 Washington had a strong performance from Nate Montana in a 42-17 win over #25 USC
-#20 Georgia Tech falls to 0-2 on the year after a 38-21 loss to Florida State who moved to 3-0 on the year.
-Tesas Tech WR Christian Wise entered the Heisman talk after a 19 Rec, 308 yard, 5 TD performance against Arizona.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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| Sep 13, 2014 - HAW at CSU | |||||||
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE | ||
| Hawaii (1-0) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 27 | ||
| Colorado State (1-0) | 14 | 21 | 17 | 7 | 59 | ||
A performance lead by a strong rushing attack and an accurate passer, this team looks to be a step above the CSU teams we`ve witnessed over the past few years. After the game, there was talk around town about this being a `special`team and has pieces to stay dominant in the Mountain West for years to come. Coach Drew Gill has really proven himself, and word around town is he might get some strong offers from greener pastures to coach at next season. One can only hope that he`ll stick around to grow this team to a BCS championship contender.
Sophmore QB Brandon Berg had a strong performance with 2 touchdown passes, and 356 yards on 16 of 26 attempts. Ì owe the big yardage numbers to my receivers, they had lots of yards after the catch to pad my numbers. I`m disappointed in my performance in the 3rd quarter as once we had to settle for a 33 yard field goal as we couldn`t get into the endzone, I don`t plan on choking like that again` Berg commented.
King pulled the pile into the endzone for his 3rd TD of the day.
Player of the game went to Sophmore runningback Gordon King who scored 4 TDs and ran for 89 yards on the day. backup HB Ryan Washington added 100 yards and a TD to the rushing totals too. `The holes were there for me to hit today, when I ran to the outside I saw green grass and no white jerseys.`King said.
Blake dodging the defenders on his way to a TD reception of 44 yards
Thanks to Bergs big numbers which he spread around the receivers, Pino had 192 yards, Gill had 108 and Blake had 94 yards. Pino scored 2 TD while Blake had one TD reception.
The defense was lead by DE Brad Collins, who had a sack on the game, and was in the QB face time after time. backups Steve McCauley had 2 sacks and LB Anthony Lyles had a sack too. SS Keith Harper had an interception in the first quarter which lead to a TD drive.
Hawaii QB Kevin Spain sits on the ground in disbelief after the 5th sack on him.
Hawaii QB Kevin Spain put up huge numbers as the don`t run the ball very much, he was 36 of 61 passing for 462 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. In total there was 8 rushing plays which resulted in 62 yards. Sophmore WR Jess Dodd had 174 yards and 2 touchdown catches on 10 receptions.
In other NCAA news:
-10 ranked Oklahoma kicked a 38 yards FG with a minute remaining to beat Tulsa 20-17
-Michigan State had a hard faught 51-45 victory over 4 ranked Notre Dame
-14 Virginia Tech easy defeated 13 ranked Georgia Tech 45-10
-7 ranked West Virginia returns home from Washington after suffering a 21-7 defeat
-In the Sat Night primetime game, 8th ranked Auburn allowed 21 points in the 4th quarter, but still walked away with a 30-24 win over 2nd ranked LSU
Sunday, January 16, 2011
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| Aug 30, 2014 - CU at CSU | |||||||
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE | ||
| Colorado () | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 13 | ||
| Colorado State () | 7 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 33 | ||
Berg running over the defense on his way into the endzone for his first NCAA touchdown
CSU was lead by Soph QB Brandon Berg, who is seeing his first NCAA action. Berg was 11 of 21 for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a TD on the ground. "Having not had any in game action since highschool, I thought I might be a little rusty, but I surprised myself when I came out of the gates and was 6 of 7 passing at halftime, in the second half I was playing around a little more, and scrambling out of the pocket, I've got to work on my accuracy when I get pushed out of the pocket, as that wasn't my strong suit today."
The ground attack was a duel headed sophmore approach, as Ryan Washington had 51 yards, and Gordon King had 69 yards and one touchdown. King was also the leading receiver in the game thanks to a 64 yard run after a screen pass. Derrick Rhodes also had a TD catch of ten yards.
King celebrating after his screen pass catch turned into a 64 yard TD
Defense was the key to the game, as CSU's defensive unit kept the Buffaloes at bay all game, and applied pressure to the backfield consistantly. Soph DE Steve McCauley and Junior Brad Collins both had 2 sacks, DT Maurice Means and Courtney McCarthy both had one sack on the day. Collins also teamed up with LB Mike Orakpo to force a safety in the final quarter to eliminate all hope that Colorado had left.
Mike Orakpo leaning over the body of CU Jones who couldn't get out of the endzone for a safety
Leading Colorado was Sr QB Nick Hirschman who was 12 of 27 passing for 256 yards and one touchdown. HB Trea Jones had 20 carries for 66 yards. WR Doug Ellis lead all receivers with 121 yards, while the TD catch went to FB Tim Ferwerda.
Colorado State coach Drew Gill commented to ESPN reporter Erin Andrews,"The upperclassmen really motivated the younger players, and helped them calm their pre-game nerves today. McCarthy and Orakpo especially. Bernard Blake on the offensive side was in all the players ears when they came to the sidelines, It's great to have that leadership on the team when we are going with a lot of first year starters this season."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Preseason analysis for the 2014 Colorado State Rams.
The Rams are ranked #37 in the preseason polls. The same rating as last year. This year they are given a B- Overall grade, with B- on Offense and Defense, and a C+ grade on Special Teams. Hopefully the Freshman Kicking team will be able to replace some of what Pete Kontodiakos did over the past two seasons. The Rams are predicted to finish third in the MWC behind #18 ranked Utah and TCU.
ESPN writer Pat Forde predicts that the Rams will finish 9-4 this year, with losses to Utah, TCU, Texas A&M and Florida State. He predicts a strong year for HB Gordon King on the ground, and thinks Orakpo and Harper will have an outstanding season for the defense. JuCo trasfer Brad Collins is the wild card for their offense as he'll be expected to replace McKnight's pressure on the QB
The out of conference schedule starts in Denver for the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado on August 30th, followed by a home game against Hawaii in week 3 and a trip to Texas A&M in week 4, and they finish the season by welcoming Florida State to Hughes Field in week 13.
DE Brandon McKnight has made the preseason All-American team, however there has been news that he will be forced to sit out the season, as he suffered a torn ACL in off season practice.
The 1st Team All-MWC is represented by CSU with Jr WR Andrew Gill, DE McKnight, Jr DT Courtney McCarthy, Sr DT Trevor Murphy, Sr OLB Mike Orakpo and Jr SS Keith Harper. CSU members on the second team are: Sr WR Bernard Blake, Jr OLB David Wilson, MLB Dan McKenzie, and Jr CB TJ Brown. Word out of camp is that some of these players might not even crack the starting lineup this year, as others have spent the offseason conditioning and training and surpassed them.
A few of the changes on Offense are:
Sophmore Brandon Berg is the new starting QB.
Sophmore Gordon King is the starting HB with Soph Ryan Washington the speed threat out of the backfield.
Soph Dustin Thomas is the new starting FB.
Andrew Gill and Bernard Blake have changed spots on the offense, with Blake moving to the slot receiver while Gill moves to the outside.
Freshman Kelecki Atkins is in a battle with RS Fresh Brett Cooper for starting Tight End.
JuCo transfer Jr Brad Collins is in line for the starting LE position, however Freshman John McClain is right on his heels should he slip up any.
At DT Jr Maurice Means has put in a lot of hard work to overtake Sr Trevor Murphy on the depth chart.
Sr LB Charles Favors has moved into the starting lineup over Dan McKenzie at MLB, however McKenzie will still see decent playing time.
Coach Gill commented about all the new faces,"We've got a lot of new faces in the starting lineup this year. I don't think that necessarily bad, as a jolt of youth will spice things up, with the veterans who are right behind them should they slip up any. We will surely miss McKnight as he was a strong player on defense for us last year, but I know his hard work and determination, that he'll be back better then before next season."
The top ranked recuits are:
#4 HB Chris Martin from Booneville, MS
#2 FS Richard Clark from Tyler, Tx
#5 C Jerrell Hall from Washington, DC
#12 TE Kelechi Atkins from Sheridan, CO
JuCo DE Brad Collins comes from Stockton, Ca to try and win a spot from the departed Kharyee Marshall.
JuCo Ath Mark Richardson from Richland, Ms will try to win the backup SS spot
Coach Gill commented, "The class might not be as strong as last years, but there are a few gamebreakers in this class which will see lots of playing time from day one."
CB Immanuel Mitchell -- 112 tackles. 1 sack, 3 INT, 1 TD
CB Shaquille Bell -- 73 tackles, 4 INT, 2 TDs
HB Chris Nwoke -- 405 rushes, 1655 yards, 27 TDs
FS Ezra Thompson -- 96 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TD
K/P Pete Kontodiakos -- 47.4 yds/punt, 59-63 FG, 59 longest FG, 97 touchbacks
QB Pete Thomas -- 147.4 QB rating, 54.3% complete, 8256 yds, 56 TD, 38 INT
TE Matt Weems -- 110 receptions, 1698 yds, 10 TDs
Sophmore SS Matt Williams is transfering to New Mexico after being below Keith Harper on the depth chart both years.
A few of the record set this past year for Colorado State include:
School Passing Yards (season)-Pete Thomas old-3319yds new-3572yds
School Passing Yards (career)- Pete Thomas old-7141yds new-8256yds
School Passing TD (career)- Pete Thomas old-49 new- 56
School Sacks (season)- Brandon McKnight old-15 new-16
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| NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Jan 1, | |||||
| RK | LW | TEAM (VOTES) | W | L | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Ohio State (61) | 12 | 1 | 1525 |
| 2 | 5 | Penn State | 12 | 1 | 1310 |
| 3 | 8 | LSU | 11 | 2 | 1159 |
| 4 | 2 | Alabama | 12 | 2 | 1079 |
| 5 | 10 | Rutgers | 11 | 2 | 1062 |
| 6 | 3 | Nebraska | 12 | 2 | 1061 |
| 7 | 4 | Oregon | 11 | 2 | 1029 |
| 8 | 11 | West Virginia | 11 | 2 | 1016 |
| 9 | 6 | Utah | 11 | 2 | 925 |
| 10 | 14 | Georgia Tech | 12 | 2 | 881 |
| 11 | 12 | Notre Dame | 11 | 2 | 846 |
| 12 | 7 | Michigan | 10 | 3 | 806 |
| 13 | 13 | Virginia Tech | 10 | 3 | 797 |
| 14 | 9 | Auburn | 10 | 3 | 719 |
| 15 | 15 | Texas Tech | 10 | 3 | 715 |
| 16 | 18 | Central Michigan | 12 | 2 | 605 |
| 17 | 19 | Boston College | 11 | 3 | 563 |
| 18 | 21 | Florida | 11 | 3 | 549 |
| 19 | 20 | Miami | 9 | 4 | 520 |
| 20 | 16 | Texas | 10 | 3 | 441 |
| 21 | 23 | Purdue | 9 | 4 | 420 |
| 22 | 24 | Arkansas | 8 | 4 | 384 |
| 23 | NR | Oklahoma | 10 | 4 | 267 |
| 24 | NR | UCLA | 9 | 4 | 212 |
| 25 | NR | Boise State | 11 | 2 | 194 |
The win gave CSU their 10th win of the year, to add this season to the other successful years for the school.
Thomas passed for 376 yards on 25 of 38 attempts, for 3 touchdowns and one interception. He managed to set the schools single season passing record in the process. "Having basically sat out two years due to injury, it's a good feeling to know my name will be in the CSU record books, as I've set single season and career records. I couldn't have dreamed anything better when I was recruited by the school 4 years ago."
Nwoke staring down the USC student section after a 50 yard TD run
Chris Nwoke ended his career today with an 87 yard, 2 touchdown game. "I feel like I could have stepped up more this year as I was handed the starters role, but Tony (Drake) ended up pushing me hard for it, and was actually named first team All-Mountain West. I did make second team, but wanted to show everyone today that I'm a smart, strong ball player."
Tony Drake did add a TD and 31 yards rushing on 4 carries.
Freshman Derrick Rhodes looks ready to knock off those above him on the depth chart next year, he collected two touchdown passes and 77 yards on 3 catches. Taylor Pino added a TD catch as well.
McKnight celebrating his second sack of the game
Leading the defense was none other than All-American Freshman Brandon McKnight with 2 sacks. giving him 16 on the year, and setting the school single season record in the process. "I stated last week when I won all the awards that I never dreamed of such accolaides. I'm truely honoured to have had the opportunity. If Kharyee (Marshall) hadn't gone down, I doubt I would have seen much action at all, but he did and I was given the opportunity to play, and took advantage of every minute."
Orakpo flexing his muscles with the mascot after his interception TD
Jr LB Mike Orakpo had an interception which he ran 9 yards into the endzone for the first CSU touchdown of the game. "People say I haven't been living up to the hype I had in my freshman year. Well to step up in a bowl game and perform like I did today, should prove them all wrong."Orakpo stated following the game.
Pete Kontodiakos ended his career hitting two field goals and 6 extra points, making his career long 59 yard field goal in his final game. "I would be surprised if I didn't see Pete playing on Sundays next year. His leg is like a rocket as he hardly misses, and kicks the ball out of the endzone on 3/4 of his kickoffs." CSU coach Drew Gill said.
For USC, Soph QB Maurice Dunn had 293 yards on 11 of 22 passes for 2 touchdowns and one interception. Soph Joe Roach destroyed the defense for 198 yards on the ground and added a TD along the way. FB Andy Turner also had a TD run. All-American Jr WR Kyle Prater had 172 yards and a touchdown receiving.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Freshman DE Brandon McKnight took home a handful of season end awards as he was named the winner of the Chuck Bednarik, Lombardi and Nagurski awards. He was the lone CSU player voted onto the All-American Teams, as he was a member of the 1st team All-American and the All-Freshman team. McKnight commented following the announcements,"I never thought in a million years I would be named the greastest defensive play in college football, I wasn't even highly recruited out of highschool, and to win these awards in the freshman year is a dream. I mean, I wasn't even the top ranked DE that signed with the team, I was ranked the lowest, but this goes to show you that hard work and putting in extra time in the gym and film room does pay off.
He was also named to the 1st Team All-MWC along with Jr HB Tony Drake, Soph DT Courtney McCarthy, Freshman MLB Dan McKenzie, Jr OLB Mike Orakpo, Sr CB Shaq Bell and Sr P Pete Kontodiakos. 2nd Team All-MWC members are Sr HB Chris Nwoke, Sr TE Matt Weems, Sr DE Kharyee Marshall, Jr DT Trevor Murphy, Sophmore CB TJ Brown and Soph SS Keith Harper.
Colorado State will be playing in the Las Vegas Bowl for the second year in a row, after finishing 2nd in the MWC, however first place Utah qualified for a BCS bowl. CSU will be playing 6-6 USC, who finished 5th in the Pac-10 conference with a 5-4 conference record.
This years BCS bowls are:
Rose- #5 Penn State vs #4 Oregon
Fiesta- #3 Nebraska vs #11 West Virginia
Orange- #13 Georgia Tech vs #8 Auburn
Sugar- #6 Utah vs #10 Rutgers
BCS Championship- #2 Ohio State vs #1 Alabama
A few teams are disappointed they weren't chosen for BCS games are #7 Michigan, #9 LSU and #12 Notre Dame, all 3 teams thought they played hard enough and had a 10-2 record to merit being included over the likes of West Virginia or Auburn.
Virginia looked poised to end their year with a victory as they lead start to finish in the game.
Virginia was lead by a remarkable performance by Jr QB Michael Rocco who passed for 366 yards and 3 Touchdowns on 22 of 25 attempts, he didn't miss a pass until the 4th quarter of the game going 20-20 through the first 3 quarters. Sr Bobby Smith caught 5 passes for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns, whileJunior WR EJ Scott had 1 touchdown and 126 yards.
The Cavs coach commented to the press afterwards, "Rocco had an outstanding game, their secondary is no slouch and played a rough and tough game, but he still managed to find all though tight spaces to get the ball to the receivers."
Sr HB Torrey Mack ran for 97 yards on 19 carries, while backup Sr HB Dominique Wallace had 22 yards and a touchdown on the ground. "It definately feels nice to end my football career with a win. No complaints from me about that one." Mack said following the game.
Defensive End Jeremiah Mathis finished off his career with a 2 sack performance to lead the Virginia defense. FS Leonard Downs also added a sack for the Cavs.
"I think that this school has got some great building blocks in place, next year we should be able to prove ourselves in the ACC and I don't think we'll have any problems capturing a bowl birth." Rocco said about the future of the team.
"We wanted to win this one for the seniors on the team. I'm glad we could squeak out the victory, as I think if the game had another minute or two in it, that Colorado State could have scored, they had a strong momentum in the 4th from the crowd." Scott said about the momentum swing in the 2nd half.
For CSU, QB Pete Thomas was 17 of 26 passing for 307 yards and one touchdown. Chris Nwoke added 77 yards on the ground along with a TD. WR Bernard Blake had 113 yards and a TD catch to lead the CSU receivers.
Defensively Brandon McKnight added 2 sacks to his NCAA leading total, while adding another 2 tackles for a loss as he was a bright spot for the Rams today.
Colorado State coach Drew Gill said,"I think the guys were overlooking this Virginia game, which I thought was odd as it was senior day today, and we like to win one for the seniors on their day, but all week long I couldn't motivate the team to put in the effort like they have all season. There is going to be some butt kicking if they put forth this kind of effort in prep of our bowl game."
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
"With the snowy conditions today, I knew we had to get on the board early, cause who knew what the field would be like in the second half. Which prooved to be true, as the balls were frozen, and the snow was deep by the time we came back onto the field after halftime. We had a hard enough time just trying to keep warm." CSU coach Drew Gill commented.
Chris Nwoke pulling a pile of defenders into the endzone for a TD
CSU focused on the running game, as the balls they had in practice this morning were nearly frozen and QB Pete Thomas couldn't get much of a grip on them. Thomas ended up 5 for 12 passing for 110 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. The running attack was lead by Chris Nwoke who scored two touchdowns along with 87 yards, Tony Drake added a touchdown and had an outstanding game with 178 yards rushing.
"I spent some time after practice with the equipment manager, trying to figure out a great spike for my cleats today. Looks like it paid off, and a few of the other guys out their changed their shoes at halftime to what I was wearing."Drake said.
Drake struting back to the sidelines after scoring his TD
The defense welcomed Kharyee Marshall back today, and he looked like a beast that was unleashed as he collected 2 sacks and forced numerous quick, bad throws from the QB all game. He also forced a fumble on his second sack which was picked up by none other then Brandon McKnight, who continues his amazing rookie season. "It felt great to be back out there with the guys, I had to wait all last year after my transfer and to get injured and not be able to play this year was torture, I'm still not quite 100% but I'm good enough to be a force out there." Marshall commented.
Shaq Bell cutting off the receiver for an interception
Wyoming QB Emory Miller Jr was 18 of 32 passing for 181 yards and 3 interceptions. Sr running back Jeremy Smith had mild success in running for 75 yards on 10 carries.
Wyoming has been eliminated from any possible bowl birth after losing their 7th game of the season to the border state rival. The Cowboys mentioned that they've circled the CSU game for next season, and plan on bringing the Bronze Boot back to Laramie.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Tony Drake hitting the turbo to score a long TD run
CSU took advantage of the running game against the 3-3-5 defense to run for 291 yards and 5 touchdowns on the day. Chris Nwoke ran for 109 yards and 1 TD, while Tony Drake ran for 151 yards and 3 touchdowns as a change of pace, and garbage time fill in. Freshman Gordon King also added an 18 yard TD run. "Coach really drew up a gameplan that highlighted the running game today. The line opened some huge gaps for us to run through and if we could avoid the tackle we could then see lots of grass in front of us." Drake said.
QB Pete Thomas took advantage of the early rushing playcalls to then hit open receivers downfield in man coverage, he completed 15 of 26 passes for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns while throwing one interception on a ball tipped through the receivers hands. Andrew Gill again led all receivers with 143 yards and 1 touchdown, Tight End Matt Weems scored the other TD catch. "With the running game clicking, it left us either wide open on in man-to-man in the secondary, Pete (Thomas) then could easily throw a good ball towards us and not put us in danger." WR Taylor Pino commented.
Gill avoiding the tackle on his way to a 46 yard TD
The defense was led b an unsuspected player today, as 3rd string MLB Anthony Lyles collect a sack and two interceptions, including one interception on the play following the sack. "I've never been so wide open for a blitz before, I think they forgot about me completely or they were focused on McKnight next to me, as he's having such a strong year. Then the next play I was forced to cover a WR and I think their QB thought that was a mismatch, he'll know better next time though." Lyles said about his perfect two play performance.
Lyles coming around the outside for the sack
Coach Gill commented to the press after the game that he's been surprised this year by unsuspecting players stepping up when given the opportunity. Lyles today, Drake for the past few weeks, and McKnight destroying everything all season long since filling in for Marshall.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Rams were led by Brandon McKnight who tallied 3 tackles for a loss with 1 sack, to increase his NCAA leading sack total to 13. SS Keith Harper scored a defensive TD when he picked off a pass and ran 29 yards uncontested for the TD.
Harper celebrating on his interception return
The offense was lead by QB Pete Thomas who threw for 203 yards on 16 of 28 passing for one TD and two interceptions. Thomas did manage to become the school career TD passing record holder with his TD pass to Gill in the 2nd quarter.
Thomas passing for his school record 50th career TD
On the ground Chris Nwoke had only 35 yards on 22 touches, however Tony Drake came in as a change of pace guy and ran for 80 yards on 8 carries. Drake looks like he might overtake Nwoke for the starting HB if he continues his strong performances, and shows off his ability to turn short gains into long gains with a missed tackle.
Pete Kontodiakos was 4 for 4 on field goal attempts and also kicked 2 extra points, to be named player of the game.
Kontodiakos celebrating a field goal in the 3rd quarter
Memphis fill in QB Will Gilchrist was 14 of 22 for 133 yards and one interception on the day. The Memphis defense was the strong suit for their team and they were lead by Jr MLB Fred Harvey who totaled 10 tackles, with two for a loss. DE Devin Clark and CB Todd Washington both intercepted a pass.
CSU coach Drew Gill commented after the game,"I don't think this was our strongest performance, but we did manage to get the job done. We came in prepared that they were having to start their backup QB, so we blitzed and got him under pressure constantly so he wouldn't have enough time to find an ope man. Worked perfectly as our pressure also ate their running game to as we pushed the pocket back, and also applied pressure to the outside so they couldn't turn the edge either."
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