FORT COLLINS — The last Colorado State defender to see Air Force’s Chad Hall sprint to the end zone should turn out the lights at Hughes Stadium.
Hall extinguished any last flicker of CSU’s bygone glory with a school-record 256 yards rushing and four touchdowns in the Falcons’ 45-21 mastery of the Rams.
In a season that had seen every kind of loss except a blowout, CSU (0-6, 0-3 Mountain West) learned what else could go wrong: It was the AFA senior wide receiver/tailback who lined up anyplace he wanted and ran anywhere he wished.
“Everyone who got the ball had somewhere to go,” Hall said of the Falcons’ 385 yards on the ground as the Falcons (5-2, 4-1) remain in contention in the conference race.
At least Hall did the Rams one favor. Between his 8.3 yard per-carry average and four interceptions by CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie, the Rams’ 13-game losing streak wasn’t the usual first question of the postgame news conference.
“Air Force is good, and we could see that coming in on tape and we knew they were going to be tough for us to control, and I don’t think we did that,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. “(Hall) is a pretty good running back. They can give him the ball in so many ways.”
Lubick by now has become accustomed to holding his postgame news conference while the opposing team celebrates in an adjacent room.
While Hanie had nothing to do with a likely folly tape of missed tackles, he shouldered the blame for his picks.
The first, on the Rams’ first drive, was returned 26 yards by linebacker Drew Fowler for a 14-0 lead.
“Our defensive coaches did a great job in getting us to anticipate the pass routes,” said cornerback Carson Bird, who had two picks. “That’s what helped us. Drew knew exactly where to be. This week we had to play everything. We knew when they were going to pass. We knew in certain situations that 99 percent of the time they were going to run a certain route.”
One of the picks was a miscommunication with receiver Johnny Walker and another shouldn’t have been thrown into coverage.
“We put ourselves in a big hole at the beginning, and turnovers will kill you,” Hanie said. “I feel like we are the most unlucky team in America, which it showed. I felt like I was the most unlucky quarterback today.”
No matter how Air Force’s lead mounted, the Rams showed their first consistent spark on offense. Gartrell Johnson replaced Kyle Bell as the starting running back and responded with his career-best 143 yards on 25 carries.
Bell, who carried eight times for 30 yards, hasn’t shown the explosiveness he had in 2005 before sitting out the 2006 season after knee surgery.
Running backs coach Mick Delaney said Johnson had shown a little bit more spark in recent games.
Trailing 28-7, the Rams came out of halftime with an 80-yard drive, which Hanie finished with a 7-yard pass to Damon Morton.
A 48-yard fumble return by CSU defensive tackle Matt Rupp with 11:16 left in the game made it closer than it seemed at 38-21. Then Hall finished off with his final score, a 13-yard run with 2:12 left.
CSU gave up the ball on downs at the AFA 3 in the fourth quarter and ran out of time on the AFA 6. Backup quarterback Billy Farris came off the bench for the first time this season on the final drive.
Lubick said Farris might see more playing time.
Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney completed only one pass in the first half, but it was enough to set the school record for career passing yards. Dave Ziebart, who played from 1976-79, had the old record of 4,789 yards. Carney finished the game with 52 yards passing.
The game started 45 minutes late, after a lightning strike knocked out power to the stadium.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the only ones left were Air Force fans and the CSU band.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
Long run of success
Air Force senior Chad Hall set a school record Saturday, but he’s had the Rams’ number for the past three seasons.
A look at his efforts against CSU:
Season Att. Yds. Avg. TD
2007 31 256 8.3 4
2006 25 102 4.1 0
2005 11 107 9.7 0
Total 67 465 6.9 4
Ground attackers
A look at the top five rushing games in the Falcons’ history:
Player Year Opponent Yds.
Chad Hall 2007 Colorado State 256
Dee Dowis 1989 San Diego State 249
Beau Morgan 1996 Colorado State 243
Dee Dowis 1987 Utah 241
Beau Morgan 1996 Fresno State 217
Source: Air Force media guide
