ALBUQUERQUE — Gartrell Johnson and Johnny Walker combined almost evenly Saturday for career bests, teaming for 349 yards. They didn’t want to hear about it. Both sat dazed in a silent Colorado State locker room. They did everything they could to reverse the Rams’ fortunes, and it still wasn’t enough.
“We still didn’t get the win, so it doesn’t matter,” Walker said after the Rams’ 26-23 loss to New Mexico. He beat the secondary on TDs of 64 and 31 yards in the first half.
But when CSU made it to the red zone, it was the same old problem of not moving forward.
“We just hit the wall. We got to get tougher,” Johnson said. “We have to get the blocks and punch the ball in.”
Johnson tore loose for a 43-yard gain to the Lobos’ 18 on CSU’s second play of the day. On the first play, also a Johnson run, offensive tackle Cole Pemberton had to be helped off the field with a sprained ankle.
It was one of the few times this season one running back was given the bulk of the work. However, CSU running backs coach Mick Delaney said: “Gartrell was great, but it was not good enough.”
Backup tackle Dane Stratton adjusted quickly. Much of the problems resulted from New Mexico blitzing up the middle, often untouched. Quarterback Caleb Hanie, who otherwise managed the CSU offense as well as he had all season, lost 43 yards on five sacks.
“We’re just feeling each other’s pain in here,” Hanie said.
No timeouts left. CSU used up all of its second-half timeouts with 9:14 left in the game. One was wasted when CSU coach Sonny Lubick asked for a replay on the spot of a fourth-down play. As it turned out, CSU finished trying to burn the clock and force overtime.
Injury report. Besides Pemberton, CSU safety Mike Pagnotta continued to hobble on an ankle that has bothered him most of the season. Safety Jake Galusha didn’t make the trip because of a foot injury.
Footnotes. CSU linebacker Nate Pauly drew a start in place of Jake Pottorff. Pauly, who hadn’t started in two years because of shoulder woes, was one of four Rams tied for the team lead with six tackles. … CSU junior middle linebacker Jeff Horinek was named to the all-district academic team. The junior carries a 3.9 GPA in exercise science.
