MOSCOW, Idaho — Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild insisted all week that no one was penciling in a win for the nonconference finale at Idaho. He certainly never had a loss in mind.
Idaho didn’t lead until the midway mark of the third quarter but held on Saturday night for a 31-29 win over the visiting Rams (3-2).
After getting the ball back late in the fourth quarter, the Rams went 89 yards on five plays to pull within 2 points on a 39-yard pass from Grant Stucker to Lou Greenwood. However, CSU running back John Mosure was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt with 1:49 to play.
“I thought Mosure was going to walk in. I thought he’d go in untouched,” Fairchild said of the two-point try. “You can’t do the things we did tonight and win a football game.”
CSU then held the Vandals on the ensuing drive and made good use of its timeouts. Idaho had to punt from the CSU 48 after a three-and-out. After the punt went into the end zone, CSU had the ball at the 20 with 1:14 to play.
But on the first play, Stucker was picked off by Idaho safety Shiloh Keo at the 35 and the Vandals ran out the clock. Stucker finished 19-of-35 passing for 297 yards, four touchdowns and the one interception.
Idaho showed it was serious about going 2-0 against the Mountain West, taking its first lead, 24-20, with 6:22 left in the third quarter.
The final quarter opened with Idaho’s De’Maundray Woolridge smashing into the end zone from the 1-yard line for a 31-23 lead. CSU squandered its next drive, which got to the Idaho 12-yard line. But on fourth-and-1, Rams running back Leonard Mason was stopped inches short of a first down with 10:03 left.
The Vandals then moved the ball into CSU territory and burned nearly 6 1/2 minutes off the clock but had to punt leading 31-23, which set up the Rams’ final scoring drive.
The CSU secondary was picked apart by Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle. Key pass interference and defensive offsides penalties also kept the Vandals offense on the field in the late going. Enderle finished with 333 yards on 25-of-38 passing.
Enderle came out of the break strong and got the Vandals within 20-17 on their first drive of the second half. He connected with Eric Greenwood on a 45-yard TD pass. Enderle followed on their next drive with his third TD pass of the night for the 24-20 lead.
“It was a combination of our blocking and Nate delivering the ball where we needed,” said Idaho receiver Max Komar, who finished with 12 catches for 152 yards.
After missing a 50-yarder earlier in the game, CSU sophomore Ben DeLine kicked a 43-yard field goal to close within 24-23 with 2:03 left in the third quarter.
While the Rams worked up a sweat in the full-house Kibbie Dome (16,000 capacity), CSU’s upcoming opponent, Utah, had the day off. The sellout, usually only achieved for archrival Boise State, came for a ESPNU audience.
CSU’s Tyson Liggett tried to prove early that last week’s 11-catch, 156-yard receiving outburst at BYU was no fluke. The walkon from Limon put the Rams on the scoreboard first, hauling in a short Stucker pass and weaving around the field for a 20-yard score with 8:03 to go in the first quarter. But Liggett had just one more catch in the game.
The drive was set up by a Nick Oppenneer 58-yard return off an interception in the end zone.
Idaho broke into the scoring column with 7:06 left in the second half on a 31-yard pass from Enderle to Greenwood. There was some question whether the 6-foot-6 Greenwood came down with the ball inbounds. Instead, pass interference was called on shorter Oppenneer.
“Five-foot-10 to 6-foot-6 is a mismatch,” Oppenneer said, “but I have to come up with more plays.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
Three questions
A look at how Colorado State answered Natalie Meisler’s three questions going into the Idaho game:
1. Can Rashaun Greer recover from a season-long lack of concentration and inability to hang on to the deep ball or will walkon Tyson Liggett strike again with an 11-catch effort? The Rams wanted to go deep against a team giving up an average of 228 yards passing. Greer was part of a three-wideout starting lineup with Dion Morton and Liggett. Grant Stucker gave him several opportunities and fought for extra yardage on a 20- yard reception. He got open for two passes but failed to hold either one.
2. CSU is second in the Mountain West and 22nd nationally against the run, but vulnerabilities were revealed last weekend against BYU’s Harvey Unga. Can CSU at least hinder Idaho’s De’Maundray Woolridge? The 5-foot-9, 241-pound back didn’t do much damage in the first half with just five carries. Idaho’s passing game behind Nathan Enderle proved far more damaging to the Rams. But when Idaho needed someone for fourth down and a foot from the CSU 38 midway through the third period, Woolridge did the job.
3. Can the Rams avoid the distractions of the Kibbie Dome and knock out the Vandals early? Defensive backs Elijah-Blu Smith and Nick Oppenneer made big plays early to light a fire under the offense. Consistency wasn’t there and in many respects Idaho and Enderle simply outplayed the Rams. The lack of a first-half killer instinct has plagued CSU all season.
