FORT COLLINS — As Saturday’s game with Tulsa approached, Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson confessed that he wanted to play — and not sit out with a bruised shoulder — because he had a terrible game against the Golden Hurricane in 2013.
While his 236-yard, three-touchdown showing in the over the Golden Hurricane was catharsis, it also highlighted a team turnaround.
Since that 30-27 loss at Tulsa in the second game a year ago, the Rams are 12-5. Against “power conference” teams during that stretch, they followed up a loss at Alabama with wins against Washington State and Colorado of the Pac-12 and Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They’re 4-1 this season, Jim McElwain’s third on the job in Fort Collins, with a Mountain West game at Nevada coming up Saturday night in Reno.
“Since 2002, I think this is the best stretch CSU has had,” Grayson said. “So knowing those teams, the Bradlee Van Pelt era, everything like that, to go back and compare yourself to those guys, it’s a good feeling. That’s a huge part of this program’s history, with (coach) Sonny Lubick, and it all kind of started with those guys.”
Under Lubick, the 2002 MW champion Rams were 4-1, then lost to Fresno State and ran off six consecutive wins to get to 10-2 before losing to UNLV in the final regular-season game and to TCU in the Liberty Bowl.
There has been one other time the Rams have gone 4-1 since — but that was in 2006, when CSU didn’t win another game and finished 4-8. So the 12-5 run qualifies as the CSU program’s best stretch since the 2002 championship season.
“It’s been awhile since CSU has been 4-1, so that was kind of our goal all week,” Grayson said. “The seniors kept bringing it up, because we’ve been here through the very tough times. None of us know what that feeling is like, so it’s a very good feeling to walk out of here with a win.”
Senior safety Trent Matthews had his second interception of the season against Tulsa. Asked about the progress since the 2013 game against the Golden Hurricane, he said: “Coach Mac preached to us about restoring the order, and getting back what’s ours. We had the mind-set every day at practice that we were going to challenge each other.”
Junior defensive end said avoiding a letdown from the victory over Boston College was a big focus.
“We didn’t want to take a step back,” he said. “We just wanted to keep climbing and moving forward.”
Grayson’s rebound game against Tulsa was only one of the significant offensive developments. Rashard Higgins’ four touchdown receptions were a school record, and ran for 143 yards on only 11 carries.
“He did what he’s supposed to do,” said McElwain, who recruited Hart to Alabama. “I’ve got to get the guy to finish, though.”
That was a semi-joking reference to Hart not being able to pull away from defenders on a 53-yard run at Boston College and then again Saturday.
“That footrace we’re going to have will be a dandy,” McElwain said.
With running back sitting out with a sore knee, true freshman Deron Thompson got in late in the game and had two carries. That seemed a bit surprising, since it eliminated the possibility of him redshirting.
“He’s a guy who gives us that extra bit of juice as well,” McElwain said. “He’s been a backup on everything. He’s traveled with us. We just felt it was an opportunity to get him in the game.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
Eye on… The wolf pack
Colorado State at Nevada, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, CBSSN
For the record: The Wolf Pack is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Mountain West games after a 51-46 loss to Boise State in Reno.
Streaking: This start qualifies as a winning streak after the Wolf Pack lost six of its last seven games in 2013 and finished 4-8.
Who’s hot: Senior quarterback Cory Fajardo threw for 306 yards against Boise State as the Wolf Pack rallied, only to fall short.
Who’s not: The Wolf Pack’s defense gave up 570 yards of total offense against the Broncos.
Key stat: CSU again will be facing a double-threat quarterback; Fajardo has passed for 1,104 yards and rushed for 317.
FYI: The Wolf Pack’s seven-point (35-28) loss at Arizona looks better all the time, because the Wildcats are undefeated.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
