FORT COLLINS — This was unimaginable at the beginning of the season: In the final days of October, the Colorado State Rams have more points in both The Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls than, among others, Southern California, Stanford, Missouri, Louisville and Texas A&M.
The 7-1 Rams haven’t cracked the Top 25 in either poll, but their 29 points in the AP voting tally released Sunday would place them 26th if the list was extended, and their 35 points in the new USA Today poll would put them 27th. CSU moved up three slots in each poll since last week.
“I know there are a lot of guys in this organization who have been in this atmosphere before,” CSU coach Jim McElwain, the former Alabama offensive coordinator who has a veteran staff, said after the Rams’ 45-31 victory over Wyoming on Saturday night.
“The good part is, we can kind of speak to that and know what to expect. I know our guys aren’t satisfied. This is what we should be. We shouldn’t be ‘and one.’ But at the same time, we’ll embrace this and be excited about it. But we’ve got a lot ahead of us.”
Junior running back Dee Hart played the last two seasons at Alabama before transferring to CSU with immediate eligibility because he had graduated. He had 87 yards rushing on 13 carries against Wyoming and caught one of Garrett Grayson’s five touchdown passes, a 21-yarder. For the year, Hart has a team-leading 690 yards on 109 carries.
“It’s great,” he said of being on a 7-1 team. “That just goes to show you how much our program has grown. Our fans, the second straight sellout, that’s big. Especially around here, a lot of guys are excited about that. It makes us play a little better. … We’ve got a big picture down the road, that everybody wants to do. We already have ‘The Climb.’ Everybody talks about that. That’s the road we’re on right now.”
CSU will take a six-game winning streak into its Saturday night game at San Jose State.
The gaps between UCLA, No. 25 in both polls after its double-overtime win over Colorado, and the “other” teams are major, so CSU will need to pick up a lot more points to get into the top 25. Even if CSU wins out in the regular season, which of course is far from certain, the only opponent with a winning record it has remaining is Air Force on the road.
It’s possible CSU wouldn’t even make the Mountain West championship game with just one loss, because Boise State beat the Rams in the head-to-head matchup and also has one loss in league play. So to make the top 25, the Rams probably have to rely on attrition above them rather than additional signature wins, at least through the regular season.
The other thing to watch is whether CSU has any shot of overhauling the only two “non-power” conference teams in the top 25 — East Carolina and Marshall — because the highest-ranked team from outside the five “power” conferences would be guaranteed a berth in a Jan. 1 bowl, which would be a jump in prestige over any of the Mountain West’s six bowl slots.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
Eye on… The Spartans
Colorado State at San Jose State, 5 p.m. Saturday, CBSSN
For the record: The Spartans are 3-4 after a 41-31 loss at Navy Saturday. But if they knock off the Rams, they would be 3-1 in league play and still have a shot at winning the West Division, where only San Diego State also has one loss or fewer.
Streaking: San Jose State has beaten CSU three seasons in a row — 38-31 in 2011, 40-20 in 2012 and 34-27 last year.
Who’s hot: Quarterback Joe Gray threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns against the Midshipmen.
Who’s not: The Spartans’ defense gave up 251 rushing yards — to Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds.
Key stat: This is skewed by the nature of the opposition and attacks in some cases, but the Spartans have been allowing only 89 yards passing per game.
FYI: CSU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dave Baldwin was San Jose State’s head coach from 1997-2000.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
