FORT COLLINS — The report card told the facts, but it was much more vivid to hear Colorado State linebacker Trent Matthews talk about his defensive team’s play Saturday against Air Force.
The Rams’ season was foundering with losses in four of their last five games. Matthews had a team-leading 15 tackles for a defense that forced two turnovers.
“We’ve been battle tested,” Matthews said. “We pretty well passed the test today. We didn’t have anything special. All we had to do was to run to the ball.”
Matthews was told before the game he would be the key for the Rams defense. His main assignment, especially early, was to shadow Air Force quarterback Karson Roberts.
“I think I did my job for the most part pretty good,” Matthews said. “Wherever the quarterback went, I went. I was the director of the defense for the most part.”
Roberts led the Falcons in rushing with 79 yards, but he managed only an average of 3.3 yards on 24 carries.
Roberts had no rebuttal of Matthews’ assessment of his play.
“He (Matthews) was filling the holes pretty fast and running the alleys pretty well,” Roberts said of Matthews. “They had a lot of flow back and forth and that made it hard for us. They outplayed us today.”
Although they are an annual opponent, Matthews noted that the Falcons confused the Rams at times.
“It got a little rocky for us in the second quarter when they called some formations and plays we hadn’t seen before,” Matthews said. “We had to settle down, see what we had to do to fix it. Once we executed it, we took it out of their playbook.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or @irvmoss
