FRESNO, Calif. — The final regular-season game is quite a switch for Colorado State.
A team that a month ago was reeling from a lopsided loss to San Diego State is riding high now. The Rams have gone from a team that hadn’t won in consecutive weeks to being on a three-game roll heading into Saturday’s Mountain West finale at Fresno State.
A victory guarantees a winning record in coach Mike Bobo’s debut season with the Rams. But to him, it’s still a weekly battle.
“The bottom line is I want to be 1-0 this week. That’s it,” Bobo said. “That’s what we continue to talk about, trying to be 1-0 this week, and when the season is over, you’ll go back and re-evaluate where you are.”
The Rams (6-5, 4-3 Mountain West) are dinged up. Safeties Trent Matthews and Kevin Pierre-Louis were gimpy after last week’s win, but they’re expected to play against Fresno State. The running backs — Jasen Oden Jr., Dalyn Dawkins and Izzy Matthews — have avoided contact in practice the past three weeks, and Oden was limited to just one play last week. Offensive tackle Nick Callender’s availability will be a game-time decision Saturday.
The injuries haven’t slowed the Rams in recent weeks.
“We’ve talked about playing for each other and using momentum,” Bobo said. “It’s a dangerous thing when you’ve got momentum and it gets going in the right direction. It can also be dangerous if it’s going in the wrong direction, and we were on that line right there.”
Fresno State (3-8, 2-5) knows the feeling, having straddled it all season. A proud program that represented the West Division in the first three Mountain West title games is nowhere near that team this season, though many key players are still around.
Fresno State will honor its 18 seniors before Saturday’s game against CSU kicks off. Marteze Waller is just 4 yards from becoming the fifth running back in Bulldogs history to rush for 3,000 yards in his career. Also, linebacker Ejiro Ederaine needs only 2½ tackles for lost yardage to become the conference’s career leader in that category.
Senior day can be a powerful motivator, and the Rams know it.
“I feel like they’re going to come out and play hard, especially the seniors,” CSU linebacker Cory James said of the Bulldogs. “We really have to match that intensity and pay attention to details, and we’ll be just fine.”
Fresno State’s season fell apart early, with five consecutive losses after a Week 1 win. Veteran coach Tim DeRuyter has had to play four quarterbacks (two of whom were lost for the season), and the Rams probably will see stints from both Zack Greenlee and Kilton Anderson.
Saturday’s area college games:
Noon UNLV at Wyoming, ROOT
12:30 p.m. Colorado at Utah, PAC-12
7 p.m. Colorado State at Fresno State, CBSSN
8:15 p.m. Air Force at New Mexico, ESPNU
