FORT COLLINS — Jake Schlager could feel his gut begin to rumble.
With the Colorado State football team’s shot at its first shutout victory in 19 years becoming threatened with each Fresno State first down Saturday afternoon, the CSU safety watched nervously from the sideline as the Rams’ backups dug in for one final drive.
“I was standing there with (linebacker Kevin Davis) and I was like, ‘Should we just go back in?’ ” Schlager said.
“We talked about it real quick,” Davis said with a laugh. “But those guys earned their opportunity and we were going to let them have it.”
So Schlager and Davis could only watch as Fresno State quarterback Zach Kline dropped back on fourth down from the CSU 15-yard line and threw for the end zone. They erupted as the ball hit the grass, sealing CSU’s 37-0 victory over the Bulldogs in front of 23,187 fans who came to see the second-to-last game at Hughes Stadium.
The Rams (5-4, 3-2 Mountain West) will be hard-pressed to close the stadium with a more dominating performance than they deployed against the Bulldogs (1-9, 0-6). By halftime, CSU had 337 yards and Fresno State had 68. The Rams had 18 first downs, the Bulldogs two, one of which came on the last play of the second quarter.
The shutout was the first since for CSU since it beat Hawaii 63-0 on Oct. 4, 1997. It put the Rams one win from becoming bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season, and they improved to 5-0 in November games under second-year coach Mike Bobo.
“What a great day to be a Ram,” Bobo said. “I’m really proud of our football team. We’ve challenged the last two weeks to build on that momentum we created against UNLV (a 42-23 win Oct. 22). Sometimes you wonder as a coach when you have a little success whether you’re going to be mature enough to handle that success and come out and play well. I can’t say enough about how we played. In today’s football, it’s hard to shut people out.”
CSU can qualify for the postseason with a win next weekend at longtime Front Range rival Air Force, which became bowl eligible with a 31-12 victory at Army on Saturday. CSU hasn’t won at Air Force since 2002.
“That’s our challenge,” Bobo said. “We’ve got to keep getting better.”
Leading the way for CSU’s offense against Fresno State was quarterback Nick Stevens, who completed 18-of-23 passes for 237 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions before taking a seat in the fourth quarter. In three starts since standout freshman Collin Hill suffered a season-ending knee injury Oct. 8, leading to Stevens’ second shot as the starter, the junior has completed 68 percent of his passes for 663 yards and six touchdowns.
Stevens, last season’s second-team all-Mountain West quarterback, hasn’t thrown an interception during his second stint as the CSU starter. That’s no small feat for a QB who threw 12 interceptions last season and tossed two more this year during an abysmal performance in a season-opening loss to Colorado that cost Stevens his job.
“He was phenomenal,” Rams running back Izzy Matthews said of Stevens. “He’s not the guy that’s going to throw for 500 yards, but you know what you’re going to get from Nick every single week. That’s just excellence. He’s a student of the game, and you can’t ask for more from him. He made every single pass he had to.”
Michael Gallup provided a big target for Stevens. The junior wide receiver had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown by halftime, consistently blowing by Fresno State’s woeful secondary. He finished with a career-high nine catches for 126 yards.
The Bulldogs, whose only win this season came against FCS member Sacramento State, were every bit as poor as their record and Saturday’s final score would suggest. Still, the Rams won for the third time in four games — the only defeat in that stretch a 28-23 loss at then-No. 14 Boise State.
When the Rams turn out the lights at Hughes Stadium for the final time in two weeks, they could be heading to the postseason yet again.
Game balls
Colorado State defense: The Rams posted their first shutout victory since Oct. 4, 1997, a span of 225 games. Arjay Jean (two sacks) and Jordan Vaden (one interception) were among the standouts in a dominating performance Saturday.
Nick Stevens, QB, CSU: Efficient throughout, Stevens calmly dissected the Fresno State defense to the tune of 237 yards and two touchdowns passing in just three quarters of work.
Michael Gallup, WR, CSU: The junior wide receiver, a transfer from Butler Community College in Kansas, caught a career-high nine passes for 126 yards.
