FORT COLLINS — Colorado State ended a three-game losing skid Saturday in dominating fashion.
Four first-half touchdowns fueled a 42-14 victory against San Jose State as the Rams improved to 7-5 (5-3 Mountain West). CSU now enters a bye in the final week of the regular season before learning its bowl fate in what will become the Rams’ fifth-consecutive postseason berth.
San Jose State (1-11, 0-7) struck first Saturday with a six-play, 74-yard scoring drive capped with a 14-yard touchdown run by tailback DeJon Packer to lead 7-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter. But the Rams responded quickly with a pair of short rushing scores from tailback Rashaad Boddie, plus two deep touchdown completions by quarterback Nick Stevens: 50 yards to tight end Cameron Butler and 24 yards to receiver Olabisi Johnson. CSU led 28-7 at halftime.
The Rams’ offense stalled after the break, failing to reach the end zone again until under the one-minute mark of the third quarter (9-yard touchdown catch by tight end Dalton Fackrell, and Stevens lost a fumble inside the SJSU 10-yard line early in the fourth).
The Spartans made it a three-possession game with less than seven minutes remaining when running back Malike Roberson sprinted 54 yards in for the score. However, the Rams put it out of reach on their ensuing possession when Dalyn Dawkins found the end zone after four yard rush. Dawkins finished the day with 24 carries for 138 yards. Stevens completed 26-of-32 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns.
With his performance Saturday, Dawkins ranks third on CSU’s career rushing list with 3,135 yards. Also Saturday, Stevens broke Garrett Grayson’s record for most 300-yard passing games in a season (seven) as a Ram.
CSU’s postseason positioning, to be made official Dec. 3, will depend on the result of several Mountain West matchups next week: UNLV at Nevada, Boise State at Fresno State, Wyoming at San Jose State and Utah State at Nevada. Potential bowl landing spots — determined through the conference office and bowl partners by team strength, geography, and matchup history — include the New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 16), Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 22), Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24), Arizona Bowl (Dec. 29) and the Frisco Bowl (Dec. 20).