FORT COLLINS — The older one gets, the more one realizes there are very few things to be counted on in life.
Through five weeks of the season, Colorado State football fans have come to understand itap almost nothing. Not even wearing orange jerseys on Ag Day. That used to be a guarantee — eight straight games, dating back to 2010 — but that came to an end Saturday versus Illinois State, an FCS team out of the Missouri Valley Conference in the form of a 35-19 loss at Canvas Stadium.
Colorado State coach Mike Bobo insisted his team had to improve this week, regardless. Instead, the Rams (1-4) regressed as Illinois State — ranked 15th at its level — controlled both lines of scrimmage throughout. Rarely pressured, Redbirds’ quarterback Brady Davis didn’t exactly slice through the defense, completing less than 50 percent of his passes. But he did turn 14 completions into 271 yards and two scores.
The second was the dagger that sealed the day. On third-and-19, he rolled left and threw back right for a screen to Markel Smith. Safety Jamal Hicks whiffed on the tackle, and Smith went 60 yards down his sideline for the touchdown. It was the sixth touchdown of 50 yards or longer the Rams’ defense has allowed this year.
A seventh came later when James Robinson scored on a 57-yard run in the final 3 minutes, pushing his day to 184 yards on the ground.
The Redbirds (3-0) built up their lead to 21-6 with touchdowns bridging the first and second halves. The ISU running game piled up more than 260 yards in the game, with Robinson scoring on a 2-yard run early in the second, then Markel pushed in from the 1 yard with 2 seconds remaining in the half.
Illinois State came right back to open the second half with a 12-yard strike from Davis to Tylor Petkovich, a play that resulted in a targeting flag on safety Jordan Fogal.
Colorado State, which opened the scoring on a 9-yard touchdown connection between K.J. Carta-Samuels and Bisi Johnson (with Wyatt Bryan’s extra-point try doinking off the right upright), answered to offer a glimmer of hope.
Carta-Samuels engineered a 60-yard drive that was capped with his 12-yard scoring toss to Nikko Hall. The next drive opened with a 38-yard connection to Johnson, but it stalled, and Carta-Samuels sat the rest of the game in favor of Collin Hill.
Both were under pressure from the opening gun, with Carta-Samuels hitting 15-of-27 passes for 142 yards, Hill just 8 of 16 for 93 yards with a late touchdown to Marvin Kinsey Jr., then an interception with 1:29 remaining in the game.