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FIRST HALF:
Colorado State had its first chance to play under the lights at Hughes Stadium. With a 6 p.m. kickoff, the atmosphere was colder and darker than usual, but the Rams started strong against the Boise State Broncos.
They scored on their first two possessions, and forced a fumble immediately after the Boise offense took the field. Quarterback Garrett Grayson drove 63 yards down the field to set up a 29 yard field goal from Jared Roberts, less than six minutes into the half.
After linebacker Shaq Barrett recovered Boise’s fumble on the 18 yardline, running back Kapri Bibbs picked up the yardage to set himself up for a 3 yard touchdown run, putting CSU up 10-0 halfway through the first quarter.
Boise did not stay scoreless for long however, riding the legs of Jay Ajayi for a 65 yard touchdown drive. Ajayi continued to cause troubles for the CSU defense, amassing 81 yards in the first half.
In the second quarter, the teams volleyed scoring drives. The Rams secondary continued their season-long struggle, giving Boise QB Grant Hedrick a wide-open touchdown-target in Geraldo Boldewijn.
On the Rams next possession, wide receiver Charles Lovett caught his first touchdown of the season, off of a sneak-play from Joe Hansley. On fourth down, coach Jim McElwain faked a FG attempt and Hansley ran for the first-down conversion. CSU regained the lead, 17-14.
The Rams would not score again for the rest of the half, while Boise doubled their score. Corner back Trent Matthews gave up a 68 yard touchdown to Williams-Rhodes.
The CSU offense could not find their feet again, and Grayson fumbled the ball on the 33 yardline, giving Boise another chance to score. They capitalized with an Ajayi thirty yard run, setting up Hedrick’s touchdown pass to Matt Miller.
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Kicker Jared Roberts closed out the half with a 47 yard field goal miss, his second of the season. The Rams will start the second half down 28-14.
SECOND HALF:
What started out as a promising Cinderella story for the Rams transformed into a roller-coaster of hope and despair at the hands of the Broncos, resulting in a heart break.
The Rams failed to score in the third quarter, while allowing the Broncos to rack up another two touchdowns, putting them ahead 42-17 with 12:41 to go in the fourth quarter.
The Rams ended their scoring drought with two straight touchdowns from Kapri Bibbs, after a failed 2 point conversion, the Rams started clawing their way back, 42-30.
McElwain went for the onside kick on the next posession, which miraculously worked, injecting some energy back into the Rams and the nearly-empty Hughes stadium.
The buzz was instantly killed, when Grayson threw an interception on the first play of the drive, giving Boise the ball on the 30 yard line. The defense did their job, holding BSU and forcing them to punt with 4 minutes left in the game.
A promising drive down the field was ultimately pointless, with the Rams turning the ball over on downs at the 16 yard line with 55 seconds remaining in the game.
Though he made some satisfactory passes, Grayson fumbled the ball three times on the drive. The ball was recovered by Rams each time, but it was not enough.
The Rams fell for the third straight time to Boise State, 42-30. They are now 0-3 verses the Broncos, 4-5 on the season and 2-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
STATS:
CSU
QB Garrett Grayson
36-53, 397 yards (career-high), TD, INT, 3 sacks
RB Kapri Bibbs
25 carries, 74 yards, 3 TDs
LB Cory James
6 tackles, 1 sack
BSU
QB Grant Hedrick
19-27, 305 yards, 5 TDs
RB Jay Ajayi
13 carries, 92 yards
LB Tanner Vallejo
11 tackles
