Electric Start Leads Rams to Border War Victory - CSURams.com

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11/12/2020 | 6:00 PM MT

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Protecting a border requires a united, defensive stance.
 
Colorado State produced one from the start against its oldest and most heated rival, not only creating turnovers on the first two Wyoming possessions, but the unit fired the first shot in the series which dates back to 1899 when Marshaun Cameron returned his first interception as a Ram 30-yards for a touchdown.
 
A series later, Cameron forced a fumble on a sack, recovered by Manny Jones on the Wyoming 29. A play later, Patrick O'Brien found a wide open Trey McBride for a scoring pass. The shock-and-awe start provided the impetus to a 34-24 victory, snapping the Rams' four-game losing streak to the Cowboys.
 
The prize possession, the Bronze Boot, resides back in Fort Collins.
 
That being the first career victory at CSU for head coach Steve Addazio made it that much sweeter.
 
"Tremendous. Just tremendous that we were able to get that win tonight for our seniors," Addazio said. "It was a great program win. I thought all three phases – offense, defense, special teams – our support staff, our staff, everybody really went after it.
 
"To be able to beat our rival, something that hasn't been done in quite a while, and to play with the physicality that we played with, it was a great team win and I was really proud of our kids."
 
Colorado State's offense was not always electric, but quarterback Patrick O'Brien, making his first start of the season, made the most of playmakers Dante Wright and Trey McBride. The senior who threw for more than 2,800 yards in 2019, clicked with both, completing 18-of-26 passes for 255 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to McBride. He also scored one of his own on a 1-yard sneak in the first half.
 
It's a new system for the team, but CSU made some headway with four consecutive drives in the first half leading to scoring chances, a pair of touchdowns, one field goal with another missed. Despite some red-zone struggles, O'Brien feels the offense has a chance to become potent.
 
"I think we really want to run the ball first, but I think we're a pretty balanced football team," O'Brien said. "When we have everyone back, I think we can really move the ball down the field. The only time they really stopped us was on our own end with penalties, missed throws or mistakes, so I think we're just tapping into our potential and I think we can only get better from here."
 
Wright, the freshman All-American who missed the opener, finished with a career-best 10 catches for 146 yards, the third time in his career he surpassed the century mark.
 
Wright's presence was known from the start, as the first play of the game went to him. His speed had an impact, with catches of 42, 28 and 16 yards on the night. After missing the first game, Wright was itching to be back on the field.
 
"Having a guy that has that type of speed, it's pretty evident," O'Brien said. "He can make those deep-pass catches, and also a certain times, you throw those little quick screens out to him and you think it's only going to be a couple-yard gain and he goes almost 15 yards. It's another element, but it's a huge element, and it was pretty evident tonight."
For McBride, his touchdown catches came on 29- and 38-yard plays, the first game in his career with multiple scores. He finished with five catches for 90 yards, and his second scoring catch was a blueprint of the player he has become.
 
He broke open out of the slot, but he also drug a defender the final 8 years of the play. The game, he said, dictated the necessity of a Cowboy riding a Ram, but failing to tame him.
 
"It's just a mentality. Every time I touch that ball, I'm trying to score," he said. "The way I look at it, I don't think one defender should be able to tackle me. I'm 250 pounds, and a corner is not going to tackle me. That's just the way it is, especially in a rivalry game. It's not going to happen, and I wasn't going to let it happen, especially on a big play like that."
 
At the end of the game, the Rams generated 336 yards of total offense, and a good chunk of it came in a time-consuming march which consisted of just 46 yards. But it covered 11 plays and took 5:32 off the clock after Wyoming narrowed the lead to 31-24 with 8:32 remaining in the game. The key play came on third-and-8 as Wright took a big hit but secured the reception to move the chains. That set up a career-best 48-yard field goal from true freshman Robert Liss to push the lead back to 10.
 
The defense came out after that looking for a closing touch. With consecutive tackles for loss (one a sack), the Rams forced Wyoming into fourth-and-20 where a Williams pass into coverage fell incomplete.
 
It matched what was a perfect start to the game.
 
Cameron produced his pick when he stepped in front of a Cowboy target, the followed textbook blocking down the home sideline for the score.
 
"We talked about creating turnovers all week, that we had to win the turnover ratio," Cameron said. "That was the first thing in my mind that we had to get the ball back, and I saw the opportunity and I took it."
 
The turnovers were great, but so too were the six sacks and 13 tackles for loss. Wyoming did produce a 100-yard rusher (Xazavian Valladay, 147 on 28 attempts) and a 100-yard receiver (Ayden Eberhardt, 132 on seven catches), but playing behind the chains so often made it hard for the visitors to sustain drives.
 
"I was super impressed. We made a lot of mistakes tonight, but we flew around and balled, and that was what was most important," linebacker Dequan Jackson said. "We set the tone. Those guys played their heart out. I'm super proud of those guys. Those guys came up to me after the game, thank you for leading, but at the end of the day, they played so well, it had nothing to do with me."
 
Well, a little bit. The Rams had three players finish with double-digit tackles, led by a career-best 11 from linebacker Cam'ron Carter, with 10 each from Jackson and Cameron (also a career best).
 
The start was the electric jolt the unit needed after last week.
 
"That was so big," Jackson said. "We got the momentum out of the gate and it gives guys confidence. We set that tone, and all game we got after it. I think it was very important, and then he came back and made another play. I'm super proud of those guys."
 
As fast as Wright was, he had some challengers at the end of the night for the fastest man on the team as the clocked ticked down and the sprint was on to the northeast end zone to claim their prize. Trey said he didn't know his brother Toby was so fast.
 
But after four long years of waiting, who wouldn't want to get there first?
 
"It's so exciting, and that's where it belongs, here in Fort Collins," Trey said. "Just going out there, getting that Boot, holding it, kissing it, loving on it … I mean, it's just exciting to have it back."
 

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