Rams run relentlessly, win in Laramie

Before the game, the Colorado State and Wyoming’s Army ROTC groups ran the Bronze Boot from Fort Collins to Laramie. During the game, CSU’s running backs ran wild all over the Cowboys’ defenders.

When two hungry football teams come together, usually, the most physical squad wins. That was Colorado State on Saturday in the 106^th Border War as they won 26-7 Saturday.

For Colorado State, a team which has struggled to finish drives with points all season long, running the ball was the recipe for success. Interesting indeed, considering senior bruiser running back Jasen Oden was sidelined due to an undisclosed injury.

But with Oden out, youngsters Dalyn Dawkins and Izzy Matthews stepped up huge.

On the Rams first drive, Dawkins ran for 29 yards and Matthews ran for two and the touchdown. CSU’s second drive died before entering the red zone and Wyatt Bryan connected on a 33-yard field goal for the 10-0 lead. Then, on their third drive, Stevens completed three passes to move the Rams into the red zone, where they rushed again with Matthews, who ran through multiple Cowboys on the way to the end zone. Another drive, much more rushing; this time, Nick Stevens pushed the ball over the goal line with a sneak and the 23-0 lead following a blocked point after attempt.

But, late in the half, the Rams decided to throw to the ball in the red zone with terrible results. Stevens threw the ball up to Kivon Cartwright, who was double covered, and the ball floated into a Andrew Wingard’s hands.

At the break, the Rams ran the ball 32 times compared to only 12 throws, a formula which was working. Colorado State carried the ball for 164 yards – led by 95 from Dawkins – and threw for 109. Of CSU’s first half drives, the three in which the Rams ran in the red zone resulted in touchdowns, the one with a pass down deep in Wyoming territory resulted in a turnover.

In the second half, it was more of the same for the Rams and running the rock with success. Dawkins continued to carry the ball with speed, darting this way and that, dancing away from defenders. Matthews carried the ball multiple times down the stretch looking to run down the clock as CSU salted away the blowout win.

It was Dawkins’ second 100-yard game of the season and his first since the overtime loss to Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Week 3. The 140 total yards are a new career-high for the redshirt sophomore transfer and his 5.6 yards per carry average were solid. He showed that explosiveness which was lacking since he pulled the hamstring in the win over CU, that burst of speed allowed him to run for multiple big gains Saturday.

“I’ve been saying all year, he’s the toughest player on this team, he runs like it,” Rams head coach Mike Bobo said of Dawkins after the victory. “Probably the first time he’s been healthy since (CU) when he had a little hamstring. He’s got his confidence back. He’s one tough individual.

“I told him yesterday, ‘Be ready for 30 carries,’” Bobo continued. “How many did he end up with? 25 carries. And he responded and did a nice job.”

Matthews, a true freshman, finished with 47 yards on 15 carries with the two touchdowns as the Rams dominated on the ground all game long. He is much more a beastly back compared to Dawkins and showed his stalwart fight on both tough touchdowns.

“Izzy is hard to tackle,” Bobo said. “He’s a big back. But he’s still a freshman, he’s still learning. But, the more reps you get, the more you see — if you press the line of scrimmage, if you understand the blocking schemes – the more comfortable you’re going to become. I think he’s starting to feel himself that, ‘Hey, I can do this, I can run, every time I touch the ball I need to get positive yards.’ He’s progressing. It’s nice to see him and Dalyn do a great job today.”

All told, the Rams ran for 228 yards with three rushing scores with a 51 rush – 15 pass balance, or lack thereof.

Bobo said his offense needs to work towards better balance but, “This was one of those games where I really didn’t care what the balance was, we were going to come out of here with a ‘W’.”

The Rams knew they needed to run the ball well on Saturday; that’s exactly what they did, turning the ball over only once with an interception from Nick Stevens in the end zone. In fact, the Rams ran the ball so well they scored all three touchdowns on the ground, two by Matthews and one by Stevens, while they also converted two fourth down attempts.

Now, Colorado State can run back to Fort Collins with that coveted Bronze Boot for the third straight season.