DENVER — Colorado State (2-3, 1-0) is coming off of its best team performance of the 2021 season. The 32-14 victory over San Jose State (3-3, 1-1) was a culmination of progress and talent finally coming together after an up-and-down start in the non-conference slate. 

While the win was encouraging, CSU can’t get complacent. They’ll need to follow it up with another strong showing on the road, this time against an opponent that desperately wants to beat them. 

It’s been 11 years (10 games) since the Rams lost to the New Mexico Lobos (2-4, 0-2) — something their players and coaches are extremely aware of. At Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas this past summer, UNM head coach, Danny Gonzales, said that prior to the game that was supposed to be played between the two schools in 2020, he constantly mentioned the streak to his team. 

“Every day, we opened up the team meeting with how many times has Colorado State won in a row? ‘10’. They know,” Gonzales said in an interview with DNVR at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. “They know.”

“It’s something coach G brought up,” UNM’s starting center Kyle Stapley Sr. added. “I mean he brought it up in every team meeting. Every chance he got to throw that out at us, he did.”

Stapley also explained that it’s a motivational tool for the Lobos. CSU is a hurdle that the program has not been able to overcome for a decade. Finally beating the Rams would be a sign of progress and a significant accomplishment for the team. “If we want to change this program, well, this is the streak we need to start with. We need to win one and break that 10 game winning streak.”

Considering this is the way the Lobos were talking about the CSU game back in July, now that they’ve been beaten down in two straight league games and have lost four games in a row overall, there’s no question that they’ll come out swinging on Saturday. 

Really, it’s the biggest game remaining on the schedule for Gonzales’ squad. They have already played New Mexico State and UTEP, SDSU and Air Force as well, so while all conference games do have meaning, CSU is the last matchup they’ll be emotionally charged up for; and that’s something the Green & Gold must respect. 

The Lobos may have struggled mightily this fall but there’s nothing more dangerous than a team with their backs against the wall, especially when they really have nothing to lose. If UNM drops it, it’s what everyone expected to happen. There’s a sense of freedom that comes with being the team that is supposed to lose — kinda like when CSU traveled to Iowa — but UNM actually gets the benefit of being at home and really knowing its opponent. 

“This is a program you can tell is talented, hungry, and will play extremely hard,” Steve Addazio said in his weekly press conference.

“Their head coach is a heck of a football coach and he’s going to do an unbelievable job there. Danny (Gonzales) will have his guys ready to play at home. We’re expecting a tremendous challenge against a very good New Mexico team. We’ve got to take care of what we’ve got to take care of this week.” 

Plus, while it’s not a direct indicator, all games are unique, the Lobos put together their best games of the season against NMSU and UTEP. There’s just something about a regional rivalry that brings out the fight in a team. Again, the Rams need to respect this. 

While recent history says Saturday will either be a blowout in favor of the Rams or a 3 point game that comes down to the wire, rarely anything in between, all that matters is CSU finds a way to come out on top again. It might be ugly. It might be way closer than a 10.5 point spread would have folks feeling coming in. But if the Rams win and bring their record to .500 on the year, they are once again in a position to control their own postseason fate.  

Finally, while Saturday does have the makings of a potential trap game for the Rams, they do have the rare benefit of having a player on the roster that was in UNM’s locker room last fall. Jordan Kress spent a couple of seasons with the Lobos before transferring to CSU for his final season of eligibility. He can give the team a sense of what to expect. 

In a recent interview with DNVR, Kress confirmed that Gonzales frequently brought up beating CSU. “It was like, let’s make this an accomplishment,” Kress said. “They talked about it week in and week out.”

Kress also expressed that you can’t get too worked up about winning streaks or the history between two teams though. He said that the goal is just to be 1-0 every single week. 

“No matter what the win-loss record is, we’ve got to take it to them,” Kress said. “I don’t plan on losing that here. We’re going to continue working our butts off and put our best foot forward.”

Game info:

• CSU and New Mexico will kick off at 5:00 p.m. MT on the Watch Stadium app / MWNetwork.
• The 68th meeting between the two teams. CSU leads the all-time series 42-25.