Rams Fall on Road to Texas State

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Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Colorado St.	0	21	6	0	27
Texas St.	21	24	21	0	66

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Colorado St.

Texas St.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – One major change came on defense, and Jim Mora understands the rest weren't going to happen overnight. Not even over the course of a bye week.

Texas State hit his Colorado State squad with a potent rushing attack, leading to a run of scoring in a 66-27 loss at UCFU Stadium on Thursday night, dropping the Rams to 2-4 on the season, 0-2 in Pac-12 play.

The Bobcats rushed for 503 yards – the most allowed by a Colorado State defense – with Torrence Burgess Jr., paving the way with 224 and four touchdowns. Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson added 177 and two scores on his own, paired with his 213 passing yards and a scoring pass.

All against a defense working with a new defensive coordinator, Kenny McClendon, nearly at the midpoint of the campaign.

"We put really less than two weeks' work in on real defense. We're playing real schemes now, not gimmicks," Mora said after the game. "And it's going to take us a while to really learn how to actually play defense, which is leverage on the ball. It's making sure that you stay in your gap. It's making sure that you bring your feet when you tackle. It's making sure that you communicate. It's making sure that you build resilience to overcome tough starts.

"But I know we're on the right track, which means absolutely zero to everybody that's listening and anything that you're going to write. And it's open season, and we understand that, and we deserve anything. But we finally have a system. We finally have a system. These guys are finally going to learn how to play defense, and it should have happened a long time ago."

That ability to run the ball – including 12 explosive runs and three of 40 yards or longer – led to a run of 10 consecutive scoring drives for Texas State, leaving the Rams playing from behind all night.

Hoping for a spark with changes on the defensive staff, Colorado State opened the game with a three-and-out. The win for the defense was brief, as Texas State scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives, then used the final 26 seconds of the opening half to go 60 yards in five plays, resulting in a 23-yard field goal and a 45-21 advantage.

The Bobcats generated 473 yards of offense by the break, with running back Torrence Burgess Jr., rushing for 136 yards and three scores. Quarterback Brad Jackson, who threw for 191 yards and a score, rushed for 91 yards and two scores the initial half.

By the end of the night, Colorado State had yielded 716 yards of total offense for the second straight game and just the third time in program history.

The quest continues, and the Rams refuse to give it up.

"I feel like it's not really difficult at all. I mean, we chose to play football," safety TreShawn Moore said after nine tackles in the game. "It's what we love to do, so, I feel like you just got to keep working, keep working.

"It's going to get better."

The Rams found spurts of success on offense, with K'saan Farrar starting his third straight game, throwing for 282 yards and two touchdowns, one to Nadir Chirchi, the other to Terrence Smith Jr.

CSU's first score of the game was set up by the special teams when longsnapper Walker Himebauch recovered a muffed punt, setting up a 15-yard Durell Robinson touchdown run, the first of two in the game for him.

Farrar's improvement has been clear to Mora, which he said will lead him to a tough decision down the road, one he views as a luxury.

"He took another big step up tonight. He's becoming a leader," Mora said. "He's someone who we really can count on. I like him a lot. I don't think anyone should think that this job is just going to be handed right back to Hauss (Hejny) because it's not.

"It's not difficult. It's something that you don't find very often, having two quarterbacks that you really trust and that really are good football players. You talk about a guy that's had to fight through some adversity and overcomes some things in games. That's K'saan. He's had to do that, and you grow from that. I saw some real fire out of him tonight. I saw some real leadership out of him."

For Farrar, it's just a matter of playing. Feeling the growth is something which will come to him after studying his performance.

In the heat of the moment, he's just trying to perform.

"I think it's a little bit of both. It takes the end of the game and the present, and it's watching the field, learning all the deeper quarterbacks and things like that," he said.

But the defense is what everyone, including Mora, is focused on right now.

That persistence will not lessen. The goal is to build the individual and collective IQ to get the performance they seek.

"They practice great. Now, the next step is taking that and translating it to a game. You know when the speed picks up, when you can't repeat it, when you don't have all that time to think, you just have to react," he said. "And so that is the challenge, is to get ourselves up to speed. Kenny has a great feel for that. He's an outstanding football coach, and he will just work his tail off to make sure that we're ready."

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K'saan Farrar

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K'saan Farrar

Players Mentioned

K'saan Farrar

Walker Himebauch

Durell Robinson

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