Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
3-4 , 1-2
San Diego State
3-5 , 2-2
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego State | 14 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 49 |
| Colorado State | 14 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 56 |
10/24/2026 9:57:00 PM | Football
Moore pick-six flips momentum in game
Colorado State's defense came up with one and inserted some emphasis in the process, and that – along with an offense energized by the return of Hauss Hejny – led to an important halt.
With a 56-49 victory over San Diego State at Canvas Stadium on Saturday night, the Rams ended a four-game skid and posted their first Pac-12 victory.
"It shows up in moments like this when you've lost one and you're in a game where it could easily go one way or the other and you find a way to win. So these are games you really learn from, and you apply those lessons going forward and you build on the things that work," CSU coach Jim Mora said. "We still have a ton of work to do, as you guys know, on defense.
"You walk in here and you give up over 500 yards and 49 points and say, we're playing better defense and people go, well, you're kidding. Your bar is pretty low, right? The bar is not low. The bar is very, very high. But what we need to see is we need to see improvement. And we saw improvement."
Both defenses gave up 49 points, but only one on the field scored. Tre'Shawn Moore stepped in front of a Stone Saunders pass and returned it 38 yards for a score. It was a momentum play in multiple ways. It came right after Hejny had thrown an interception, one which gave the Aztecs a chance to regain the lead.
Instead, Moore took it back and kept the promise he made to Hejny pregame.
"Football is a game of momentum, and I feel like that game was like great momentum," Moore said. "The momentum, the sideline, the energy, like Durell (Robinson's) dance on the sideline, doing the same dance move I was doing, so I feel like the momentum helped us get it done.
"And it's crazy because like before the game, me and him had a conversation. I was like, 'I got your back, you got my back.' It's like a full circle moment. Me having his back and he having our back."
Hejny had missed the previous three games – and most of a fourth – with a hamstring injury sustained early against BYU. In his return as starter, he threw for a career-best 333 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for 85 yards and two additional scores.
He did throw the interception, right after the CSU defense forced the Aztecs to punt for the first time. He also fumbled on the goal line, the first play after D'mon Brinson's interception and return put the Rams on the doorstep of putting the win away.
There's a moxie to him. Mora says so. His teammates say so. The quarterback himself, he's just playing.
"I was just super excited to be back on the field. It wasn't fun being on the sideline, but I learned a lot and it definitely taught me gratitude and patience and everything happens for a reason," Hejny said. "But it was just fun to come back on the field and feel healthy again and just be with my brothers again because you kind of feel just separated from the team.
"You're hurt and you're not in the grind with them every day. So, it was just good to be out there, be able to go out there and execute and get a win. Honestly, it was just good to get a win."
The game played back-and-forth early. Tommy Maher had an early impact, scoring on a 9-yard play to open the scoring, then adding a 54-yard touchdown burst later. By the break, Maher had the first 100-yard receiving game of his career and his first contest with two touchdowns.
He's not a stranger to big plays in his career, but like Hejny, he's been working his way back from injury.
"It energizes me a ton. I mean, I feel like I'm a guy that will just put the work for it no matter the outcome, and I think that that's really just been stacking up for me," Maher said. "I'm super grateful that Hauss gave me the ball and that we connected on them."
Former Ram Javion Kinnard scored twice in the first half, his second score a 32-yard gain putting SDSU up 24-21. Then Robinson scored his second rushing touchdown of the night, putting Colorado State in front for good.
Only it wasn't really good until Moore made his play. When he did, the Rams had a cushion to work with, one which presented Mora with the thought to open up the second half with an onside kick.
Quite the contrast.
"That enabled me to go in there at halftime and tell them we're going to try a surprise onside to start the second half, which when you've got an 11-point lead, the way I looked at it is it's going to maintain an 11-point lead. Maybe we're going to push it to an 18-point lead," Mora said. "Maybe it goes to an eight-point lead. I don't know. You know, there was really no negatives in my opinion doing that.
"The positive was it showed confidence in our defense. I think we all know what we feel. We all know what we feel, which, you know, we'll take that in that situation. But everyone was for it, and to me, that's the way a head coach can show confidence in the players by saying, 'hey, we're going to do this, and we trust you.'"
A four-game losing streak is over. A much-maligned defense wasn't perfect, but it did do some things it hadn't in recent weeks. It forced punts. It forced field goals.
More than anything, Moore scored.
More than anything, the Rams celebrated.
"The mood is very high right now. Everybody's definitely up," Robinson said. "It's an amazing feeling because we've been grinding these past few weeks and not all of them came out our way, but this one did.
"It felt really good. We've been through a lot, but we all know like nobody ever backed out, nobody ever quit, nobody ever came to the facility with their head down. It was the same team we was week one, so to see it all just come full circle and then finally bounce back and to have good things on film that we could like take a step with and like add to our game and just, you know, put it all together again. We have something to build off now, so that was a great feeling."
Players Mentioned
Team Stats
SDS 0, CSU 7
CSU - Maher,Tommy 9 yd pass from Hejny,Hauss (Nguma,Kali kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:43
SDS 7, CSU 7
SDS - Sutton,Lucky 5 yd run (DiLeva,Cooper kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:15
SDS 14, CSU 7
SDS - Kinnard,Javion 19 yd run (DiLeva,Cooper kick), 7 plays, 83 yards, TOP 02:55
SDS 14, CSU 14
CSU - Robinson,Durell 6 yd run (Nguma,Kali kick), 3 plays, 38 yards, TOP 01:09
SDS 17, CSU 14
SDS - DiLeva,Cooper 36 yd field goal 10 plays, 47 yards, TOP 03:18
SDS 17, CSU 21
CSU - Maher,Tommy 54 yd pass from Hejny,Hauss (Nguma,Kali kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:15
SDS 24, CSU 21
SDS - Kinnard,Javion 32 yd run (DiLeva,Cooper kick), 4 plays, 76 yards, TOP 01:08
SDS 24, CSU 28
CSU - Robinson,Durell 10 yd run (Nguma,Kali kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:52
SDS 24, CSU 35
CSU - Moore,TreShawn 38 yd interception (Nguma,Kali kick)
SDS 27, CSU 35
SDS - DiLeva,Cooper 46 yd field goal 7 plays, 19 yards, TOP 02:48
SDS 27, CSU 42
CSU - Robinson,Durell 28 yd pass from Hejny,Hauss (Nguma,Kali kick) 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:28
SDS 34, CSU 42
SDS - Saunders,Stone 43 yd pass from Saunders,Stone (DiLeva,Cooper kick) 5 plays, 73 yards, TOP 01:48
SDS 34, CSU 49
CSU - Hejny,Hauss 4 yd run (Nguma,Kali kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:57
SDS 42, CSU 49
SDS - Napier,Jordan 24 yd pass from Saunders,Stone (Emanuel, Jr.,Bert pass) 6 plays, 78 yards, TOP 02:18
SDS 42, CSU 56
CSU - Hejny,Hauss 30 yd run (Nguma,Kali kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:46
SDS 49, CSU 56
SDS - Sutton,Lucky 7 yd run (DiLeva,Cooper kick), 16 plays, 99 yards, TOP 06:23