FORT COLLINS, Colo. » Can’t blame the weather. It was 59 degrees late in the fourth quarter, and the only question was if Colorado State could put that many points on the board against Hawaii.

The losses are getting worse for the Rainbow Warriors as the season goes on. You might say it’s a function of the schedule, but don’t forget UH started 2014 with a narrow 17-16 loss to Washington, and the Huskies have a winning record.

Maybe, because Colorado State is very good, you could excuse this Rocky Mountain low if it didn’t represent a trend.

It was a thrashing at the hands of the hottest and probably best team in the conference — a team that is especially quite good at home, and Hawaii on the road is, well, let’s just say … challenged. We’re at 17 in a row away from Aloha Stadium now.

This is UH’s worst loss of the season by the scoreboard, 49-22. But what might be considered sad is that more of the UH contingent seemed a little resigned to it — they weren’t as visibly upset as after other losses.

They said the right things, they almost always do … like a script after losses. Things about execution, continuing to fight, battling for each other, regrouping.

But this time it was different because there was noticeably less talk about it being a winnable game, more about the quality of the opponent.

Of course, the fans don’t want to hear any of it. For many, there’s only one thing that would make them happy, a coaching change. But that won’t happen, we’re told, until the end of the season and maybe not even then.

The UH defense really took a licking this time, a thorough one by a balanced CSU attack, from the opening drive.

Colorado State scored so much that the press-box announcer perfectly mastered the pronunciation of UH kickoff return man Keelan Ewaliko’s last name by halftime.

It started out with a new twist, trading safeties as well as field goals for touchdowns. As the Rainbow Warriors soon discovered, that doesn’t work well either.

The burning question heading into the game was if star sophomore receiver Rashard Higgins would play. All he does is lead the nation in yardage.

He didn’t play, and it didn’t matter one iota. The Rams missed him like we missed the prospect of freezing temperatures here.

"There wasn’t ever a time where I was like, ‘Dang, I wish I had Rashard,’ or anything like that," said Garrett Grayson afterward, looking like a guy who had just spent the past three hours playing Madden instead of a real football game since the UH defenders almost never got their hands on him.

"It was really just go out there and play catch, let those guys make plays. … I don’t want to take anything away from him, because he’s a great player."

So is Grayson.

You didn’t need CSI to find clues to CSU’s biggest secret of success Saturday.

Grayson found all kinds of other receivers, five for his first six receptions — three of them going for touchdowns.

He did fumble for that safety, and fell down after handing off to Treyous Jarrells for the Rams’ fourth touchdown. Two of his few missteps all night.

It was almost as though he tired of passing for TDs and the Colorado State running game took over.

Once again, the highlight for Hawaii is Scott Harding. … Maybe he should start punting on third down, or is that play where you kick it back on a punt return still legal? Good field position early in the game, however, ended up not meaning anything for UH.

"Obviously you want to make the most out of good field position," said Harding, who had another punt result in a Hawaii recovery and on two others pinned the Rams at their own 2. "Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. As a team we’ve struggled to do that all year."

Coach Norm Chow was angry after last week’s loss. This time he didn’t display that emotion and seemed to truly believe UH lost to a better team.

Senior linebacker Tevita Lataimua said the players will continue to battle — for the coaches as well as each other.

"It’s tough right now," he said. "We have to come out every day like it’s the last one."

Sad to say, that last day this season will be a relief for many.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.