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Statement made.
Colorado State rolled up 610 yards of total offense and announced itself as a real contender for a Mountain West championship with a 51-21 demolishing of Hawaii on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
UH was out of it from the outset, as the Rams (3-2, 1-0 MWC) jumped out to a 24-0 lead.
“We let everybody know we can pass the ball, we can run the ball,” said senior wide receiver Michael Gallup, who had eight catches for 212 yards and a touchdown. “We were pretty balanced tonight. And it says a nice message to everybody, let them know that we’re coming.”
Rams coach Mike Bobo set the tone by winning a quarterback “rusty arm” competition against UH’s Nick Rolovich pregame, with the coaches targeting a goalpost crossbar from increasing distance and Bobo hitting one from 25 yards.
“Coach Bobo came in (to the locker room) and he’s like, ‘We’re already 1-0 boys. I won,” Rams quarterback Nick Stevens said. “He’s definitely a competitor and took that seriously.”
Bobo, who practiced for it on Friday, said, “That was fun to do with him.”
He was also concerned with his team’s demeanor for the long trip. The word “dominate” was used quite a bit for a team that went 5-3 in conference each of the last two years.
“We talk about what we want to do, and that’s play for our conference championship,” Bobo said. “And in college football, your conference championship is every week. That was our mind-set today. It’s a championship football game. That’s going to be our same mind-set next week (at Utah State).”
For the moment, the Rams stand atop the Mountain. They won their league opener for the first time in six years, keeping them in the running for their first championship since 2002.
Stevens torched the Rainbow Warriors for 351 yards and four touchdowns on 18-for-22 passing with no interceptions. Running back Dalyn Dawkins rushed for 130 yards and a TD on 17 carries.
Gallup’s yardage was 1 off his career high and fourth-most by a UH opposing receiver, the first over 200 since New Mexico State’s Chris Williams in 2008. He nearly also scored on a 76-yard catch-and-run but was ruled out of bounds just before he leaped over the goal line.
It was clear CSU made full use of its bye after a 41-23 loss at top-ranked Alabama on Sept. 16.
CSU forced three straight three-and-outs on UH (2-3, 0-2) to start the game, and the Rams didn’t punt until late in the third quarter.
“We needed it,” Gallup said. “Everybody says when you come on the island, normally teams don’t start fast, don’t play too well out here. That’s what the coaches (were) harping on all week, just start fast and it should end (well) for us. And it did.”
There was no let-up in the second half as the Rams opened it with a four-play, 77-yard drive capped by a Dawkins 19-yard score. Later in the quarter, Gallup caught a ball and applied a sweet juke to the left on the UH secondary, going in from 29 yards with 6:30 in the third for a 44-14 lead.
“It’s always hard out here … to play a good second half,” Stevens said. “We did a really good job coming out and playing a good second half, staying in it. They say all the time, (UH) always has comebacks because of that exact reason. And that’s exactly what we didn’t want to happen.”
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