San Diego State football opponent preview: Colorado State
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San Diego State will host Colorado State on a Friday night in the final Mountain West lid-lifter for both teams. After this season, they both leave the MW behind and head off to the new-look Pac-12 along with Boise State, Fresno State and Utah State.
The Aztecs and Rams did not play last year. CSU went 8-5 overall and was third in the MW at 6-1, staying in the race for a berth in the championship game until late in the season. The Rams were routed by Miami in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl.
The Rams’ only MW loss was to Fresno State. It missed both Boise State and UNLV. They face the Runnin’ Rebels and the Broncos during a season-closing four-game stretch. Boise State beat UNLV in last year’s MW Championship Game and earned a spot in the College Football Playoff.
San Diego State finished 3-9 overall in Sean Lewis’ first season as coach and was 10th in the MW at 2-5.
Colorado State was picked to finish fourth in the preseason media poll while San Diego State was picked to finish eighth.
Game 5: Colorado State at San Diego State
Date: Friday, Oct. 3
Kickoff time: 7:30 p.m. PT
Location: Snapdragon Stadium
Streaming: CBS Sports Network
Colorado State offense preview
Coach Jay Norvell is back for his third season and he’ll be turning to quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi to run the show, although several of his top targets from last year are gone. He threw for 2,796 yards and 14 touchdowns, with nine interceptions last year.
Avery Morrow is gone after running for 1,006 yards and nine touchdowns. But the Rams appear to be in good shape with Tulsa transfer Lloyd Avant and returnee Justin Marshall.
Avant played in all 12 games as a freshman at Tulsa, with one start. He rushed 76 times for 271 yards and one touchdown. He scored his first TD on a 100-yard kickoff return in the season opener against Northwestern State.
Marshall had a big redshirt freshman season for the Rams, playing in all 13 games and starting the first six. He was the second-leading rusher with 746 yards and four touchdowns on 154 carries. He was one of three backs to have a 100-yard game against Texas.
Colorado State defense preview
The Rams will have to be better on defense, where they welcome not only several transfers, but a new coordinator, as well. Norvell fired Freddie Banks after the regular season and then in January hired Tyson Summers, who had been in the same position in 2015 with the Rams under Mike Bobo.
Summers will lead a defense that will be “very aggressive, very disruptive,” Norvell said at the time.
The problem is, the Rams lost almost every starter on a defense that was fifth in the MW in scoring defense at 25.77 points per game and eighth in total defense at 394 yards per game.
The Rams dug into the transfer portal to bring in cornerback Jahari Rogers from SMU and linebackers JaQues Evans from Baylor and Jacob Ellis from Iowa State.
Before he played at Baylor, Evans played under Summers when he was defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky.
MORE MOUNTAIN WEST NEWS & ANALYSIS
-bd678ba4dbad4f453246f539ee56a3b4.jpg "Bernie Wilson")
Bernie Wilson recently retired from The Associated Press after nearly 41 years, including stops in Spokane, Los Angeles and, for the final 33 years, San Diego. He grew up in Coeur d'Alene and graduated from the University of Idaho.