Colorado State 31, Utah 24
RECORD: 6-2 (3-1 Mountain West Conference)
OFFENSE: Dreadful most of the first half as blocking was almost non-existent, players were penalized, and when T.D. Croshaw did have a chance to throw, catchable balls were dropped. The only first-half bright spot was Cliff Russell's 51-yard run up the right sideline with a short pass to help set up a 42-yard Cletus Truhe field goal.
Utah rolled up 255 of its 358 total-offense yards in a swift second-half comeback that included two of Utah's three touchdowns, a Mike Anderson 1-yard run and Steve Smith's 59-yard touchdown pass to tied the game at 24 with 11:24 left. But penalties on the last drive scotched a chance to tie again at 31 or win. GRADE: C+
DEFENSE: Also a fairly poor first-half effort. Actually, the defense stopped the Rams on their first two series. But when Kevin McDougal went 32 yards from scrimmage on one play, and the Utes were called for facemasking two plays later, CSU scored on that defense that's been so good in the red zone. The Rams got only 139 total-offense yards in the first half but led 21-3 after McDougal ran one in from 26 yards.
Utah held the Rams to 113 total-offense yards and no offensive scores in the second half.
Tackle Richard Seals had a whale of a game with seven tackles, three for losses totaling 13 yards, a sack and a quarterback hurry, according to totals revised by Ute coaches. GRADE: C+
SPECIAL TEAMS: They helped put Utah in a position to win with Colby Knight's field-goal block that was run 53 yards into the end zone by Andre Dyson. But they really were responsible for losing the game by watching CSU's Dallas Davis run back seven punts for 214 yards, nearly an NCAA record, and two touchdowns including the winner.
Davis was hardly touched on the last one, so good was CSU's blocking and so bad was Utah's tackling technique. And no one seemed to know why the ball kept getting kicked in his direction instead of out of bounds or something.
Score-kicking by Truhe was perfect, and CSU had no kickoff-return yards against Golden Whetman's strong leg. GRADE: D-
NEXT UP: Hosts Wyoming Nov. 6, 7 p.m. ESPN2