Rams thump rival Buffaloes

BOULDER, Colo. — Senior Grant Stucker celebrated his first collegiate start by throwing for a touchdown and leading Colorado State on five scoring drives in the Rams' 23-17 upset of rival Colorado.

It was the second win for the Mountain West Conference over a Big 12 team in 24 hours, coming on the heels of BYU's stunning 14-13 victory over third-ranked Oklahoma.

Stucker threw a 13-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to new running back John Mosure, who also had a 1-yard TD run as the Rams (1-0) never trailed in quieting the crowd at Folsom Field.

While Stucker was selected the Rams' quarterback last week over Jon Eastman, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins — who's entering a do-or-die fourth season at Boulder — kept his starter a secret until just before kickoff when his son, junior Cody Hawkins, got the nod over Tyler Hansen.

That decision was met with derision by the Buffaloes' student section as Hawkins completed 7 of 14 passes for 46 yards in the first half, which ended with Colorado (0-1) trailing 20-3.

The loudest the yellow-clad students cheered came at halftime when a streaker with "CU" painted on his back jumped out of the stands and cut through the CSU band as it played "When the Saints Go Marching in" at midfield.

The Buffaloes looked like that had made the proper adjustments at halftime when they took the opening kickoff and needed just four plays to pull to 20-10 on Brian Lockridge's 9-yard touchdown run.

Their momentum stalled, however, when wide receiver Scotty McKnight fumbled inside the Rams 20 on a hard hit by free safety Elijah-Blu Smith and linebacker Alex Williams recovered.

Then, the Buffs were stuffed on fourth-and-1 from their own 44. Demetrius Sumler was stopped well short of the first-down marker, snapping a string of a dozen consecutive fourth-down conversions by the Buffaloes going back to last season.

After the Rams decided not to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Ben DeLine kicked an 18-yard field goal that gave Colorado State a 23-10 lead with just under nine minutes left.

Hawkins threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to McKnight with 1:57 remaining to pull the Buffs to 23-17. Rams safety Klint Kubiak fumbled the onside kick but teammate Dion Morton smothered it.

Leonard Mason (23 rushes for 107 yards) then reeled off a 44-yard run to the Buffs 6 and the Rams took a knee three times to end the game.