CSU Rams’ Mountain West title hopes dealt serious blow with loss at Fresno State

The CSU Rams’ conference championship hopes are no longer in their hands.

With a chance to control their own destiny in the Mountain West Conference title race, the Rams fell flat in a trip to California’s Central Valley, losing 28-22 at Fresno State late Saturday night.

CSU scored on its first drive to take a 7-0 lead but didn’t score again until after Fresno State built a 28-7 by the end of the first half. That ended up being too tall of a hill for the Rams to climb. As a result, CSU dropped to 7-4 overall and 5-1 in the Mountain West.

That means the Rams will need help in order to earn a spot in the conference title game, with UNLV (9-2, 5-1 MW) holding the tie-breaker should both finish tied for second. Boise State (10-1, 7-0) will host the title game on Dec. 6 after clinching the top spot in the regular-season standings with a narrow win at Wyoming on Saturday.

The Rams host Utah State (3-3, 4-7) in their regular-season finale next Friday, while UNLV hosts last-place Nevada (3-9. 0-6) next Saturday.

Mikey Keene threw two touchdown passes, Bryson Donelson had a career-high 150 yards rushing and a TD on 13 carries to lead Fresno State.

Donelson, a freshman, went into the game with 199 yards rushing this season, including his previous season high of 58 yards in the season opener. Keene was 20-of-28 passing for 181 yards with no interceptions. Mac Dalena finished with seven receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown for Fresno State (6-5, 4-3 MW).

Justin Marshall capped a 12-play, 77-yard opening drive that took nearly 6 1/2 minutes off the clock with a 10-yard TD for the Rams and finished with 94 yards rushing.

Donelson ran for 21 yards and Keene hit Raylen Sharpe for a 38-yard gain to set up a 16-yard TD run by Donelson to make it 7-7. Joshua Wood followed with a 4-yard scoring run before Dalena caught a 28-yard touchdown pass with 3:18 left in the second quarter and Keene hit Jalen Moss for a 15-yard TD less than 3 minutes later that gave the Bulldogs a 28-7 lead at halftime.

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi ran for a 9-yard TD late in the third quarter, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Person and then hit Vince Brown II for the 2-point conversion to trim Colorado State’s deficit to 28-22 with 17 seconds left. But the Rams were unable to recover the ensuing onside kick.

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