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Colorado State’s ‘Defense’ Was More of a Philosophical Concept
I had to check the date on the box score for this San Diego State vs. Colorado State game. Not because I’m losing my mind—though that’s debatable—but because the numbers felt like a typo from an alternate reality. San Diego State, the same program that limped to a pathetic 3-9 record last year under a different regime, just dropped 45 points and looked like an offensive juggernaut.
Let’s be real. This wasn’t a story of two teams battling for conference supremacy. This was an autopsy. This was a clear, brutal demonstration of what happens when one team shows up with a plan, a pulse, and a competent head coach, and the other… well, the other team was also on the field.
Last season, the Aztecs’ offense was about as exciting as watching paint dry in a windowless room. Now, under new head coach Sean Lewis, they’ve apparently discovered the concept of the forward pass and explosive plays. They racked up 540 yards of total offense. They had 313 of those by halftime. That’s more than they averaged per game through the first month of the season. This isn't just an improvement; it's a complete system reboot. It's like they spent a year driving a beat-up sedan stuck in first gear, and Lewis showed up, ripped out the engine, and dropped in a V8.
Jayden Denegal suddenly looks like a real quarterback, going 13-for-16 for 256 yards and a couple of bombs that Colorado State’s secondary seemed to be observing with mild curiosity rather than actively defending. And they ran the ball down the Rams’ throats with two—not one, but two—100-yard rushers in Byron Cardwell Jr. and Lucky Sutton. That hasn’t happened for SDSU since 2019. Are these guys suddenly Hall of Famers? Or is this just what happens when you face a team that offers the structural integrity of wet cardboard?
A Beatdown Dressed Up as a Football Game
Now, let’s talk about the other side of this… demolition. The final score of 45-24 is a complete lie, a statistical courtesy to make the folks in Fort Collins feel a little better. Colorado State scored a touchdown on the literal final play of the game, a meaningless heave that did nothing but screw over anyone who bet the spread. Before that garbage-time gift, the score was 45-18. That’s the real story.
This was a defensive collapse. No, a collapse implies something was standing in the first place—this was a void. For one brief, shining moment, it looked like the Rams had a pulse. They pulled off a slick flea flicker in the second quarter for a 49-yard touchdown. The ball hung in the San Diego night sky, a perfect spiral that gave a glimmer of hope. And what did SDSU do? They got the ball back and immediately marched 73 yards for a touchdown of their own. That’s what good teams do. They absorb a punch and punch back harder.
The most telling sequence of the entire night for the Colorado State Rams was their drive late in the first half. They clawed their way down the field, a 15-play march, and got to the SDSU 9-yard line with a first-and-goal. This was their chance to make it a one-score game. Their moment to show some grit. What happened? A run for a loss, two incompletions, and a sad little field goal. That’s the DNA of a losing program right there. All that work, all that effort, for three points while the other team is scoring touchdowns in three plays. It's just…pathetic.
You know what drives me nuts? It's the insistence on finding "positives" in a blowout. The backup quarterback, Darius Curry, comes in and gets a touchdown pass. Great for the kid, I'm sure his parents are proud. But it means nothing. It’s a footnote in a story of complete and utter failure. Trying to spin that as a positive is like complimenting the color of a car after it’s been totaled in a wreck. It offcourse misses the entire point.
So We're Pretending This Was a Game?
Let’s cut the crap. This wasn’t about a single game. It was a snapshot of two programs heading in wildly different directions. San Diego State, a team that was in the gutter less than a year ago, looks reborn under Sean Lewis. They have an identity. They have a purpose. They execute.
And then there’s Colorado State. Right now, they’re just another team. Another helmet on the schedule. They are a program adrift in the Mountain West, serving as a confidence-booster for teams with actual ambitions. This San Diego State 45-24 Colorado State (Oct 3, 2025) Game Recap isn't a reflection of one bad night; it's a symptom of a much deeper problem. One team is building something, and the other is just trying not to fall apart.