Colorado State football vs New Mexico: Preview, Prediction and Live Stream

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Fresh off of their homecoming win over Nevada, Colorado State football hits the road to face New Mexico in a pivotal Mountain West showdown. Here is our preview of the game and how you can watch the Rams and the Lobos face off.

Colorado State is fresh off of a win against a surprising Nevada team last Saturday. Nevada could not be stopped by the Rams defense in the entire game until the final quarter when CSU secured their win. The only problem for the Wolf Pack was that they could not stop the Rams offense. Wide Receiver Michael Gallup went off for 263 yards and three touchdowns in the game.

Colorado State quarterback Nick Stevens had an equally impressive game with 384 yards passing and four touchdowns. The passing game was complimented by great outings for running backs Dalyn Dawkins and Izzy Matthews. With that offense clicking, Colorado State will be hard pressed to lose a game down the stretch, but the defense has room to improve.

New Mexico started slow out of the gates this season with losses to New Mexico State and Boise State. The Lobos seemed to find their edge with a big win over Tulsa, and then followed that up with a win over Air Force. The Lobos then proceeded to get throttled by Fresno State by a score of 38-0. With the way that Colorado State’s defense played last week, the Lobos offense might have a chance at getting some production and points. The only worry then turns to their defense and how well prepared they are to handle the Rams explosive offense.

Here is how you can watch this Mountain West Showdown:

Date: Friday, October 20, 2017
Time: 10:15pm ET
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Venue: DreamStyle Stadium
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN 

Keys to victory

For Colorado State the key to victory is simple, get that defense shored up. The Rams defense had been solid in games against Hawaii and Utah State. They even did pretty well, all things considered against Alabama. For whatever reason though, the Rams had almost no answer for Nevada.

New Mexico’s offense has been hit or miss in 2017 and this is the type of team for Colorado State to get their defense going back in the right direction. The offense will do fine. Even with being on the road, I don’t expect Stevens, Gallup, Dawkins or Matthews to slow down production wise. Defense wins championships, the Ram defense has to show up in this one.

New Mexico needs to get their offense going in this game in order to win, period. The Colorado State offense is going to score, and score often. The Lobos and their triple option attack have to take advantage of a defense that is coming off a bad performance. Quarterback Lamar Jordan has to be on his best performance and be prepared to make plays when they’re there. He cannot miss big plays in this game or New Mexico won’t win.

Most importantly in their option attack, the Lobos need to do all they can to control the football and keep their offense on the field. The longer they can keep the Rams offense on the sideline, the better for New Mexico. Should the Lobos offense be able to keep up the Rams, then an upset could happen.

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Prediction:

I think that New Mexico could get off to a good start in this game. It’s totally plausible that the Lobos could get a jump on the Rams defense to begin this game. In the end, Colorado State is just too talented to lose this game. The defense was roughed up last week but they should rebound. And lets be honest, it is going to be a tall order for New Mexico to stop the Rams offense. It would be a tall order for anyone, Stevens and Gallup are just too hot right now. Rams win and continue to look like one of the top contenders in the Mountain West.

Final Score: Colorado State 48, New Mexico 28