Colorado State won 20-18 over New Mexico on Homecoming Saturday, bringing their record up to 3-4 on the season with a back-to-back victories.

It was a dominant first half for the Rams; defensively they forced a fumble, two punts and a turnover on downs while allowing a field goal. Offensively, they put two touchdowns on the board and it could’ve been three if Preston Williams caught a go route thrown well by K.J. Carta-Samuels.

New Mexico scored on an 80-yard drive early in the second half, and then added on a 2-point conversion to steal the lead, 18-17, early in the fourth quarter. Luckily, after missing one would-be winning field goal, Wyatt Bryan made the second one from 27 yards out to win the game 20-17.

So, let’s take a look at the three biggest takeaways from the big, Homecoming win.

1. Defense played a dandy: Colorado State set the tone from the second play of the game when Caleb Smith forced a fumble. They then held the Lobos to 174 yards in the first half and only three points, forcing two punts and a turnover on downs.

On the day, CSU enjoyed three sacks as they consistently wreaked havoc in the backfield and totaled eight tackles for a loss of 28 yards, too.

The second half was a little more shaky for the D, as they gave up an 80-yard scoring drive on only three plays and a 2-point conversion to lead only 14-11. They gave up a total of 15 points in the second half to take the 18-17 lead. On the game, they allowed a decent, 299 yards with 15 first downs. And, they held the Lobos to only 3-11 on crucial third downs.

Following their big win at San Jose State last week, the Rams defense seems different, better, more energized and more effective. Maybe they’ve finally turned a corner considering this Lobos team came into today averaging 42.2 points per game.

“So proud of our defense today, they played extremely hard, extremely well,” Mike Bobo said of his unit. “It was a defensive battle.”

2. Mike Bobo’s play-calling was hot and then not: That 16-play, 96-yard drive which ate up 7:31 of game time in the second quarter was a thing of beauty. On that drive alone, the Rams threw the ball nine times and ran seven, with nearly perfect balance. They also attacked vertically — Carta-Samuels connected with Warren Jackson on a 25-yard corner throw — and mixed it with powerful runs.

The touchdown on that drive was a superbly called play; following the 3rd down dive over the pile by Izzy Matthews, to gain a first down, Bobo called the same play but Carta-Samuels kept it and went in untouched for the 14-0 lead.

In the second half, Bobo’s play-calling left something to be desired, however, when he ran the direct snap to Trey McBride for the first two times in a row, which failed and forced CSU to settle for a field goal.

“I said, welp, that was dumb coaching,” Bobo said of the play-calls. He said McBride performed the play well in practice this week but it was originally designed for Izzy Matthews. Matthews, however, missed the play practice due to class, so he went with McBride in the game.

Then, in a critical drive, the Rams couldn’t score from 3rd and goal on the one yard line, and Bobo decided to kick a field goal. After the win, Bobo said he didn’t want to go for it with the “jumbo package” because of the lack of health on the offensive line.

That was missed by Wyatt Bryan and the Rams remained down 18-17. Bobo should’ve gone for a touchdown there instead of the field goal, but he was saved by his offense late.

3. With Colby Meeks injured, the Rams o-line struggled: Jeff Taylor took over at center in the first quarter for Colby Meeks, who was out with an unannounced injury. Meeks was the best center in the nation last week according to Pro Football Focus, and Taylor struggled after moving from guard to center. Taylor allowed two big-time sacks in the game, and the offensive line in general gave up five tackles for a loss of 17 yards as well.

“Offensively, we lost Colby Meeks at center,” Mike Bobo said. “We were kind of a ‘MASH’ unit…I thought guys stepped up.”

It’s tough considering the Rams offensive line took a major step forward in the win over the San Jose State Spartans last week.