The Mountain West Conference may be lacking in victories over power conferences, but somehow Colorado State (3-1) has managed to win two of them. The Rams battled back from a 14-point deficit to leave Boston with a victory, beating Boston College (3-2) by a score of 24-21.
Colorado State outscored the Eagles 10-0 in the fourth quarter. After scoring a field goal off the leg of Jared Roberts to bring the Rams within four points (21-17 in favor of Boston College at the time), it looked as though Boston College was going to have a decisive answer. A seven-play drive instead ended up with a pass from Tyler Murphy being picked off by Bernard Blake to give Colorado State’s offense the football from its own 11-yard line with an illegal block on the return. Colorado State did not pick up any points on the drive but keeping Boston College off the board and proved to be critical.
Boston College went three-and-out on its next drive and Colorado State got right back to work. Garrett Grayson led the offense down field and running back Dee Hart broke off a 43-yard run to move the Rams into the red zone. A 12-yard touchdown pass from Grayson to Charles Lovett with 1:02 to play gave Colorado State its first lead of the game. Boston College still had a chance, and Colorado State gave them one more chance thanks to an unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the game. Boston College was unable to capitalize on the free yards as Colorado State came up with a stop on the final play of the game from the Boston College 42-yard line.
As a result, Colorado State picked up its second win over a power conference opponent, with wins against Colorado nd Boston College. That could become critical. If Colorado State manages to come back and win the Mountain West Conference, they will likely have a very good case to receive the reserved New Years bowl spot for the highest ranked champion from a Group of Five conference. East Carolina probably still has the edge for th time being with wins against Virginia Tech and North Carolina, but if ECU does not win the AAC, their profile may mean nothing. Meanwhile, Colorado State would own wins against the ACC and Pac-12.
Colorado State is already behind the eight-ball with a conference loss to Boise State, but there is so much football to be played.