BENNETT POPS QUESTION, AND SHE SAID YES
COLLINS» Colorado State FORT football coach Mike Bobo and his players were a bit late to the postgame news conference Saturday following a 42-14 victory against San Jose State on Senior Day. And for good reason.
On the turf at Sonny Lubick Field following the Rams’ win, senior CSU center Jake Bennett bent down on one knee and asked his longtime girlfriend, Jenny Evans, to marry him. She said yes. Bennett told reporters he purchased the ring this past summer and planned the proposal with the help of former CSU offensive lineman Fred Zerblis (2012-16).
“It was a good win,” Bennett said. “That is the cherry on top.”
But what if the Rams had lost? Would he still have popped the question?
“I don’t think so,” Bennett joked, adding he considered doing it last Saturday against Boise State, but knew it would be a tightly contested game.
Record attendance. The crowd at CSU’S on-campus football stadium lacked its typical roar in the Rams’ home finale against San Jose State. With fall break in session, the 25,743 fans in the seats marked the lowest turnout of the year. But in a final tally of seasonlong home attendance numbers, the 2017 Rams and their new digs drew record-breaking crowds.
Through the course of six home games, CSU set two top marks: Most overall attendance (192,369) and largest average crowd (32,062). The Rams also twice cracked the top 10 all-time singlegame attendance list: 37,583 vs. Oregon State (third) and 36,765 vs. Nevada (fourth).
“For us, six games into the new facility, we’re really pleased,” CSU athletic director Joe Parker said. “I think we would have obviously had disappointment if we did not set an attendance record this year. We had some chances even early in the season to probably sell more tickets, particularly for Oregon State, but we made a decision as a first game to make sure we could operate the building.”
The previous program record for total season attendance was 187,344 (1994), and the prior high average attendance mark was 31,292 (1998).