CSU’s Green team gets past the Gold

fort collins » The Colorado State offense never crossed the 50-yard line in the Green vs. Gold spring game Saturday.

That’s because there was no 50-yard line on the intimate Lagoon Field setting, just north of the nearly completed on-campus stadium. Midfield was the 45 because of the limited space. Yet the setting served its purpose, enabling the program to bring fans back to campus — with seating in temporary bleachers and on grass berms — as a bit of a preview, and also was suitable for what amounted to the extended scrimmage that closed out spring drills.

“I thought it was a great day, a great turnout for our fans,” CSU coach Mike Bobo said after the Green (offense) came from behind to beat the Gold (defense) 43-40 under the intricate scoring format.

The Rams’ offense struggled early. Nick Stevens finished 19of-35 for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions. (Backup J.C. Robles threw a fourth.) Two redshirt freshman running backs led the way on the ground, with Darius May rushing for 104 yards on 15 carries and Rashaad Boddie adding 93 yards on 16 carries. For the defense, Josh Watson, Jake Schlager, Jamaal Hicks and Connor Donohue had the interceptions, and Watson had 11 tackles.

“Overall, I was pleased with the defense today,” Bobo said. “I thought they had a good plan and executed it and challenged the offense. Quite frankly, I don’t think the offense came out with the energy they needed to come out with to establish themselves as a dominant offense.”

But this was one day, and it came after the offense had dominated earlier spring scrimmages.

“From the offensive standpoint, it’s been one of the better springs that I’ve been around in my ‘x’ years of coaching, of executing at a high level,” Bobo said.