Colorado State Outlasts San Diego State 56-49 as Hauss Hejny Returns With Five Touchdowns

Colorado State came into Saturday allowing 55.5 points per game. It gave up 49 to San Diego State, and Jim Mora walked into his press conference fully aware of how that sounds. "You walk in here and you give up over 500 yards and 49 points and say, we're playing better defense and people go, well, you're kidding," the Rams coach said.

He was not kidding. Colorado State outlasted San Diego State 56-49 at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, a game in which the two teams combined for 1,114 yards and 105 points. The win snapped a four-game losing streak and gave the Rams their first Pac-12 victory. Colorado State is now 3-4 and 1-2 in league play. San Diego State falls to 3-5 and 2-2.

The story of the day was Hauss Hejny. The quarterback was back from a hamstring injury he suffered against BYU, one that cost him three games and most of a fourth, and he played like a man who had been counting the days. Hejny completed 24 of 31 passes for a career-high 333 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran 11 times for 85 yards and two more scores.

Fourteen apiece, and nobody blinking

The first quarter set the tone. Colorado State went 75 yards in 10 plays on its opening drive, and Hejny found Tommy Maher for a 9-yard touchdown. San Diego State answered with a 75-yard drive of its own, capped by a 5-yard run from Lucky Sutton, and then took the lead on a 19-yard touchdown run by Javion Kinnard, a former Ram. Colorado State tied it at 14 when Durell Robinson scored from 6 yards out with 1:58 left in the quarter.

The second quarter got even louder. Cooper DiLeva's 36-yard field goal put the Aztecs back in front. Hejny hit Maher again, this time for 54 yards, to retake the lead. Kinnard went 32 yards for his second touchdown, and San Diego State led 24-21 with 9:06 left in the half. Robinson's 10-yard run at the end of a 75-yard drive put Colorado State back on top.

The turning point: the first punt and a pick-six

After Robinson's score, Colorado State's defense forced San Diego State's first punt of the day. Hejny gave it right back with an interception, and the defense took it back for good. Tre'Shawn Moore jumped a throw and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown with 1:33 left before halftime, and Colorado State took a 35-24 lead into the locker room.

Moore described the swing about as simply as anyone could. "Football is a game of momentum, and I feel like that game was like great momentum," he said, per the Colorado State recap.

A surprise to start the second half

Mora opened the third quarter by calling a surprise onside kick. His reasoning was about his defense as much as anything. "That enabled me to go in there at halftime and tell them we're going to try a surprise onside to start the second half," he said. "There was really no negatives in my opinion doing that." He added, "The positive was it showed confidence in our defense."

San Diego State kept coming. DiLeva hit a 46-yard field goal early in the third quarter. Hejny responded with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Robinson, the running back's only catch of the day. Stone Saunders then hit Jaylon Hawkins for a 43-yard touchdown with 4:49 left in the quarter, and it was 42-34 heading to the fourth.

Hejny closes it with his legs

The fourth quarter opened with Hejny scoring on a 4-yard run eight seconds in to finish a 10-play, 75-yard drive. San Diego State answered with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Saunders to Jordan Napier and a two-point pass to Bert Emanuel Jr., cutting the gap to 49-42 with 12:29 to play.

Hejny's answer was the play of his afternoon. Nine plays and 75 yards later, he kept it himself and went 30 yards for a touchdown with 8:43 left, and the Rams led 56-42.

There was still drama left. D'mon Brinson came up with an interception and returned it to the San Diego State 3, a chance to put the game away. Instead, Hejny fumbled at the goal line on the next play, according to The Associated Press. The Aztecs then marched 99 yards in 16 plays, and Sutton scored from 7 yards out with 1:57 left to make it 56-49. Colorado State recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Hejny was blunt about the result. "Honestly, it was just good to get a win," he said.

Maher's breakout

Maher was the other headline for the Rams. He also came back from an injury, and he made up for lost time with six catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns. It was his first career 100-yard game and his first two-touchdown game, and he had both done by halftime.

"It energizes me a ton," Maher said. "I'm super grateful that Hauss gave me the ball and that we connected on them."

Robinson carried 19 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns and added the 28-yard scoring catch. Jackson Harper caught four passes for 59 yards, and Juice Vereen added three for 56.

San Diego State's offense did its part

The Aztecs did not lose this game for lack of offense. Saunders went 23-of-33 for 369 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Hawkins was the best receiver on the field, catching six passes for 164 yards and a score. Sutton ran 22 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns, and Kinnard added 94 yards and two scores on just 10 carries against his former team.

The numbers that matter

The box score reads like a coin flip. San Diego State outgained Colorado State 565 to 549. The Rams ran for 216 yards to the Aztecs' 196, while San Diego State threw for 369 to Colorado State's 333. Colorado State converted 9 of 12 third downs and both of its fourth-down tries, and San Diego State went 8-of-13 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth. The Rams held the ball for 32:36.

The full breakdown is in Colorado State's official box score (opens in a new tab), and the Rams' game recap (opens in a new tab) has the rest of the notes and quotes.

What it means

For Colorado State, this was about proving something to itself. Robinson said the team never splintered during the losing streak. "Nobody ever backed out, nobody ever quit, nobody ever came to the facility with their head down," he said. "The mood is very high right now. Everybody's definitely up."

Mora framed it as a lesson the Rams can carry forward. "It shows up in moments like this when you've lost one and you're in a game where it could easily go one way or the other and you find a way to win," he said. "So these are games you really learn from, and you apply those lessons going forward and you build on the things that work."

He was also honest about the defense. "We still have a ton of work to do, as you guys know, on defense," Mora said. Later, he added, "The bar is not low. The bar is very, very high. But what we need to see is we need to see improvement. And we saw improvement."

Next on the schedule for Colorado State was a trip to Utah State on Saturday, Oct. 31. San Diego State had a home game against Washington State the same day at Snapdragon Stadium.

The last word

Hejny summed up his return with more perspective than a 333-yard day usually invites. "It wasn't fun being on the sideline, but I learned a lot and it definitely taught me gratitude and patience and everything happens for a reason," he said.

Colorado State gave up 49 points and won anyway. Some weeks, that is what improvement looks like.

Sources: Colorado State Athletics recap and box score, The Associated Press via ESPN and CBS Sports. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Colorado State Athletics.