Matt L. Stephens

matthewstephens@coloradoan.com

BOISE, Idaho

— Saturday night's 28-23 loss for the CSU football team at No. 15 Boise State didn't come without controversy.

After stopping Boise State running back Jeremy McNichols on fourth down at the Colorado State University 27-yard line with 15 seconds remaining, the Rams had time to attempt a miracle drive.

Quarterback Nick Stevens completed a 9-yard pass to receiver Michael Gallup, who lateraled the ball back to Robert Ruiz. Ruiz then attempted to lateral to Dalyn Dawkins, who caught the ball and tossed it back to Stevens, who couldn't maintain control and tipped the ball forward and out of bounds with 4 seconds remaining on the clock.

Before CSU could get another snap off, there was an official review which determined that Ruiz' lateral was forward — an illegal pass. It was also determined that Stevens' tip of the ball was an illegal forward pass, and because it went out of bounds and stopped the clock, there was an automatic10-second runoff that ended the game.

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The Coloradoan contacted the Mountain West office about the play and league officials provided the following statement:

"During the first-down play, Colorado State attempted a series of passes. The officials originally ruled a forward fumble out-of-bounds and spotted the ball at the point of the fumble on the Colorado State 40-yard line. By rule, the clock started as soon as the ball was placed on the ground and the final four seconds ran off the game clock. Subsequently, the officials corrected the spot to Colorado State’s 45-yard line, ruling there had been a backward pass and not a forward fumble out-of-bounds, and reset the game clock to four seconds.Replay then stopped the game for review and determined therewere in fact two illegal forward passes within the final sequence, as listed below, the second of which caused the game clock to stop.

The first was a legal forward pass from No. 7 to No. 4

The second was a legal backward pass from No. 4 to No. 89

The third was an illegal forward pass from No. 89 to No. 1

The fourth was a legal backward pass from No. 1 to No. 7

The fifth was an illegal forward pass out-of-bounds by No. 7

In accordance with NCAA Playing Rule 3-4-4-a, the second illegal pass resulted in a 10-second runoff and thus ended the game."

That wasn't the only confusion with the clock in the final minute, though. Before CSU stopped McNichols on fourth down, the Rams limited him to a two-yard gain on third-and-3. The Rams were out of timeouts and the play clock ticked down until there were 4 seconds left — and 38 seconds remaining in the game — before the referees were paged for an official review of the spot.

The result of the review was that the call on the field stood, leading to a fourth-and-1, but the play clock reset, allowing Boise State to run off another 24 seconds before taking another snap. The Broncos were able to go nearly a minute between plays with the clock running.

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The Mountain West, which said the play was officiated correctly, gave this statement:

At 1:17 of the fourth quarter Boise State was faced with a third-and-three at the Colorado State 29-yard line. The result of the play was the officials on the field ruled the runner down short of the line to gain. Subsequently, instant replay stopped the game to review the spot of the ball. At that point, 38 seconds remained on the game clock and four seconds on the play clock. Upon review of the available video evidence, replay allowed the ruling on the field to stand. The on-field officials reset the game clock to the time at which they had been paged at 45 seconds. In accordance with NCAA Playing Rule 3-4-c-11, the officials also reset the play clock to 25 seconds.

The game clock and play clock both started on the referee’s signal. Boise State let the clocks run down to 19 seconds on the game clock and one second on the play clock before taking a charged team timeout. The officials reset the game clock to 21 seconds and, in accordance with NCAA Playing Rule 3-4-c-2 reset the play clock to 25 seconds. On fourth down, Boise State failed to pick up the first down and Colorado State took over on downs at its own 27-yard line with 15 seconds remaining on the game clock.

When asked if officials explained the situation to him, CSU coach Mike Bobo said he'd rather not comment.

Ending a streak — It's nowhere near as important as the final score, but it's still something.

Boise State was the only team in the country to have never trailed in a game this season. That changed Saturday night thanks to the leg of CSU sophomore kicker Wyatt Bryan.

Following a failed fourth-down conversion by the 15th-ranked Broncos on their opening possession, Colorado State University marched down the field for a 10-play, 42-yard drive that lasted 4 minutes, 46 seconds, capped by a 39-yard field goal by Bryan that gave the Rams a 3-0 lead.

CSU had 36 rushing yards on the drive, 12 coming from quarterback Nick Stevens with the rest from running back Dalyn Dawkins.

Hicks gets the start — Freshman defensive back Jamal Hicks got the start at safety for CSU in place of the injured Braylin Scott. Scott suffered a possible concussion during the Rams' win against Utah State last week and has been limited in practice since.

Green on the blue — Despite being the road team, CSU wore colored uniforms on Boise State's blue turf. That's because Boise State was wearing throwback white uniforms in honor of the Broncos' 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma.

CSU most recently wore its traditional home uniforms on the road last year in a 33-18 loss at Utah State.

Captains — Linebackers Kevin Davis and Evan Colorito, tight end Nolan Peralta and offensive tackle Jake Bennett were the captains for the Rams. CSU won the coin toss, which marked the first time this season Boise State hadn't.

Former Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky, who led the Broncos to their come-from-behind victory in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, was an honorary captain.

For insight and analysis of athletics in Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports editor Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.