RENO, Nevada — No more delusions.

No more hope.

The reality check came late Saturday night, in a 49-10 loss at Nevada. The drubbing officially eliminated CSU's football team from contention for the bowl game they've continued to talk about making in the midst of one of the least-competitive seasons they've had in at least 30 years.

So, what’s left for the Rams (3-7, 2-4 Mountain West) to play for now?

Pride?

Why would it suddenly show up now?

These Rams didn’t show any when they went up against the University of Colorado in the second game of the season, falling behind by three touchdowns by the middle of the second quarter and losing 45-13.

There wasn’t any pride on Ag Day, when Illinois State — a member of the NCAA’s lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision — battered the orange-clad Rams 35-19. That’s right, Illinois State, a team next to last in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Even the storied tradition of the Border War and the Bronze Boot couldn’t get the blood flowing of this Colorado State University team. The Rams fell behind 24-0 by the middle of the third quarter in a game they lost 34-21.

Instead of envy or anger, the Rams seemed mostly disinterested as they watched Wyoming’s players parade around Canvas Satdium with the boot held high above their heads before taking it home to Laramie for the third year in a row.

And there certainly wasn’t any pride Saturday night at Mackey Stadium, where a mediocre Nevada team raced out to a 28-0 halftime lead and could have named the score.

Saturday's Senior Day in the final home game of the season against Utah State could be particularly ugly. The Aggies (9-1, 6-0 MW), ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 16 in the coaches poll, are scoring an average of nearly 30 points a game (51.3 to 21.9) more than their opponents.

Utah State might hang 100 points or more on the Rams. And Air Force, which probably won’t make it to a bowl game, could probably run for 1,000 yards if it chose to do so in this forgettable season's final game..

Pride’s not all that’s lacking.

There’s no leadership, either.

Nobody to get their disinterested teammates fired up to practice or play, and nobody to hold them accountable for their mistakes.

Say what you will about Mike Bobo’s coaching abilities — and there are certainly plenty of questions there — but the players need to take some ownership of the program. And none seem willing to do so.

Asked last week if there had been any of the kind of players-only meetings that teams in such dire straits often hold in an effort to salvage something out of a lost season, senior running back Izzy Matthews acknowledged there hadn’t been.

Not because one wasn’t needed. But simply because nobody felt empowered enough to call for one. Players aren’t sure who their leaders are.

CSU’s problems run much deeper than that.

They still struggle with the game’s most basic skills — passing, catching, running, blocking and tackling — as Bobo said after that Sept. 22 loss to Illinois State.

At that point, there was still time to improve in those areas and get back on track. There was still a chance to turn the season around. But that never happened.

There are two games left on the schedule, but with nothing left for this team to play for now you can only wonder how much worse the season can get.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 12:35 p.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 8:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).