FORT COLLINS — A big finish.

Colorado State was looking for a grand final act to draw the curtain on Hughes Stadium on Saturday night, and it was an ensemble piece. The entire Rams’ cast was on the stage of Sonny Lubick Field to take a final bow in a 49-31 victory over New Mexico.

The win was the sixth of the season for the Rams (6-5, 4-3 Mountain West), making them bowl eligible for the fourth straight campaign.

“What better way to go out than with a win at Hughes,” senior linebacker Kevin Davis said. “I know there’s a lot of memories here, a lot of people who have a close connection with the stadium, so it was awesome. Not only to do it for ourselves, be bowl eligible, but for the community.”

Colorado State out-rushed the Lobos (7-4, 5-2), the nation’s top running team, with big play after big play, but more impressive was the fact the Rams’ defense brushed off the tire marks left behind a week ago by the Air Force option. They pursued sideline to sideline and didn’t give up many chunk plays on the perimeter when it mattered, even produced a trio of three-and-outs in the first half.

New Mexico, averaging nearly 380 yards a game on the ground, rushed for 285, a total that was inflated a bit by a late push and a 79-yard run in what was essentially garbage time in the fourth quarter.

Oddly enough, the Lobos came out throwing early, and not with much success as Austin Apodaca started and was just 4 of 11 passing for 51 yards, 24 coming on a scoring pass to Dameon Gamblin. When Lamar Jordan replaced him, the Lobos had a bit more success, but not enough and way too late.

The Rams changed up a bit after last week, and they started two true freshman — safety Jamal Hicks in place of the injured Jake Schlager and Arjay Jean at one of the end spots. They were both impressive and helped clamp down on the outside lanes.

“I thought we did a great job. We were physical; we were running to the football,” Bobo said. “We changed up some different things on how we were playing the quarterback when they were trying to get to the perimeter. We slow-played it at times, made them declare it quicker at times, but you saw guys gettin’ off blocks.”

Meanwhile, the Rams were out-Loboing New Mexico. In the final game at the stadium, they pulled off a first — three backs surpassing the century mark in the same game. True freshman Marvin Kinsey Jr. led the way with 127 yards, 75 coming on a third-quarter burst for a score off tackle. He juked one defender in the hole, then out-ran everybody. Izzy Matthews added 107, and Dalyn Dawkins finished with 102.

“It was great. That’s exactly what we needed,” said Dawkins, adding the holes were pretty big. “Just big play after big play. That’s what we needed.

“I wasn’t surprised. That was our expectation, to dominate. That’s what we did.”

The Rams rushed for five of their touchdowns, with Dawkins the only one not to crack the goal line. Kinsey and Matthews each had one, Detrich Clark added a score on a 32-yard journey and Nick Stevens rushed for two, his first on the ground this year.

The rushing total was the eighth best in program history and the first time the Rams surpassed 400 yards since going for 440 in a game against BYU in 2001.

“That’s pretty awesome. To get three guys 100 yards is something special,” center Jake Bennett said. “I think that just shows you the pride we take in getting guys in the end zone. How about 7 (Stevens) getting in the end zone, too?”

Needless to say, Stevens didn’t have to do that much through the air, but he did anyway. He only threw 10 times, but he connected on nine of them for 164 yards and two scores — the fifth straight game he’s thrown for a pair. His 19-yard toss to a wide open tight end Nolan Peralta started the scoreboard in motion, and the first drive of the second half ended with a 65-yard scoring pass to Michael Gallup, who tiptoed the visiting sidelines after taking a short pass and evading an oncoming defensive back.

Gallup caught five passes for 116 yards, the fourth time in the past six games the junior transfer has had more than 100 yards in receiving.

After the game, a good portion of the 29,133 fans in attendance rushed the field, with security pushing them to the center of the field. Police guarded the north goal posts, which came down in short order by field staff, though part of the crowd helped carry them to the south 20-yard line.

It was a mob scene, and the players didn’t seem to mind sharing the moment at all, even though Dawkins and Gallup both found it odd they kept getting hit in the head by individuals.

Decade by decade was represented, with former coaches Mike Lude and Sonny Lubick, as well as Bobo, taking part in the postgame festivities of lowering flags, shutting down lights and shooting off the cannon. School president Tony Frank, athletic director Joe Parker, as well as Blanche Hughes, Tom Milligan, Brett Anderson and Rick Miranda helped shut down banks of lights.

For the players, it was all very special, and all the much better it came at the end of a convincing victory. It made it much easier to take that one look back, remember all that happened that night and the games before and say goodbye in their own way.

“I think for a lot of guys it meant a lot, and then I was just trying to take it in all night and not lose focus but be in the moment,” Bennett said. “It was really fun, and to get the win just means the world. A lot of people were coming up and saying how thankful they were. It just goes to show much this means to a lot of people.”

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/mbrohard