FORT COLLINS — There was reason to celebrate.

Colorado State had 26 seniors leave Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium for the final time with that winning feeling. Not to get lost in the emotion was the fact it was the first time all season the Rams won football games on consecutive weekends.

“Man it feels good, man,” senior safety Trent Matthews said after a 49-35 victory over UNLV. “It feels like a brick is lifted off my shoulder. I played my last game at Hughes, and I had a lot of great memories. I’m blessed and I’m happy, not only for myself, but these seniors as well.”

Now at 5-5 overall, 3-3 in Mountain West play, the Rams are within striking distance of becoming bowl eligible in a conference where the bowl picture is becoming more muddled all the time. After Saturday’s results, five teams — Air Force, Boise State, Nevada, New Mexico and San Diego State — are bowl eligible, and Utah State and CSU sit one win shy. There are seven bowl tie-ins for the conference, but two of them (Las Vegas and Hawaii) have the option to take BYU (7-3).

After some curiosity as to whether all bowl spots (80 in total) would be filled, there are now 62 bowl-eligible teams with 18 just one win away. Colorado State wants to be one of them, but being a team that hasn’t exactly been consistent this season, it’s one step at a time.

Or, as the players are keen on doing, reciting head coach Mike Bobo’s motto.

“We’re obviously focusing on winning one in a row,” tackle Sam Carlson said. “At the same time, we all want to go bowling. That will be huge for us if we can go three years in a row, going to a bowl game. For me as a senior, that’s where I want to leave the program. We’re going to do everything we can this next week to win this next game, and the week after that, do everything we can to win that game.”

It is one that became a lot more interesting. New Mexico has been a nice little program the past few years that couldn’t get over the hump. The Lobos have done that in a big way the past two weeks, beating both Utah State and Boise State.

Even before the win over Boise State, Bobo had been impressed with what New Mexico has been able to do, and that’s force some turnovers and hit big plays. The Lobos only had 11 first downs against the Broncos, but were explosive on offense and won the turnover battle 4-0.

Naturally, Bobo wants his team to focus on getting better after allowing more than 500 yards to UNLV’s offense and turning over the ball twice.

“We’re still a little bit inconsistent, and you saw little stretches of it (Saturday),” Bobo said. “But you have to give those guys (UNLV) credit. They’re pretty good offensively in what they do. They have some receivers and a quarterback that can make plays, but we have to continue to do what we do. That’s get treatment (Sunday), enjoy tonight and come back ready to work Monday because nobody is going to hand us the game.

“We have to go on the road to a very good New Mexico team. I watched them a couple of times, and they’re explosive. We have to be at our best, and they have to be at their best. We all want to go to a bowl game, we all want to have a winning season, but we have to go earn the right to play the bowl game and earn the right to have a winning season.”

The Rams can guarantee the last part by winning out, heading to Fresno State the final week. That would be a boon for the program in Bobo’s first season, but it will also require the process of cleaning issues up the final two weeks.

New Mexico is now one of two teams in the Mountain Division who control their own destiny in the march to the conference title game, along with Air Force (who plays Boise State on Friday), and the two play the final week.