Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

Coach Jim McElwain and the players on his CSU football team talked repeatedly about taking care of business.

And it was, indeed, a workmanlike victory — 42-17 over Tulsa.

But it clearly was a lot of fun for the Rams, too.

They're 4-1 for the first time since 2006, and 12-5 since losing on a last-second field goal early last season at Tulsa.

"We're moving in the direction that we want this organization to go," third-year coach Jim McElwain said. "... We're a long ways from where we want to be, yet I'm not going to downplay the fact that we've gotten here a little bit faster than we anticipated."

Receiver Rashard Higgins caught a school-record four touchdown passes; running back Dee Hart topped the 100-yard mark before halftime; quarterback Garrett Grayson threw three touchdown passes; and the Colorado State University defense intercepted two passes and sacked Tulsa quarterbacks six times.

The Rams did everything they should have done and could have done while completely dominating the Golden Hurricane (1-4, 0-1 American Athletic Conference). This was a team that looked like it's capable of reaching some of the lofty goals players keep talking about — winning a Mountain West championship, breaking into the Top 25 and playing in a major bowl game.

"We were just clicking on all cylinders, I would say," Higgins said. "Everything can't go our way all the time, but when it does, the sky's the limit."

The Rams scored touchdowns on four of their first six possessions to build an early 28-0 lead and cruised from there. It was as if they were playing UC-Davis again, a Football Championship Subdivision team that they crushed 49-21 in their only previous home game this season.

Any fears of a letdown after an emotional 24-21 win a week earlier at Boston College were quickly dismissed.

"The letdown, I wasn't really worried about that," McElwain said. "I was more worried about just making sure that we took care of business this week, and we did."

Grayson, who was limited in practice by a bruised shoulder, looked just fine while completing 12 of 18 passes for 236 yards before heading to the sidelines for good early in the fourth quarter, with the victory well in hand.

Hart, the transfer from Alabama, ran for a 53-yard gain the first time he touched the football and finished with 143 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries. Jasen Oden added a 63-yard run and finished with 90 yards on 12 carries to bolster a CSU ground game that averaged 7.5 yards a carry while collecting 234 yards.

It didn't matter if they were running or passing, the Rams were gaining big chunks of yardage. They averaged 9.3 yards a play while gaining 532 total yards.

But it wasn't just the offense that came up big in this game. The Rams were solid defensively, too.

A week after keeping a strong Boston College ground game under control, CSU shut down a strong Tulsa passing attack.

Although quarterback Dane Evans threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns, they never let him get comfortable. The Rams sacked the Tulsa quarterback five times, intercepted him twice and allowed him to complete only 16 of 29 passes.

"It was a huge team win," said junior defensive end Joe Kawulok, who was in on 3½ sacks and 10 tackles. We didn't want to take a step back. We just wanted to keep climbing and moving forward."

This was another big step in that direction.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

• Next up: CSU at Nevada, Saturday, Oct. 11, Mackey Stadium, Reno, Nevada

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