LARAMIE, Wyo. — They wanted it. So bad.

To the point where some of Colorado State’s starting defenders were asking to be put back in Saturday’s Border War against Wyoming.

“Ah, I mean, I wanted it so bad,” CSU linebacker Kiel Robinson said about a prospective shutout. “To get a shutout is always amazing. Honestly, on the sidelines, I was wondering when the last one was. I don’t know.”

It hurt to find out. Colorado State hasn’t shut out a team since Hawaii back on Oct. 4, 1997. That was before the Mountain West was in existence. Because of Brian Hill’s 4-yard scoring run with 2:25 in the game, the Rams remain the only team to ever play in the conference to have never posted a shutout while a member.

“The defense played outstanding,” CSU coach Mike Bobo said. “They did a great job of setting the edges and gang tackling Mr. Hill, who’s a really good running back. They played hard all night. We had the reserves in there on that one drive, and you hate that they scored a touchdown, because the defense played today like they wanted to shut somebody out.”

Colorado State forced four turnovers, beginning with Wyoming’s first possession of the game when linebacker Deonte Clyburn separated Hill from the ball. Trent Matthews was there to jump on that ball, and he’d later grab another Cowboys fumble.

He also picked off his first pass of the season, diving to corral a deflected pass by Wyoming quarterback Nick Smith, who hit just 10-of-21 of his tosses for just 109 yards.

“It felt good. I haven’t had a pick in awhile,” said Matthews, who now has nine in his career. “It was good to be back to my old stuff. I normally have more than what I do, but I just wanted to try my best and do my best as much as I can and get this win.”

In stopping Hill in his tracks, the CSU defense stopped a streak of five straight weeks of allowing an opponent to rush for 200 yards in the game; Wyoming had just 130 on the ground, barely more than 200 overall, finishing with 239 yards in total.

At one point, Colorado State had 14 first downs, Wyoming just one.

“The reason why we played good is because we played as a true 11,” Matthews said. “Sometimes on film and during a game, we play as nine or we play as seven, and that leads to big plays. I think when you play as a true 11, I think that minimizes the game for the offense and it showed.”

The Rams harassed Smith, sacking him three times in the game, two by Robinson. CSU notched six tackles for loss, and Terry Jackson jumped on the other fumble.

Winning the turnover battle has been rare for CSU this season, partially because the defense had only forced eight entering the game.

Saturday, they made up for some lost time.

“That’s something we try to do every day in practice, get turnovers, and a lot of times in practice we get a lot of turnovers, and you can just tell the energy picks up more,” linebacker Kevin Davis said. “That’s kind of what happened today.”

But oh, how the Rams really wished they could have taken a shutout on the bus back home, too.

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