SAN DIEGO — Eventually, the direction of the conversation is going to have to change.

After Colorado State spent all week talking about how tough San Diego State’s defense was — and with good reason — someone is going to start using the same tones about the Rams’ offense.

For the fifth straight week, Colorado State was explosive with the ball, tearing apart the Aztecs’ defensive unit that ranked in the top 10 nationally in three major categories Saturday night. CSU scored 35 points in the first half of what became a 63-31 rout at Qualcomm Stadium.

“Yeah. I think we showed tonight against the No. 1 defense in the Mountain West that we can move the ball, and we were playing on all cylinders,” CSU quarterback Nick Stevens said. “I think we’ve definitely had that in the past few weeks, and we have a lot of different guys that contribute, which is definitely helpful.”

Colorado State (7-5, 5-3 Mountain West) never let the MW West Division-leading Aztecs (9-3, 7-2) breathe, forcing them to play catchup all night. A week after out-rushing the top run team in the nation, the Rams beat down the No. 9 total defense.

CSU coach Mike Bobo paid the proper praise for an Aztecs defense that has ruled the roost in conference play the past two seasons. But he said offensive coordinator Will Friend has his own message for his unit.

“We needed to realize that going into the game, that we were going to have to execute at a high level,” Bobo said. “But at the same time, Coach Friend kept telling those guys we’re a good offensive football team. Playing the top three defenses in the league the last three weeks, he gave them a mission. We wanted to dominate all three games, and those guys came out and did that. They did that tonight at a high level.”

CSU scored on its first three offensive possessions, punted, then scored two more times with Robert Ruiz adding a record-setting punt return for a score in between, finding little problem in solving the riddle Bobo said San Diego State’s defense presented.

Most of the damage came through the air, as the Stevens and Michael Gallup show was on display early and often in the first half. Stevens threw for four touchdown passes in the first half, two of them to Gallup, while also hitting Ruiz and Detrich Clark for scores. Gallup and Clark both pierced the Aztecs for long scores on wide receiver screens.

By the end of the game, Gallup had three touchdown catches — the last one from Clark — giving him 11 on the year, the second-best single-season total at CSU behind the 17 Rashard Higgins had in 2014. Gallup had seven catches for 139 yards, his seventh straight game with a scoring catch and fourth in a row to surpass the century mark in yardage.

Stevens completed 10 of 15 passes for 210 yards and four scores before taking a seat with 10:36 to go in the game.

As good as it was, Gallup said that’s not the offense at it’s best after surpassing 500 yards (507) for the third straight game.

“I think we’re all still searching for (their ceiling),” Gallup said. “We haven’t hit the top yet. We’ll show up in the bowl game.”

The running game was doing its part, too, with Dalyn Dawkins (103) and Izzy Matthews (104) both cruising past the 100-yard mark for the second straight week, with Matthews adding two scores on the ground to push his total to 12 on the year. Marvin Kinsey Jr. added a 27-yard score on a sweep in the final minute of the third quarter as the Rams rushed for 291 yards in the game, while for Dawkins, it was his fourth game to surpass the century mark, doing it for the third week in a row.

Meanwhile, the defense was keeping SDSU running back Donnel Pumphrey in check. Once considered a Heisman Trophy candidate, he was held to less than 100 yards rushing for the second straight week, though he did break his single-season rushing record at the school and had a 7-yard scoring run, giving him 60 in his career.

Pumphrey finished the night with a season-low 53 yards on 18 carries, and the Rams top three ball carriers all outgained him.

“There wasn’t a number we talked about, we just know we wanted to keep him down low,” CSU safety Jake Schlager said. “We knew he needed a lot of yards to continue the year he’s been having, and we just knew that in order to succeed in this game, we needed to shut him and the rest of the offense down. I think we did a really good job with that, and it definitely showed.”

Most of the SDSU scoring came through the air, as Christian Chapman had a pair of scoring passes in the first half; Juwan Washington had an 81-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand for the Rams.

CSU won the turnover battle — another key for Bobo when facing a team that led the nation with 20 interceptions — collecting an interception from Jamal Hicks and a fumble recovery from Johnny Schupp, and the special teams kicked in as Ruiz had a 91-yard punt return for a score, the longest in school history, a mark that had stood since 1926.

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

Colorado St. 63, San Diego St. 31 Colorado St. 21 21 14 7—63 San Diego St. 7 17 0 7—31 First Quarter

CSU_Gallup 35 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 12:35

CSU_Clark 27 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 8:12

SDSU_Wells 25 pass from Chapman (Baron kick), 5:41

CSU_Matthews 3 run (Bryan kick), 3:07

Second Quarter

SDSU_Holder 25 pass from Chapman (Baron kick), 14:11

SDSU_FG Baron 34, 11:39

CSU_Gallup 18 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 7:14

CSU_Ruiz 91 punt return (Bryan kick), 4:59

SDSU_Pumphrey 7 run (Baron kick), 2:24

CSU_Ruiz 5 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), :15

Third Quarter

CSU_Gallup 6 pass from Clark (Bryan kick), 4:53

CSU_Kinsey 27 run (Bryan kick), :59

Fourth Quarter

CSU_Matthews 4 run (Bryan kick), 12:54

SDSU_Washington 81 run (Baron kick), 4:50

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CSU SDSU First downs 24 16 Rushes-yards 46-291 39-193 Passing 216 183 Comp-Att-Int 11-16-0 11-19-1 Return Yards 178 175 Punts-Avg. 4-36.25 3-11.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 6-65 6-50 Time of Possession 32:09 27:51

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_Colorado St., Matthews 14-104, Dawkins 15-103, Kinsey 14-61, Clark 3-23. San Diego St., Washington 6-92, Pumphrey 18-52, Chapman 5-25, Penny 4-15, Wormhoudt 2-8, Agnew 2-6, (Team) 1-(minus 1), K.Mathis 1-(minus 4).

PASSING_Colorado St., Clark 1-1-0-6, Stevens 10-15-0-210. San Diego St., Chapman 11-19-1-183.

RECEIVING_Colorado St., Gallup 7-139, Ruiz 2-40, Clark 1-27, Fackrell 1-10. San Diego St., Holder 3-87, Bawden 3-32, Wells 2-42, Pumphrey 1-8, Truxton 1-8, Penny 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.