CSU 33, UTSA 31 What went right — Jasen Oden Jr. took over for the injured Dalyn Dawkins and rushed 30 times for 143 yards and helped CSU milk the final 5:28 off the clock What went wrong — Colorado State’s defense had been strong against the run, but was gashed by UTSA, which ran for 279 yards in the game, including an 85-yard TD run by Jarveon Williams who finished with 170 yards. Who played well — Oden and Rashard Higgins,who caught five balls for 103 yards in the game.

SAN ANTONIO — The game was about adjustments for Colorado State.

To stop the bleeding of a two-game losing streak, both in overtime.

By the end of the first half at the Alamodome on Saturday, the Rams needed even more against a game UTSA team also looking to break a slide. CSU’s defense had given up 107 yards rushing in the first quarter, the offense was fizzling with the exception of hard running by Jasen Oden Jr. and the team trailed 17-9 at one point and carried a deficit into the locker room.

Then the game changed. It was an Old West shootout in the second half, and Colorado State (2-2) was the last one standing in a 33-31 victory.

“I thought it was a great night for our team,” CSU coach Mike Bobo said. “First off we won the ball game, and the second thing is we were able to win it with some adversity again and have to finish the game. I told the guys in there I wouldn’t have wanted to any other way than to have to win the game the way we did.

” To conquer some demons.”

It’s a win, which is the bottom line, although it might not exactly provide the momentum the Rams wanted heading into Mountain West play next week on the road at Utah State.

What was impressive — for once — was the finish. Taking the ball with 5:28 in the contest and starting on their own 10, the Rams’ running game took the clock down to :00, using 10 plays to go 56 yards.

“When you’re running the ball when they know you have to run it, you’re trying to milk the clock and they have two timeouts and they know if they get a stop they’re going to get the ball back close to midfield,” Bobo said. “For us to punch that ball out and end up taking a knee there at the end and finishing the game was good to see. I think that’s the greatest formation in football, the victory formation.”

Nine of those plays were runs, six by Oden, who rushed 30 times in the game for 143 yards, both career bests. One third-and-3 from their own 27, Oden broke loose for his longest run of the game, a 28 yarder.

To him, it was a performance built out of practice, all those 4-minute drills the team goes over in practice.

“I thought to myself, I’m in here every day this period, and this is where I sell out,” Oden said. “This is one of the things I can bring to the table, running hard and picking up three or four yards in these type of circumstances, so you know I just chucked it up. Like (running backs) coach (Bryan) Applewhite always says, ‘put the ‘S’ on your chest and just go.'”

For the first time this year, Colorado State failed to score the opening points, instead allowing UTSA (0-4) to drive the field 78 yards on its initial drive, capped by a 13-yard scoring run by Jalen Rhodes.

The Rams would take a 9-7 lead in the first quarter, getting a 34-yard touchdown catch from Xavier Williams and collecting a safety when UTSA was called for holding in the end zone.

But the Roadrunners would hit the breaks with the lead, getting a 36-yard field goal from Daniel Portillo and an 11-yard scoring catch from tight end David Morgan II, a play set up when UTSA blocked a punt deep in CSU territory.

CSU would build a 30-17 lead getting a 2-yard scoring run from Oden and a pair of touchdown passes from Nick Stevens, 13 yards to Deionte Gaines and 38 to Rashard Higgins.

The Roadrunners never allowed Colorado State to get comfortable, however, as Jarveon Williams posted a pair of rushing touchdowns of 13 and 85 yards, with a Wyatt Bryan 21-yard field goal in the middle, giving the Rams the final margin they needed.

“We’re a little shocked, They did some things that we ain’t seen on film, so we’ve got to correct that,” safety Trent Matthews said. “The way we play, there’s always going to be teams doing things we haven’t seen.”

In some ways, it was almost fitting for the Rams to need to go to the wire once again.

Only after two weeks of heartbreak, they found a reason to celebrate.

“I knew they were going to come back swinging, I knew they weren’t going to lay down,” Oden said. “I knew it was something we were going to have to take, and that’s kind of the bump we had to get over as a team. We lost some close games, and right now we’re going into conference 0-0.”

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