Steven Montez misled us.

Nay, he lied.

Tuesday, Montez, the CU Buffaloes quarterback, detailed how great Colorado State’s defense looked against Hawaii – the same defense that gave up 617 yards to Hawaii. They look good, he said. They’re fast, he said. It’s going to be a tough game, he said.

Give me a break.

His comments were gamesmanship, clearly. He’s sarcastic. Doesn’t take media obligations too seriously, wearing his backpack to the weekly Tuesday press conference and quipping one-liners at every opportunity. He’s the kind of guy we like to talk to, but smart enough not to bite when we push him to admit how bad the Rams are. But he knew then — and he should consider it gospel now — CSU is a rare form of pitiful.

Montez was 18-of-20 passing for 205 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for another 38-yard score. He made one mistake – an interception while forcing Jay MacIntyre a ball in double coverage. His other incompletion? A drop.

And this was just in the first half. Montez’s final line: 22 of 25 (two drops), 338 passing yards and five total touchdowns; he rested the fourth quarter.

Give this kid the Heisman. Montez and Rashaan Salaam, the two greatest Buffs there ever were. We haven’t seen a quarterback have this much success against CSU since … Oh. Last week. Hawaii’s Cole McDonald threw for 418 yards and three touchdowns and adding another 96 yards and two TDs with his legs.

McDonald’s early Heisman candidacy was looking solid until Friday rolled around. In fact, entering Saturday — before most college football teams had seen their first kickoffs of the season — the nation’s No. 1 and No. 8 ranked players in passer rating were Montez (246.4) and McDonald (191.92).

Next week, it’ll be Arkansas sophomore Cole Kelley joining the top 10. Then remember these names: Feleipe Frank (Florida), Brett Rypien (Boise State) and Arion Worthman (Air Force). It’s a shame Illinois State’s Jake Kolbe isn’t eligible for the Heisman, or he’d be next in line.

I asked Montez in the wee hours of Saturday morning if he had any advice for the remaining Heisman hopefuls on CSU’s schedule. Again, he wouldn’t bite.

“I’ll let them go figure that out. They need to go in and watch that film,” Montez said. “Look at that defense and understand what they’re going to do. I think CSU does a lot of different stuff.”

This time, Montez told the truth, and that’s the problem. I asked CU offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini a similar question, and he noted how much the Rams were trying to do defensively against Hawaii and how much of that was in play again. They need to get back to the basics.

CSU (0-2) is bad. So bad, 70,158 fans at Broncos Stadium on Friday night were skeptical whether defensive coordinator John Jancek would exit the locker room at half time with his pink slip. If the biggest improvements the Rams were supposed to make were from Game 1 to Game 2, this team isn’t going to win a game all season. The worst part? Mike Bobo knows it.

For the first time in his head coaching career, he publicly displayed fire after his team’s 45-13 loss to the Buffs, exclaiming “We got whipped,” and “We got our (fannies) kicked,” and that he doesn’t have “a magical damn answer” to fix this program.

The coach pleaded with fans to not give up on his team. That they’re going to get to work and fix their mistakes. That he believes they’re going to be good.

But this season, coach? Spring camp ended April 21 and in the two games since, the Rams have taken a pair of tumbles backward from the mediocre spot they were in after losing to Marshall in December’s New Mexico Bowl. What’s really going change in the next 11 weeks?

All Montez, as brilliant as his numbers were, had to do against the Rams was not play stupid. He made perfect passes to Juwann Winfree and K.D. Nixon in coverage for touchdowns, but most of his yards? YAC, baby.

Go ahead and pencil Montez in for college football’s highest honor. Queue up Ty Gangi and Tyler Vander Waal, too.

Because Colorado State doesn’t produce Heisman winners, but it sure can create them.

And that’s no lie.