Colorado State football holds on to escape with win over San Diego State

Phew.

It shouldn't have come down to the final minutes, but the Colorado State football team beat San Diego State 22-19 on Saturday night.

CSU led 22-3 and seemed ready to cruise to a comfortable victory to keep their bowl hopes alive, especially considering San Diego State’s offensive struggles.

Yet the Rams can’t get out of their own way. San Diego State had cut it to 22-12 with 11:37 to go, but CSU put together a good drive. The Rams were moving the ball on the ground, killing clock and moving into scoring territory.

Then Vann Schield had the ball stripped as he leapt over a defender. It gave San Diego State a lot of life.

The Aztecs drove and on a fourth-and-2 scored on a run to make it 22-19 with 2:04 to go.

San Diego State opted against an onside kick and the Rams sealed the win on a third-down run for a first from Avery Morrow.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Justin Marshall sparks CSU

Jay Norvell has spoken over and over and over of how he wants the run game to improve and feels the Rams (4-6, 2-4 Mountain West) will need success on the ground to end the season well.

CSU's wildcard came Saturday in the form of true freshman Justin Marshall. He had been in uniform for CSU at times this season, but even with the injuries he hadn’t seen the field.

What an impact he made in his first college game.

His first three runs yielded 50 yards and he could have scored if not for an unfortunate slip on the turf.

He kept going all game. Marshall finished with 18 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown. It’s the first 100-yard rushing debut for a Ram since Ron Harris in 1974.

Marshall's spark: How freshman Justin Marshall gave CSU exactly what it needed

Look for more of Marshall moving forward. He was the spark this team needed.

The good things…

Marshall was the brightest spot, but there were others for CSU.

The defense was absolutely dominant in the first half. Mohamed Kamara opened the scoring when he sacked Jalen Mayden for a safety in the first quarter. It pushed Kamara to second on CSU’s all-time sacks list.

CSU held San Diego State to 55 yards of offense in the first half.

On offense, it wasn’t always pretty but the Rams did end up with 427 total yards. CSU rushed for a season-high 183.

And while the pass game wasn’t consistent, there were a couple key plays. A trick play pass for Tory Horton to throw to Dylan Goffney gained 41 yards and led to a TD. That score came on a direct snap run by Dallin Holker.

Brayden Folwer-Nicolosi hit Justus Ross-Simmons on a 41-yard pass to set up Marshall’s TD.

The bad things…

OK, so the biggest takeaway is CSU getting a win to keep bowl hopes alive, but there’s plenty to look at from this game that wasn’t good enough.

A 22-3 lead halfway through the third quarter against San Diego State’s poor offense should mean game over. Heck, CSU should have led by more if the offense had taken advantage of earlier opportunities.

Really good teams would have killed it off earlier. The defense began giving up too many yards.

Then the offense had a drive that could have ended the game, but a fumble inside San Diego State’s 20 brought the Aztecs new life and they took advantage.

CSU still makes too many costly mistakes. Missed throws. Key conversions failed on offense and allowed on defense. A whopping 110 yards of penalties on 11 accepted flags.

It’s all stuff to work on, but it’s much happier to do so after a win.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State football holds on to escape with win over San Diego State