15 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS | 15 BOWL GAME APPEARANCES | 45 WEEKS IN THE POLLS SINCE 1994 | 24 ALL-AMERICANS 246 FIRST-TEAM ALL-conference selections | 3 colleGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME SELECTIONS | 1 JIM THORPE AWARD WINNER 2015 IN REVIEW 2015 SCHEDULE/RESULTS The Colorado State football program had momentum coming off of a record-breaking, Saturday, Sept. 5 • Fort Collins, Colo. 10-win season in 2014, but the Rams knew they were replacing their head coach, their Mountain West Player of the Year quarterback and an offensive lineman who spent the SAVANNAH STATE W, 65-13 2015 season starting for the Denver Broncos. Saturday, Sept. 12 • Fort Collins, Colo. While the transition wasn’t seamless – CSU began the season 2-4 and 3-5 – the Rams persevered to win their final four games and finish the regular season 7-5. CSU’s MINNESOTA undefeated month of November was its first since 1948, with three of the victories L, 23-20 (OT) coming on the road. In fact, CSU was 4-1 in true road games in 2015. All of that helped Saturday, Sept. 19 • Denver, Colo. Mike Bobo become the only first-year CSU head coach to win seven regular-season contests, and qualified the Rams for a bowl game for the third season in a row – some- vs. COLORADO L, 27-24 (OT) thing that hasn’t been done since 1999-2003. Saturday, Sept. 26 • San Antonio, Texas Contributing to the success was a veteran defensive unit that made plays down the stretch when it needed to most, and a balanced offense. CSU’s receivers had more at UTSA W, 33-31 career receptions and yards than any school in the country, but it was the run game that really shined over the final month of the season, rushing for nearly 260 yards Saturday, Oct. 3 • Logan, Utah per game. Dalyn Dawkins and Jasen Oden, Jr provided a powerful 1-2 punch, each rushing for more than 700 yards this season, while a third back, true freshman Izzy at UTAH STATE L, 33-18 Matthews, had nearly 600 rushing yards and five touchdowns. All three rushed for at least 140 yards in a game this season – one of two schools nationally to have three Saturday, Oct. 10 • Fort Collins, Colo. running backs accomplish the feat. (#25/24) BOISE STATE L, 41-10 First-year quarterback Nick Stevens set a CSU sophomore record, passing for 2,679 yards and 21 touchdowns, the fifth-most in school history and a total which led the MW Saturday, Oct. 17 • Fort Collins, Colo. and ranked 36 nationally. His biggest target was 2014 All-America wide receiver – a Biletnikoff Award finalist as a sophomore – who led CSU with 75 catches for 1,062 AIR FORCE W, 38-23 yards and eight touchdowns. Higgins holds eight CSU records, including career recep- tions (239), yards (3,649) and touchdowns (31). Saturday, Oct. 31 • Fort Collins, Colo. But it hasn’t just been the offense and defense that has provided success for the SAN DIEGO STATE Rams. The Rams averaged 25.1 yards per kickoff (17th in the NCAA FBS) and held a net L, 41-17 punting average of 42.0 (fourth). Junior punter Hayden Hunt, one of three finalists for Saturday, Nov. 7 • Laramie, Wyo. the Ray Guy Award, ranked fifth in the country for gross punting, producing 15 kicks of at least 50 yards, 24 inside opponents’ 20-yard line and just one fair catch. He was at WYOMING named an All-American by several publications. In the Rams’ regular-season finale, W, 26-7 they became the first team in 10 seasons to score three special teams touchdowns, Saturday, Nov. 14 • Fort Collins, Colo. with Joe Hansley returning two punts for scores and Kevin Nutt, Jr. housing a kickoff. UNLV W, 49-35 Saturday, Nov. 21 • Albuquerque, N.M. at NEW MEXICO W, 28-21 Saturday, Nov. 28 • Fresno, Calif. at FRESNO STATE W, 34-31 Tuesday, Dec. 29 • Tucson, Ariz. vs. NEVADA (Arizona Bowl) L, 28-23 www.CSURams.com • Twitter: @CSUFootball • Instagram: @CSURamsFB • Phone: 970/491-5067 • Fax: 970/491-1348 • Tickets: 1-800-491-RAMS coaching comparison 2 COLORADO STATE FootBALL MIKE BOBO | COLORADO STATE Colorado State University President Tony Frank announced the BOBO’S CAREER background appointment of Mike Bobo as head coach of the Rams’ football Seasons Team/School Title/Position Coached program on Dec. 23, 2014. Bobo is the 22nd head coach in the 1998-99 Georgia Graduate Assistant history of the program, and came to Fort Collins from the Uni- 2000 Jacksonville State Assistant versity of Georgia, where had spent the previous 14 seasons, 2001-06 Georgia Quarterbacks 2007-14 Georgia Offensive Coordinator including the last eight as his alma mater’s offensive coordinator. 2015 Colorado State Head Coach In 2015 Bobo became the only head coach in program histo- ry to win seven regular-season games in his first season at the Postseason EXPERIENCE helm. Bobo’s Rams won four games in a row and five out of six Season Appearance Opponent to close the 2015 regular season, securing a bowl invitation for 2001 Music City Bowl Boston College the third consecutive year. Five CSU players earned All-Mountain (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) West honors under Bobo, including punter Hayden Hunt, who 2002 Sugar Bowl Florida State was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and an All-American by sev- (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) eral publications. 2003 Capital One Bowl Purdue (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) Bobo’s 14-year stint at Georgia, where he had starred at quarterback in the late 1990s, began in 2004 Outback Bowl Wisconsin January, 2001, when head coach Mark Richt hired him as quarterbacks coach, for his second stint with (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) the school. He was promoted by Richt to offensive coordinator in 2007. 2005 Sugar Bowl West Virginia During his time at UGA, Bobo helped lead the Bulldogs to 135 victories, including two Southeast- (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) ern Conference championships, five SEC Eastern Division titles and eight bowl victories. The 2012 2006 Chik-fil-A Bowl Virginia Tech Broyles Award finalist held the offensive coordinator spot for 92 games with the Bulldogs, scoring (quarterbacks coach at Georgia) 30-plus points 57 times, 40-plus points 29 times and more than 50 points 13 times. 2007 Sugar Bowl Hawai’i (offensive coordinator at Georgia) In 2014 Bobo led a Bulldogs offense that averaged 41.3 points per game, which ranked eighth na- 2008 Capital One Bowl Virginia Tech tionally, and racked up 457.8 yards of total offense per game. Against teams ranked in the Top 25, (offensive coordinator at Georgia) UGA compiled a 3-2 record while scoring 34.4 points per game. 2009 Independence Bowl Texas A&M Additionally, the 2014 Bulldogs’ offense ranked in the top 15 nationally in rushing offense (257.0; 11th (offensive coordinator at Georgia) FBS), team passing efficiency (156.06; 9th FBS), completion percentage (67.4%; 7th FBS), fewest inter- 2010 Liberty Bowl Central Florida ceptions (6; 9th FBS), third-down conversion percentage (49.7%; 8th FBS) and fourth-down conversion (offensive coordinator at Georgia) percentage (80.0%; 3rd FBS). 2011 Outback Bowl Michigan State (offensive coordinator at Georgia) The 537 points scored in 2014 established a Georgia single-season record. The previous single-sea- 2012 Capital One Bowl Michigan State son record was set in 2012 while Bobo was offensive coordinator. (offensive coordinator at Georgia) Bobo guided several talented quarterbacks at Georgia, including Aaron Murray, who played from 2013 Gator Bowl Nebraska 2010-13. Murray, who was chosen in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, (offensive coordinator at Georgia) set more than 25 UGA records and four SEC marks. He became the first player in SEC history to have 2015 Arizona Bowl Nevada at least 3,000 passing yards in four consecutive seasons. (head coach at Colorado State) The NFL’s No. 1 draft choice in 2009, Matthew Stafford, also blossomed under Bobo’s tutelage. The Detroit Lions’ starting quarterback was second-team All-SEC and earned All-America recognition in 2008 for Georgia and was MVP of the 2009 Capital One Bowl. In Bobo’s time at Georgia he also mentored quarterback David Greene (2001-04), who was the winningest quarterback in NCAA Division I history at the time (42), wide receiver A.J. Green, running back Todd Gurley and many others. In all, Bobo helped mold four first-round NFL draft choices at Georgia: Staf- ford (No. 1 in 2009), running back Knowshon Moreno (No. 12 in 2009), Green (No. 4 in 2011) and Gurley (No. 10 in 2015). Prior to joining Richt’s staff in Georgia, Bobo served one year as an assistant coach at Jacksonville State, after working as an administrative assistant and graduate assistant from 1998-99 at UGA. Bobo was a quarterback for the Bulldogs from 1994-97, earning four letters, and led the team in passing in 1996 and ‘97. Among all UGA quarterbacks, Bobo ranks first in single-season completion percentage (65% in ‘97), single-season passing efficiency rating (155.8 in ‘97), second in career touchdown passes (38) and third in career pass completions (445), season passing yards (2,751 in ‘97), career passing yards (6,334) and single-season touchdown passes (19). In his career Bobo threw for 6,334 yards, which is third-most all-time by a Georgia quarterback. Bobo and his wife, Lainie, have five children, a son Drew (11); triplets Olivia, Jake and Ava Grace (9); and Kate (8).