Colorado State defense is Ram tough

The most dominant defensive team after the first two weeks of the college football season isn't who you think.

It's not Ohio State of the Big 10, Virginia Tech of the ACC, LSU of the Southeastern Conference or Texas of the Big 12.

Believe it or not, that honor goes to unbeaten Colorado State, which faces winless Nevada Saturday at 6 p.m. at Mackay Stadium.

The Rams have allowed only 232 total yards, 37 rushing, in knocking off Weber State (30-6) and arch-rival Colorado (14-10). The rushing yardage is misleading because Colorado State has 11 sacks thus far for minus-88 yards.

"They just play real hard," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "They always have been that way."

"They are big and physical," running back Robert Hubbard said.

Part of that lofty No. 1 ranking is that the Rams haven't been challenged yet offensively, and part of it is that the Rams have improved a great deal since last year.

"It's pretty early to say too much (about the statistics)," CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. "We felt we could be better on defense, but I don't know that we're overpowering and dominating. We're not expecting to hold everyone under 200 yards. I do believe we're better on defense basically because we have more experience up front."

The Rams start three juniors - Jesse Nading at end and Blake Smith and Erik Sandie at the tackles. The trio has been instrumental in CSU's fast start. Nading has started since his freshman season.

Nading, a 6-foot-5 260-pounder, had seven tackles and batted down two passes. Smith had four tackles and 2 1/2 sacks against Weber State and Sandie had three tackles in the win over CU.

Outside linebacker Jon Radford and middle linebacker Jeff Horinek aren't bad, either. Both had eight tackles against Colorado.

Nading was quick to point out that Nevada's offense will be a much bigger challenge than either Weber State or Colorado.

"I agree (with coach)," Nading said in a teleconference earlier this week. "We've only had two games.

"Nevada has a very dangerous offense. They have a good quarterback (Jeff Rowe). He's very agile. We had him bottled up (last year), and he would get outside and throw the ball away or complete a pass. We have to keep him contained."

Lubick agreed.

"We had our hands full with him last year," Lubick said. "Not only can he pass, but he can run. This is a good football team."

Nading believes that the Rams can even get better, and some of the keys to that are being in position to make plays and finishing plays.

"You always need to be able to tackle better," Nading said. "The reason why our numbers are good is because we've tackled so well. It's been emphasized all spring camp and all fall camp. You have to believe in the system and everybody else you play with."