Start penciling in three touchdowns for Colorado State running back Kapri Bibbs every week.
While you’re at it, start believing these Rams, under second-year coach Jim McElwain, aren’t the pushovers they’ve been in the Mountain West in recent seasons.
Bibbs found the end zone three times in the first half, rushing for 137 yards to lead Colorado State to a 35-28 victory over Hawaii on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
The first-year Rams running back, who started for the second time in 2013, rushed for three scores for the third time in four games, helping the Rams improve to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the conference after back-to-back road wins at Wyoming and Hawaii.
Colorado State hasn’t won more than four games in a season since 2008 and has done it only once in the past eight years.
"Look, road wins are hard to come by," said McElwain, now 8-12 in his second year with the Rams. "Some times you don’t play well and win and as you develop a program you’ve got to learn how to do that."
Bibbs, the team’s leading rusher, also went over the 100-yard mark for the third time this year.
He did most of his damage in a first half dominated by the Rams offense. Colorado State outrushed UH 165 to 2, with Bibbs picking up 87 of his yards on 14 carries.
His 6.2-yard average per carry dipped in the second half as Hawaii adjusted, holding him to 50 yards on 19 carries.
"They knew what was coming the whole time," Bibbs said after the game as he celebrated near the Rams’ cheering section in the north end zone. "They knew I’d be coming."
Bibbs tossed his gloves into the stands in celebration after the Rams stalled another UH comeback attempt.
CSU led 35-17 in the fourth quarter before surviving a last-second Hail Mary that fell incomplete after two Rams defenders jumped to bat Tyler Graham’s pass to the ground.
Linebacker Max Morgan, who had a game-high 15 tackles and returned a fumble 73 yards for a touchdown, said the coaching staff prepared them for a potential fourth-quarter comeback all week.
"I think they’ve scored like 60 percent of their points in the fourth quarter or something like that, so we knew it was going to come down to that regardless of what our lead was," Morgan said.
Morgan’s touchdown came after sophomore Cory James sacked UH quarterback Sean Schroeder, forcing a fumble that fell right at Morgan’s feet.
He scooped the ball up and ran it all the way back, watching on the live video scoreboard in front of him to make sure nobody caught him from behind.
He also recovered a fumble last year in CSU’s 42-27 win over UH and returned it 38 yards, but was tackled by Schroeder, who kept him out of the end zone.
"I had a pretty good view of the (Jumbo)tron," Morgan said. "Last year against these guys I got caught from behind and I wasn’t going to let that happen again, so I was running as fast as I could."