Fort Collins Coloradoan du lieu suivant : Fort Collins, Colorado • Page 31

RAMS GET PAST PANTHERS IN FOUR CSU struggles one day after sweeping No. 12 team in nation. SPORTS PAGE D2 Dl SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012 ACTIVE LIFE AND SPORTS MILES BLUMHARDT, (970) 224-7743 EMAIL SPORTSNEWSCOLORADOAN.COM Se.NDSU IS 4 'Jfe I- ft North Dakota State ball carrier John Crockett battles CSU defenders during college football action in Fort Collins on Saturday, rich abrahamsonthe coloradoan CSU football team brought back to earth after loss to North Dakota State Rams find out difference between Buffalo, Bison Miles Blumhardt SPORTS By Kelly Lyell KellyLyellcoloradoan.com All the good feelings the CSU football team had after opening its season with a win over the University of Colorado disappeared in a heartbeat Saturday night, when the Rams were simply overwhelmed 22-7 by North Dakota State. That's right, North Dakota State. The defending national champions of the Football Championship Subdivision, one level below the Football Bowl Championship level of which Colorado State University is a member.

The Bison (2-0), who improved to 6-3 against FBS schools since 2006, answered an early CSU touchdown with down conversion on 10 tries and completely dominated time of possession, holding the ball for almost 40 of the game's 60 minutes. "We lost all three phases," first-year CSU coach Jim McElwain said afterward. "We lost the line of scrimmage, third down, ball control, time of possession." He could've gone on and listed just about every statistical category there is. North Dakota State had 21 first downs to CSU's 11, gained 188 yards rushing while limiting the Rams to 72 and had 132 return yards to CSU's 86. The Bison seized control with a See HUMBLED, Page D4 Next up: CSU at San Jose State, 6 p.m.

Saturday, Spartan Stadium, San Jose, Calif. TVradio: none (online broadcast at ESPN3.com)KLZ (AM 560), KCOL (AM 600) one of their own just four plays later and never let up. And they did it just a few hours after fellow FCS member Sacramento State beat CU 30-28 just 45 miles away in Boulder. That one came down to a field goal on the final play of the game. This one was over much sooner.

North Dakota State responded to an early goal-line stand by the Rams with a safety on the very next play to take a 9-7 lead and never let up. The Bison outgained the Rams 366 yards to 243, limited CSU to just one third- CSU discovered a Bison is not a Buffalo in a most painful way Saturday. A week after an exciting 22-17 win over the rival Colorado Buffaloes, the Rams discovered Saturday just how bad CU is, how mediocre they are and how freaking good the North Dakota State Bison are. Good experience for such a young team. As humbling as the Bison's 22-7 goring of the Rams at Hughes Stadium in a game not as close as the score might indicate was, it was only made worse by CU's humiliating 30-28 loss at home to See BLUMHARDT, Page D2 NFL Manning ready to return to field after surgery Next up: Steelers at Broncos, 6:20 enough for opening their doors to me last year when I certainly was an outsider.

I'll always be indebted to them." Manning's right triceps had atrophied after one of his neck surgeries. He told the New York Times recently that when he went with Helton and a Rockies trainer to an indoor batting cage at Denver's downtown ballpark, the first pass he threw to Helton nose-dived so much that Helton actually thought he was just goofing around. He was dead serious. His arm was shot, his future in See BRONCOS, Page D3 its roots in Denver long before Manning ever dreamed he'd be wearing the orange-mane mustang on his helmet instead of the horse shoe. Shortly after signing with the Broncos, Manning visited Coors Field with wide receiver Eric Decker and revealed that he had worked out with his buddy, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, during the NFL lockout last year.

While Manning, who unseated Helton as the starting quarterback at the University of Tennessee in the mid-1990s, was rehabbing-from neck surgery, Helton helped arrange for him to use operations that forced him to miss all of the 2011 season. Without him, the Indianapolis Colts nosedived and then decided to rebuild from top to bottom, including selecting Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the top pick in the draft. So, they cut Manning loose on March 7, marking the end of an era, a 14-year alliance between the team that drafted him No. 1 overall and the QB who brought Indianapolis from football irrelevance to the 2007 Super Bowl title and a second appearance in the NFL championship game three years later. A thousand miles away, Denver was Tim Tebow's turf.

But management wasn't completely sold on the exalted but erratic passer for whom coach John Fox had dusted off the old read-option offense last season. Two weeks after he stood alongside Colts owner Jim Ir-say at an emotional farewell news conference, Manning was standing next to John El-way, the powerful pair of Super Bowl winners talking about hoisting another Lom-bardi Trophy, this time together. And soon. While that quest begins in earnest Sunday night, it had By Arnie Stapleton Associated Press DENVER When the four-time MVP with the four-time surgically repaired neck takes the field Sunday night for the Denver Broncos' opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it will have been 1 year, 8 months and 2 days since Peyton Manning's last meaningful snap. What a long, strange journey it's been.

Manning's march began with an irritated nerve in his neck that got worse and eventually weakened his throwing arm, leading to a series of p.m. today, Sports sw'pm Authority Field at Mile High, Denver TVRadio: Ch. 9KOA (AM 850) the Rockies' facilities to work out. "He's a great friend," Manning said that day at the ballpark. "What he did for me last year, allowing me to use this facility, use the trainers to work out as part of my rehab process.

I've come a long way They were a big part of it. The whole Rockies organization, I can't thank them.