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The Cougars are five-point favorites against Colorado State on Saturday at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, but coach Bronco Mendenhall says the 3-7 Rams are very bit as good as 7-2 San Diego State, which is starting to get a few votes in the national polls. SDSU eked out a 24-19 win over CSU on Saturday night in San Diego. "I think Colorado State, most of the film that I see of Colorado State, except for this morning, when I saw their offense, has been of their defense," Mendenhall said Monday. "They are deceptive, as they have been before. A lot of slanting, a lot of angling, a lot of showing one coverage and spinning to another coverage. "It looks to me like they have more speed. So I think that they are playing at a pretty high level. But the scheme itself, if you are not well prepared, it could lead to turning the football over. "From an offensive perspective, they also have a young quarterback, some new offensive linemen, but capable skill people. They are still able to throw and catch the football downfield. They run it for about 120 [yards], throw it for 200-ish. "So in capability, I don't think it was an accident that the Colorado State-San Diego State game was a close football game. I don't think it was a product of just five turnovers. I think that's basically who Colorado State is. "So I would liken them a lot to San Diego State, even though their record doesn't show it. And the best way to verify that is through head to head matchups. "I think we are playing a similar opponent, not in style, but in ability, to what the Aztecs were when they came to Provo."————————————— If you haven't seen the trick play from a middle school football game that's gone viral today, check it out here. It's worth the 30 seconds, believe me.———————————— More comments from Mendenhall today:On how much UNLV's poor play weighs into his assessment of his team's progress: "I think that's what I was alluding to: withholding judgment for the next three weeks to see exactly how much [progress was made]. I do think the bye week helped, I do think the increased focus helped. I do think there was improvement. But certainly our opponent had something to do with that, and so, again, until we see our next game against Colorado State, and then New Mexico and Utah, it is hard to say exactly how much of a step we did take forward. I think it was [forward], but I am hesitant to say exactly how much that was." On going against CSU freshman QB Pete Thomas: "I haven't seen all the film yet. We started early this morning and are 5-6 games into it. I think their quarterback is similar, again, at a much earlier stage as to what Oregon State's quarterback was a year ago. So he was at the tail end of his career, and this quarterback is at the front end. But he's tall, would prefer not to run out of the pocket if he doesn't have to, but has very good vision, a strong arm, delivers the football downfield pretty well in a pass-first mentality. So I liken him to that quarterback, just at the beginning of his career. They are doing a nice job of protection with him, but anytime that you are going after any quarterback, including the one this past week, I like the ability to pressure, I like the ability to zone. I like the ability to play some max coverage, and hopefully they don't know which one is coming, and when. So usually the sooner the quarterback is in his eligibility, the easier it is to possibly mix and maybe get out of a third down here or there. And I think that's indicative of what is happening at CSU, where they have moved the ball very consistently, and then there's a throw that is not quite right, or there's an execution mistake here or there. And then they stop themselves. But they are capable." On whether winning on the road is the next step the team needs to take: "I think so. To make more of that than what it is, I am going to be very careful not to do. Really, what will handle that part of it for every game is just continuing to improve our team. And to make a phantom out of playing on the road, that it is bigger than it is, I am not going to do that. To improve our team is going to be what I am going to continue to focus on. The games we have lost on the road were kind of representative of where the team was at that time. Hopefully we are at a different time, but our execution is still what I will be spending most of my emphasis on." On what he attributes the increased offensive production to: "It was very similar. It was just a little extra practice, a little extra emphasis, with more urgency, and I guess an opponent that was struggling a little bit. So I think all those things combined to lead to the result that we got." On status of Braden Hansen: "Braden Hansen, I think it has been confirmed, there was an MCL sprain. So possible for this week. And Mike Hague had a hamstring, which is going to take a little while. I would not anticipate him being back this week." On the problems covering kickoffs: "It has kind of been something [where] we have lost the momentum over the last three weeks. And we actually made some changes this past week really based on specific kick placement. And we will have to again, continue to change and modify that, in relation to really highlight what our kicker does best. He is really good at kicking the ball deep, and so I need to continue as a coach — it is not the players' fault, it is my fault, because they are trying very hard — I need to design a coverage that will be probably more dispersed from sideline to sideline, rather than demanding that the kicker place it in a more specific area and design a coverage for that. So the opponents have seen what we were trying to do, had success for a period of time, and now opponents have seen that and kind of countered it, and I have been a step late in kind of countering back." On whether he's telling his team that it must beat Colorado State to make it to a bowl game: "Nope. We have three games left, and I think we are capable of winning all of them." On what else he'd like to see from the defense: "Just continue to improve in all facets."