College Football
Saturday, December 18
Newton steps forward with breakout year
Associated Press

FORT COLLINS -- Six games into the season Colorado State found itself 3-3 and its fans vented their frustration on quarterback Matt Newton and coach Sonny Lubick.

But neither gave in to the public pressure, and the Rams reeled off five straight wins to close the year, giving the junior quarterback a banner season.

"The coach and the quarterback are always the first to take the heat when things aren't right and the first to get the credit when they are," Lubick said before Friday's practice. "I never had any concerns about Matt's performance, never had a problem with the way he was playing."

Colorado State (8-3) is preparing for its meeting with Southern Mississippi (8-3) in the 41st annual Liberty Bowl set for Dec. 31 in Memphis. The bowl will be CSU's sixth bowl appearance and fourth under Lubick.

"I never listened to what people said about my performance of the first few weeks," Newton said. "Everybody goes through a learning experience in their first year and gets their butt worked at this level.

"What matters is being able to bounce back," Newton said. "The question you have to ask yourself is what type of player do I want to be or am I the kind of person that quits."

Newton assembled the ninth best passing yardage total in school history, completing 193 of 324 passes for 2,366 yards, 13 interceptions and 18 touchdowns and a 131.3 efficiency rating.

The efficiency rating was the best ever for a first-year quarterback at Colorado State. The passing yardage was the second only to the 3,168 amassed in 1987, Scooter Molander's first season as a starter.

"I had a good year because I felt comfortable running the plays, throwing to the right people after making the right reads and making sure of the handoff to Kevin McDougal," Newton said.

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