Unlike Washington State University, Colorado State still maintains faint hope it can get to a bowl game.

To do so, the Rams have to do something that they haven't all season - win on the road.

Their offense travels anywhere. But their defense?

“We have to stop someone on defense,” Colorado State coach Jim Mora Jr. said during his weekly press conference Monday.

Here are three matchups WSU has to excel in to grab its first Pac-12 victory of the season:

Washington State's rushing attack has a chance to rebound

It is a valid question - how can anybody have confidence in a tailback-led rushing attack that has totaled 80 yards over the past 12 quarters of football against Oregon State, Boise State and San Diego State?

The answer: The Rams are worse than Duquesne.

If there is any week in the rest of the season where WSU’s stretch run play gets going, it is Saturday against the leakiest run defense in the country.

Colorado State has surrendered 2,441 rushing yards in nine games - nearly 250 yards more than the second-worst unit. It is giving up 6.6 yards per carry, the highest in the country. And opposing running backs have scored 35 touchdowns on the ground, which is nine more scores than the second-most.

One of the most alarming aspects of the Rams’ run defense is how poorly they set the edge. In the game last week against Boise State, Dylan Riley (192 yards, two touchdowns) and Harry Stewart (two touchdowns) repeatedly broke runs to the outside where no defender was in the vicinity.

Even amid a run-game slump (outside RPO runs by quarterback Owen Eshelman), this is the week Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and even Leo Pulalasi should get a healthy diet of carries - a minimum of 30 combined - and rip off big-chunk runs.

Colorado State's pass defense presents opportunities for WSU

Good defenses play fast, react quickly and get downhill in attacking mode.

Colorado State does none of that. It looks like a confused, shaken unit.

When the Cougars allow Eshelman to let it rip, one of the areas of the field that should have big open spaces is in the middle of the field.

The Rams appear especially vulnerable to in-breaking routes - slants, shallow crosses, even posts - which should be good news for deep threat Branden Ganashamoorthy and intermediate-area wizards Daniel Blood and Trey Lecknar.

In addition to the gobs of rushing yards the Rams have given up, they have also allowed an opposing wide receiver to eclipse the 100-yard receiving mark in seven of their past nine games.

Washington State's secondary faces a major test against Hauss Hejny

Sensational Colorado State quarterback Hauss Hejny is a cowboy.

He’s tough. His passes are like bullets coming from a rifle. And he twirls his body around on scrambles like he would a lasso rope at a rodeo.

Hejny doesn’t show overt favoritism toward one intended receiver. He just waits for a defensive back to come off coverage and then unleashes the football in the direction of his open pass-catcher.

It will be a tough assignment for the collection of WSU defensive backs - cornerbacks Khamari Terrell, Jalil Tucker, CJ Solis-Lumar and Kai Rapolla, nickel back Jamarey Smith and safeties Jaylen Thomas, Jeremiah Bernard and Jackquintin Bal - facing a quarterback who can extend plays for as long as Hejny can.

Much like Arizona’s Noah Fifita, Hejny will still win with plays down the field when the coverage is good. It will be up to the Cougars to be sticky defenders and not lose sight of Colorado State receivers during those mad scrambles.