State Pride takeaways: CSU Rams have some soul searching to do after 10-point win over UTEP

A win is a win, right? 

Colorado State took down UTEP in a 27-17 victory on Saturday afternoon. It was far from convincing and ended up being a much tighter game than it could have been, but coming off of a disappointing performance against CU, the Rams did just enough to bring their record to 2-2 going into the bye week. 

Leading CSU in the victory, running back Avery Morrow had 156 yards on the ground and a pair of rushing touchdowns. The fifth-year veteran started the scoring for the Rams in the first quarter when he capped off a 12-play opening drive with a 2-yard touchdown. His 73-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter was the highlight play of the day as well. He currently leads the Green & Gold with three total touchdowns on the season. 

While the Rams did technically cover the 9-point spread that the experts in Las Vegas set for the matchup, after seeing a 21-point lead turn into a one-score game early in the fourth quarter, the win didn’t exactly feel like the reassuring performance that Ram Nation hoped to see. 

CSU turned the ball over on downs twice and a bad interception in the second quarter was a frustrating decision from a gunslinger that has all kinds of arm talent, yet continues to hurt his team with erratic decisions. Being fair to Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, the receivers had multiple untimely drops and did very little to help the redshirt sophomore quarterback’s cause. Some lapses in pass protection made him look uncomfortable in the pocket at times, too. He needs a lot more help out there than he is currently receiving. 

On the defensive side, the Rams looked stellar in the first half, holding the Miners to 92 total yards and 3 points over the first 30 minutes. After Cade McConnell took over for Skyler Locklear under center in the third quarter though, UTEP found its groove through the air and managed to put up 220 yards on 11.5 yards per completion in the second half. The Miners scored on screen passes of 28 and 55 yards in the process. 

The silver lining is that after allowing UTEP to fight back and make things interesting, the Rams did extend their lead back two scores with a drive that ate up close to 6 minutes of clock.  The defense also closed the win by getting back-to-back stops. But on a day where it felt like a 30-point win was well within reach, and instead everyone was sitting on pins and needles for the final hour, it leaves a bit of an ominous feeling going into the final eight games. 

For a team with significant experience and a staff now in its third year on the job, the Rams simply struggle to execute with the type of consistency that you would expect to see by now. Whether it’s failing to convert on third or fourth and short, the type of turnovers that leave you scratching your head, the blown defensive assignments, it’s a lot of small mistakes that compound on a weekly basis. And frankly, if the Rams have any hope of returning to the postseason for the first time since 2017, things are going to need to be tightened up in a hurry. 

Yes, this was a win that CSU needed. It was also the bare minimum against a winless team out of Conference USA. 

Here are some more takeaways from Saturday. 

What is your identity? 

This doesn’t seem to be an Air Raid offense anymore and honestly that’s fine. But the inability to generate any type of rhythm through the air is extremely confusing after the success we saw in 2023. 

Tory Horton being injured is certainly a factor. Losing Justus Ross-Simmons and Louis Brown might have been a bigger deal than we thought. 209 passing yards being the high water mark four games into the year is a shocker though. 

It’s not a one-player issue or anything like that, and I’m not advocating for changes to the lineup at this stage of the campaign, but until we see the Rams take advantage of the talent they truly do possess at the skill positions, this offense is never going to be able to reach its full potential. 

I love that the Rams are running the ball more effectively than they did last year. It’s probably the biggest reason that CSU is .500 right now and not going into October with something like a 1-3 record. It’s also fair to say that if we don’t start seeing the passing offense click with some consistency, it’s going to be very hard to see the Rams making any noise in the Mountain West. 

Teams that were picked to finish in the bottom third of the league have looked significantly more explosive than what we’ve seen from CSU so far — at least with any type of regularity. It feels like a good time to be going into a bye week. The Rams have some soul searching to do before they head out to Oregon State. 

Special teams were key 

The Rams benefitted from quality special teams play in this one. 

Dane Olson’s blocked punt in the third quarter was one of the biggest plays of the season so far and ultimately set up a 5-yard touchdown reception for Armani Winfield. 

Jordan Noyes was responsible for 9 points and drilled both of his field goal attempts. Plus Paddy Turner managed to place three punts inside the 20-yard-line. 

Special teams often get overlooked but tend to be the difference between winning and losing in a tight game. It wasn’t all pretty on Saturday, the specialists deserve a cold one though. 

A win is a win 

I think we’ve pretty well established by now that this was not an A+ performance from CSU and that there is a lot of room for improvement going forward. 

Having said that though, the Rams have beaten the two teams they were favored against and lost to the two teams they were underdogs against. From a completely neutral standpoint, the Rams are exactly where you would expect them to be going into the second month of the season. 

Does that make you feel better? Probably not. Especially considering how things have looked at times. The season is not defined in September though. 

The 2013 Rams were 2-4 with extremely dumb losses to Tulsa and San Jose State before they figured out who they were about halfway through the year. They then proceeded to go 16-5 over the next 21 games. 

The 2009 Rams started 3-0, with wins over CU and a Colin Kaepernick-led Nevada squad, before proceeding to lose nine straight games. The 2011 Rams also started 3-1 before dropping nine in a row. 

This team has not even scratched the surface of what the fans hoped to see this fall. But the story is far from over right now. You’ve got eight weeks to define your legacy. We shall see…