3 takeaways: Colorado State rallies admirably but falls to Hawaii after too many early mistakes

DENVER — Colorado State football received the complete island experience on Saturday night. After going down 26 points in the second half and looking completely dead in the water, CSU came storming back with 28 in the fourth quarter and nearly found a way to pull off an insane victory. Unfortunately, after putting themselves in such a massive hole, the Rams were unable to dig completely out of it and ultimately fell to the Warriors in a 50-45 thriller. 

The loss to Hawaii extends the Rams’ losing streak to five games this season. It’s also somehow the second consecutive game in which a CSU quarterback threw for 500+ yards and still came up short against the Warriors. K.J. Carta-Samuels set the single-game program record in the 2018 opener with 537 passing yards in a 43-34 home loss to Hawaii. Todd Centeio finished with 527 on Saturday night. Both guys threw five touchdown passes and both guys still lost. Weird, right? 

Here are the takeaways from the late-night contest. 

Self-inflicted wounds put the Rams in a bad position 

It looked like we would have back-and-forth affair early. Despite allowing Hawaii to drive down the field on its first three possessions, CSU was able to hold the Warriors to just nine points. A 69-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Butler (TE) on the Rams’ first series and 10 points over the first four possessions made it seem like we were in store for a four quarter battle between conference foes. However, over the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, the mistakes really started to compound for the Green & Gold. 

Penalties were a part of the problem — CSU had six for 70 yards over the first 30 minutes and nine for 100 yards on the night — it was a pretty undisciplined effort from a team that had quite a few veterans on the field. 

A struggling CSU secondary that couldn’t keep up with the Warriors’ playmakers on offense played a big factor as well. Hawaii quarterback Chevin Cordeiro used his mobility to improvise and make plays all over the field. Steve Addazio said postgame that they knew they needed to try and keep him in the pocket, but he was able to consistently break containment and either run for nice chunks or bomb the ball downfield. In total he finished 23-of-41 for 406 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air. He had 14 carries for 34 yards and a rushing touchdown too. He really looked good against a CSU defense that has crashed back to earth after looking stout over a large part of the season. 

The turning points ultimately came over the final 3 minutes of the first half. After a tremendous punt from Ryan Stonehouse pinned the Wariors back deep, CSU gave up a 93-yard touchdown pass to go down multiple scores (22-10). Then a few plays later, on what he described as a “bonehead play”, Centeio’s side-arm pass was intercepted and returned 40 yards for a score by Cameron Lockridge (DB).

The pick-six, along with yet another touchdown of 90+ yards allowed by CSU, extended Hawaii’s lead to 19 at the break (29-10) and completely broke the game wide open in a matter of minutes. A missed field goal and another interception from Centeio in the third quarter didn’t help the cause either. It was the mistakes in the second quarter that played the biggest factor in the final outcome though. 

The players left it all on the field 

The truth is it would have been pretty easy to lay down once the Rams trailed by four possessions in the second half. Other than pride it’s not like this group has much to play for at this point of the year. Instead, just like they have all season, CSU continued to fight and clawed their way back into it. 

This season hasn’t been pretty. It’s definitely been one of the more frustrating campaigns that I can remember for CSU. It’s one thing to lose games because you simply do not have the talent to compete. This squad does have some truly elite talent though. And that’s what is going to leave such a bitter taste in the mouths of Ram fans everywhere. They know that this could have and should have been a more successful season. That said, the biggest credit I can give to these players is that they never say die. Even when it’s seemingly impossible for them to win, these guys make the other team earn the victory for all 60 minutes. It’s admirable and speaks to the character as well as the work ethic of the team. 

At the end of the day your results are what you are going to be defined by, so I’m not trying to sugarcoat a losing streak that extends close to half of the season or anything like that. But trust me when I say there are a lot of teams struggling across the country right now and most of them don’t keep playing hard like CSU does. In that respect they have represented the university well all year long. 

Why can’t the offense always do this?

Aside from the losses, I think the toughest thing for Ram Nation to wrap their minds around is why the coaching staff was not willing to spread things out and stretch the field more consistently. In multiple losses this year we saw the Rams go down big and then come roaring back with an air-raid attack that was borderline unstoppable at times. 

Centeio threw for 363 yards and four touchdowns in the second half. It was as explosive as we’ve seen him or the offense look in weeks, maybe this entire season, but why does CSU have to go down three or more scores before the coaches are willing to spread out the field and really attack the defense vertically?

I know that CSU takes some play-action shots here and there but for the most part everything is out of tight formations. It’s a ton of running up the gut and trying to impose their will through physicality, which is unsurprising given that it’s Addazio’s identity as a coach. But when you see the way that CSU has been able to move the ball when the offense spreads things out and allows Centeio to rip it, it’s tough not to question why the coaches wouldn’t want to operate that way more frequently. Attempting to establish the run is important. You don’t have to be trailing big to try and maximize the opportunities for the playmakers though. 

It was a lot of fun watching Centeio spread the ball to the talented tight ends and Dante Wright in that second half. Hopefully we see that approach from the get-go against a potent Nevada offense in the season finale. The Wolf Pack are coming off of a triple overtime loss to Air Force on Friday night, so Nevada will likely be pissed off and looking to get their mojo back before the bowl season. For the Rams it will be a shot for the Seniors to get one last feel-good moment at home. We’ll see if CSU snaps the losing streak at five.