3 takeaways from Colorado State's frustrating loss to Air Force

FORT COLLINS, Colo.  — With an opportunity to increase their winning streak to four games and secure the Ram-Falcon Trophy for the first time since 2015, Colorado State football squandered the moment against Air Force Saturday night.

After jumping out to a two-score lead, the Rams failed to build on any of their early momentum and ultimately fell 38-21 to the Falcons at Canvas Stadium. The loss to Air Force is the fourth of head coach Mike Bobo’s five-year career and the 11th consecutive trophy game that the Rams have dropped overall. CSU has not won a rivalry game since defeating Wyoming on November 7, 2015 at War Memorial Stadium.

Here are the takeaways from the disappointing home showing.

Defense does their part

The defense certainly did their part in stopping Air Force’s unique triple-option offense Saturday night.

Throughout the contest, Colorado State defenders aggressively pursued the Falcons’ ball carriers and found ways to make tough tackles in the open field. Most importantly, guys stayed within their assignments and did not try to do too much out there. As a result the Falcons were not able to kill the Rams with back-breaking big plays — they were still able to rush for a consistent 4.5 yards per carry — but CSU didn’t spend the whole game chasing them down from behind.

In fact, at one point, Air Force’s offense had to run the other way as sophomore linebacker Mohamed Kamara was able to return a fumble 63 yards to the end zone. The scoop-and-score play was CSU’s first since the 2015 season and first-ever at Canvas Stadium.

The Falcons were able to get a little momentum going in the second half, particularly after CSU struggled to do anything on offense for two consecutive quarters. But for the most part, it was a fairly strong showing for a defensive unit that only allowed one rushing touchdown in the game.

When Comatose was fired for the final time Saturday night, Air Force had totaled 353 yards in a winning effort. 227 of them came on the ground.

Offense flutters

Aside from the opening drive, CSU struggled to do much of anything on offense. The Rams came out of the gate with a 14-play, 75-yard scoring sequence, capped off by Trey McBride’s four-yard receiving touchdown on fourth down. From that moment on, though, the offense did not account for a single point until late in the fourth quarter.

A big part of the problem was CSU’s inability to get the passing offense rolling. For the first time in about a month, Patrick O’Brien looked completely lost under center and really had a tough time moving the football against the Falcons. On multiple occasions, O’Brien stepped into the pressure and there were moments where he double clutched with open receivers down field as well.

The Nebraska transfer was able to lead a scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Down 10 points, O’Brien connected with Dante Wright on back-to-back plays to cut Air Force’s lead to three. But at that point, the Falcons had already assumed control of the game, and were able to immediately put together a scoring drive of their own. So really it just ended up being padding for O’Brien’s final stats.

When it was all said and done, O’Brien was sacked seven times. He finished 27-of-42 through the air for 332 yards and had a pair of passing touchdowns to boot. However, the numbers do not necessarily tell the whole story as it was a fairly rough night for the first-year starting quarterback.

Special teams remains an issue for CSU

While we have seen drastic improvement from both the offense and defense this year, special teams continue to be an issue for CSU.

After taking an early 7-0 lead, the Rams’ first kickoff of the evening went out of bounds. Although this infraction didn’t end up hurting CSU in the end, the misplaced kickoff could have been a big letdown after a stellar scoring drive led by the offense.

Later in the half, though, the Rams weren’t so fortunate. With an opportunity to go up 17-0 in the second quarter, Cayden Camper missed a 53-yard field goal attempt. Two minutes later, the Falcons took advantage of CSU’s miscue with a 31-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Donald Hammond III to tight end Benjamin Waters. The sequence ended up being a 10-point swing in favor of Air Force, who instead of going into half time down three scores, was able to rally and cut CSU’s lead down to four (14-10).

In tight games, CSU cannot continue to shoot themselves in the foot with mistakes on special teams, especially if the Rams are going to find a way to reach the postseason. It’s the little moments in a game that can really make or break a team, and CSU was fortunate to not get burned worse by their poor special teams performance tonight.