Rams aim for redemption in 2023 starting with Washington State

Colorado State’s 2023 schedule features some familiar faces. 

Starting with Washington State on Saturday, the first of eight opponents that CSU will face for a second straight year under Jay Norvell, the Rams have quite a few chances this season to prove they’re not the same squad they were a year ago. 

“I think this is a really great game for us to start,” Norvell told reporters Monday. 

When CSU traveled to Pullman, Wash. in 2022, it was clear from the opening drive that it was going to be a long day for the Green & Gold. The Rams trailed 21-0 after the first quarter, 31-0 going into the fourth quarter, and while they did manage to prevent a shutout, the 38-7 final score pretty much tells you what you need to know about how that game went. 

“We really couldn’t have played any worse than we did a year ago, especially in the first quarter, the first half,” Norvell said. 

Norvell continued, explaining how a year ago, the Rams allowed Wazzu to mount three scoring drives early. And when CSU had the ball, they had very little success staying on the field. It was pretty much a disaster and the guys inside the building are well aware of it.

“We’ve reviewed the game several times, and are pretty tired of watching it honestly,” Norvell said. 

“So we’re excited. We think we’ve addressed a lot of the issues with this roster. We are starting a brand new season with a new group of kids, and we’re excited to establish our style of football. This will be a great week to do it.” 

Schematically the Cougars are very similar to CSU. Both teams use Air Raid concepts on offense and run a 4-2-5 on the defensive side. Norvell said it was like looking in a mirror when watching them on film. And the big benefit of course is that the team has gotten a lot of reps in camp against the types of looks they will see in Week 1. 

“I think that’s really helpful for our first game, just the familiarity of our kids with the schemes,” Norvell said.  “We’ve been able to work with each other offensively and defensively to help prepare for this game.” 

While he did not go out on a limb and predict a Week 1 victory or something like that, Norvell did emphasize that it’s been a long time coming. He expressed that the team is excited to take the field this year because they’re disappointed about how they played in 2022, and they’re excited to finally get a chance to do something about it. 

The Rams were a team without an identity in 2022. There were pieces of the puzzle that you could see coming together, like the defense for example, but it was clear that the offense still had a long way to go.

The hope is that things will be different for CSU this fall. And with significantly improved depth on both sides of the football, things should be. 

Washington State is going to be a great measuring stick of how far this team has come, and how far they still need to go.