Why one rivalry takes precedence as the Rams make an unpopular decision to sit out

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — It’s been a wonky week for everyone associated with Colorado State football.

The Rams were supposed to play UNLV on Saturday. Then it was reported that the game was canceled, but it wasn’t actually at that time. After another 24 hours of preparing for the Rebels, on Wednesday, it was announced by the Mountain West that the game was legitimately postponed; the news came just two hours after Steve Addazio told the local media that he was still expecting to play the squad from Sin City. Alas, that’s what the college football experience is in 2020. 

Once it was determined that the Rebels officially couldn’t play this weekend, for a moment it looked like there was a good chance CSU would face a local rival instead. With both Colorado and Wyoming open on Saturday, on the surface, it seemed that scheduling a game with one of the Rams’ most hated foes wouldn’t be that complicated. After all, if both teams have enough guys to play, and there’s an empty stadium, that’s all football teams need, right? Wrong. 

Whether the fans want to admit it or not, college football is extremely political and it’s all about the optics. Let’s think about this from CSU’s perspective for a minute. The Rams are coming off of an embarrassing beatdown at Boise State in which they had three different kicks blocked and returned for touchdowns. After trying to get over the shock of what occurred on the “Smurf Turf” and preparing for UNLV for six full days, CSU then found out that instead of a winless UNLV team, if the Rams wanted to play this weekend it would either be against an undefeated Colorado team or Wyoming just two weeks after the Bronze Boot returned to its rightful home for the first time in five years. 

Making things worse, instead of a home game, the Rams would have definitely had to go to Boulder if they wanted to play the Buffaloes — the Pac-12 will only allow its members to play non-conference opponents on their own turf — and they would have been doing so on about two days worth of preparation. The lack of game prep alone makes the matchup unappealing but considering CU was originally slated to come to Fort Collins for the first time in 24 years, there was just no way that CSU could have agreed to those terms.

As far as a Border War 2.0 goes, there’s even less appeal on CSU’s side. For one thing, whether the game counted against league standings or not, the risk-reward ratio just does not justify suiting up against a frustrated Wyoming team for the second time in a month. Even if the Bronze Boot wasn’t at stake, and it most certainly wouldn’t have been, it makes absolutely no sense for the Rams to play the Cowboys — unless the league is so desperate for a TV check that it would force two members to play a game that really only stands to benefit one side. 

Sure, Wyoming fans will troll the Ram Faithful, and make jokes about how CSU was too cowardly to suit up against their Pokes again. If the roles were reversed, though, there’s no way in hell that Wyoming would have wanted to play CSU in a rematch just weeks after securing bragging rights. The entire reason we value rivalry games like the Border War is that they only happen once a year and mean that much more because of it. We all want to see this team play as many games as possible in 2020, but we still need to use a little bit of common sense. 

The Rams can help make up some of the TV revenue down the line if they get that game in with UNLV next month. As of right now, the hope is to play on December 19, which is the same night as the MW Championship Game but shouldn’t be a factor for either the Rebels or Rams. And quite honestly, CSU can do what is actually the best plan for them in the long run — focus on getting ready to face Air Force — one of the most disciplined programs in the country and a team that has absolutely dominated the green and gold over the last two decades. 

Stopping the academy’s infamous option attack is difficult even if you worked on it for months. Would Ram fans really want even less time to prepare for the Falcons? If so, I’ll respectfully remind them that Air Force has gone 14-6 against CSU since 2000 and thrown 30+ points on the board 11 different times. A team with essentially no pro players and a scheme where they basically don’t throw the football, has absolutely lit up CSU almost on an annual basis. 

It takes a nearly-perfect performance to beat Troy Calhoun’s teams — a game where you play sound, assignment-based defense and execute perfectly on offense — because if not, Air Force will sit on the football all game and dominate possession. It’s why even power 5 teams tend to struggle against the Falcons. Shoot, CSU plays them every year and still can’t seem to slow down the attack. Since 1990 the only times that the Rams have held the Falcons under 20 points were 1993 and 2013, the former an 8-5 win at Hughes Stadium and the latter a 58-13 stomping of the “Fly Boys” under Jim McElwain.  

If you haven’t gotten the picture by now it’s that Air Force is a damn good football program, arguably the most consistent D1 team in the state over the last 20 years. If the Rams are going to have any chance to overcome them, they need to spend as much time as possible focusing on stopping the option — especially when the alternatives are as crappy as trying to face CU with no preparation or a second matchup with Wyoming in three weeks. 

It’s unfortunate that a relatively healthy Rams squad will not be playing this weekend but that’s life. As the old adage goes, you can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need. And right now, what the Rams need is to focus on bringing back the Ram-Falcon Trophy to Fort Collins for the first time since 2015.