FORT COLLINS — It’s time to move on.
Following yet another disappointing loss to the University of Colorado, the fifth of Mike Bobo’s career, the Rams are emphasizing that they can’t let the Week 1 game spiral the rest of their season.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bobo told reporters that he feels the team has responded well with a couple of solid practices. According to Bobo, the energy has been great and the team’s mindset has been centered around improvement since holding meetings on Monday morning.
“We talked about the game, talked about where we need to go (and) talked about how we need to improve,” Bobo said.
Bobo explained how the main goal of a football team is to always improve every day and prepare the best that they can for their upcoming opponent. There aren’t any magical words or changes he can make — the only thing they can do is continue to work and Bobo believes he has the leadership in place to get it done.
One of the players tasked with leading by example is quarterback Collin Hill. As Hill explained, the 2019 Colorado State Rams are a tougher breed than last year’s squad and they showed it against CU. Hill said that if the 2018 Rams would have had to play Friday’s game under the same circumstances, they likely would have laid down and taken a beating. Instead, this team fought to the bitter end, even taking timeouts to extend the contest in the final minute.
“It was a 21-point game but really when you look at it, we’re down two scores with the ball with 5 minutes left in the game so I mean we’re in it,” Hill said. “We continued to fight. I think offensively, we really moved the ball great all night — we had 500+ yards of offense — you just can’t turn the ball over.”
Perhaps even more important than the fact that the Rams didn’t quit in a losing effort to the Buffs is how the team is choosing to move forward. Sophomore tight end Trey McBride expressed that in years past, CSU allowed a loss in the Rocky Mountain Showdown to carry over into the ensuing game. This year, McBride said the Rams are trying to let the past stay in the past.
“One game isn’t going to define a whole season,” McBride said. “I know that the team is going to come back strong and be able to bounce back. And that’s what we’ve done this week — we got back to work.”
McBride’s running mate, Cameron Butler, echoed McBride’s sentiments on moving on from the loss to Colorado as well.
“Coach Bobo’s whole system, green forge, preaches toughness and togetherness,” Butler said. “You’re going to fail but that’s sometimes part of the game. Everybody has failed. You just gotta move on really and that’s all (Bobo) tells us. So we’re focused on Western Illinois — that (CU) game is in the past and we’re just focusing on Saturday.”
What’s allowing this team to more easily move on from the bitter loss? According to Bobo, it’s confidence. Bobo said that the team had an opportunity to watch film from the game and they know that there were plenty of missed opportunities to win.
Obviously, they cannot lose the turnover margin 4-o and the team is well aware. But looking through a broader scope, Bobo knows there are plenty of positives to build off. The Rams gained more total yards than CU, recorded more first downs and controlled the time of possession. If CSU can do all of these things moving forward and just cut down the turnovers, the Rams will almost always have a fighting chance.
“I see a confident group that knows they had an opportunity to win that game,” Bobo said.
Ram fans will hope to see that confidence translate into success in the coming weeks. CSU will face Western Illinois in the home opener on Saturday before traveling to Arkansas on September 14. Finally, CSU will conclude the non-conference slate by hosting Toledo at Canvas Stadium on Sept. 21.
