Defense dominates early, offense storms back to win CSU Green and Gold Game

Spring football on a sunny Saturday; what could be better?

Due to injuries and lack of depth at some positions, head coach Mike Bobo decided to go offense versus defense instead of a regular, game-like format. It didn’t take away from the fun, though.

The Gold Team was made up of all offensive players, and they struggled mightily against the Green Team defense for most of the first half of the contest. Nick Stevens, Faton Bauta and Collin Hill — the Rams’ three leading quarterbacks — struggled to complete passes. At least to their own teammates.

After a first down throw on his first drive, Stevens had a man in his face and threw the ball to a covered receiver; it was picked off by Tyree Simmons. It wasn’t much better for the graduate transfer Bauta, who completed his first three passes, went incomplete on his next three, which resulted in two punts. In fact, over their first six drives, the offense could convert only one first down.

“I really thought all the guys were a little tight early on,” Bobo said of his three main quarterbacks. “But, I thought we did some good things.”

Finally, mid-way through the second quarter, the offense came alive. Dalyn Dawkins busted off a 34-yard run, a seven-yarder, a two-yard gain and then ran for 27 yards to the defense’s 20 yard line. There, Bauta connected with tight end Danny Nwosu for the 20-yard touchdown, the first TD of the game for either side. With only 54 seconds left on the clock, Bauta was picked off by Kevin Davis when the linebacker baited the quarterback, and on the next play, Stevens was baited by Demontrie Taylor and also picked off.

But, just before the break, Bauta connected with John Freismuth on a 75-yard bomb; one of the best pass plays of the entire day.

At halftime, the Gold (offense) led 27-26 over the Green (defense) with the coaching staff’s altered scoring system, with the defense forcing three turnovers in the half.

To start the second half, Stevens led a drive and capped it with a touchdown, connecting with Sammie Long on an eight-yard post pattern for the score and 34-30 lead.

And in the fourth quarter, the defense started getting tired — as Bobo said after the contest — allowing the offense to run away with the win. Wyatt Bryan connected on a 41-yard field goal, Bauta hit Marcus Wilson for a six-yard touchdown and Hill connected with third-string tight end Mitch Parsons for a 26-yard score.

The Gold (offense) won 64-47 over the Green (defense) in a day which answered some questions and left some lingering. Like, who will the starting quarterback be?

“To sit here and say I have an answer, I don’t,” Bobo said of the starter behind center. “It’s a big summer for all those guys learning what to do. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to who can take care of the football.

“I would say Nick and Faton are co-No. 1s. That’s how they’ve been practicing all spring as we’ve gone on throughout the spring. And I’d say Collin Hill is third.”

Bauta finished 16-29 for 203 yards with 3 TD, 1 INT. Stevens 8-20 for 90 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. And Hill actually enjoyed the best passer rating going 10-18 for 156 yards and one score.

Quarterback is the main competition everyone’s paying attention to, but there are competitions all over the field. At running back, three youngsters will join in the fall. As well as defensive backs and more playmakers.

While the spring game and 15 practices went a long way to help decide who will play for CSU in the fall, there’s still much work to be done this summer.

Notes: John Freismuth was the most exciting receiver all day, catching the 75-yard bomb touchdown as well as leading the team with five catches for 147 yards. But, on his last catch, he was injured. “He’s got a shoulder,” Bobo said of the injury. “I think they said his clavicle. So, it may have been a separation or a fracture. I don’t know the answer to that yet. But, I mentioned it, I’m really proud of John. That ‘tweener’ mold of is he a tight end, is he a receiver? He has gotten better as a receiver.”

Jordon Vaden played well at cornerback, utilizing his size and athleticism well. Bobo said he could actually play both ways, but would primarily be a cornerback if that were to happen.

Jake Schlager finished with the most tackles on the team, with 10 total, while linebacker Patrick Elsenbast had 10 total as well, including two tackles for a loss. JUCO transfer A’Keitheon Whitner had two pass breakups, and besides his interceptions, Demontrie Taylor leveled walk-on receiver Dawit Woldu.

Dalyn Dawkins led all running backs with 23 carries for 147 yards. Izzy Matthews only carried one ball, for four yards, as he was held out of most of the action as the team was being cautious when he was put through concussion protocol recently. Dawkins also caught three passes out of the backfield for 40 yards, showing his versatility, but Bobo would like him to run more under control.