Colorado State hopes to avoid third loss to rival in 2016

FORT COLLINS – It’s easy to sense the excitement of Colorado State football in 2016. The Rams are on the verge of a fourth consecutive bowl season, continue to receive commitments from highly touted recruits and have a new stadium on the way that figures to be a game-changer.

But there’s still the elephant in the room.

If CSU loses Saturday at Air Force, it would mark the first time since Steve Fairchild’s final season of 2011 that the Rams failed to beat any of their Front Range rivals.

Mike Bobo understands the importance of this game, but also knows it’s just the next opponent on the schedule.

“Every game is important,” said Bobo. “It’s our next game, it’s against a conference team, and it’s an in-state rival. You value all those with extreme importance but as a program, if we win this game, does that mean the program is going to succeed? No. We’ve got to get ready for this game like any other game and go play it and hopefully play well enough to find a way to win. And if we don’t, we come back and go to work on Monday.”

The Air Force-CSU rivalry may not get the attention that the Rocky Mountain Showdown or Border War would, but it’s still a storied matchup. Since 1980, the schools have played for the chance to hoist the Ram-Falcon Trophy, which can be traced back to former CSU ROTC commander Shelly Godkin.

Air Force leads the all-time series 32-21-1, including a 16-10-1 mark at the Academy. Prior to their loss to Hawaii several weeks ago, the Falcons put together a 15-game home winning streak.

Jake Bennett believes the Rams are ready for the challenge.

“They emphasize how high it is there, just like Wyoming does,” said center Jake Bennett, referencing the altitude. “They try to intimidate people with how high it is, the show of what they are, the flowers and the pageantry. It’s an awesome place to play down there and it’s just a tough place to get a win.”

A major emphasis this weekend for CSU will be to continue to take care of the football. In their first nine games of the season, the green and gold turned the ball over just 10 times.  Six of those, however, came against Colorado and Wyoming.

Could that possibly stem from trying to do too much in these rivalry games?

“I think it just came earlier in the year when we were pressing or maybe trying to make a play that wasn’t there,” said Bennett. “I think as the season’s gone on, even the young guys have matured enough to know that you’ve got to take care of the ball no matter what.”

Take a look around the college football landscape along the Front Range. Craig Bohl and the Cowboys sit atop the Mountain Division in the conference, with plenty of reason to be excited for the future. Air Force is headed to their ninth bowl game in the last decade under Troy Calhoun.

And in Boulder, the Buffaloes are stampeding their way up the Associated Press and Coaches Polls.

Bobo and the Rams have taken a number of steps forward in what’s seemingly been a transition season. But would CSU risk getting lost in the shuffle of so many good teams in the region should they drop a third game to a rival?

“I don’t think anybody’s really concerned about that,” said Bennett. “I think guys are just approaching it like a rivalry game and it’s our next game so we’ve got to come out and prepare like we’ve been doing the last three days.”