Rams faith in God helps create faith in themselves

Gotta have faith.

At 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain West, Colorado State Rams football is a long way off from where they wanted to be. All through fall camp and into the first couple weeks of the season, the talk was about winning a MW Championship.

Last year, CSU was 10-2 in the regular season and their loss to the Boise State Broncos in Week 2 meant missing out on the opportunity to play in the Championship game. Losing 10-41 to Boise State Saturday night hurt, as head coach Mike Bobo explained.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you get beat handily in all three phases,” Bobo said after the crushing defeat.

But neither Bobo nor senior safety and defensive leader Kevin Pierre-Louis are wavering; KPL he believes the team can bounce back.

“Yes, we do. This team’s still got faith,” Pierre-Louis said of turning things around after the loss to the Broncos. “This is the most spiritual team I’ve ever been around in my five years. We’re believing and we’re not giving up. This team is actually….more and more we’re coming together. I still believe in this team as a senior and there’s a lot of football left.”

The interesting part isn’t that they believe in one another, it’s that the faith likely stems from a faith in God. Multiple players have mentioned God this season in interviews and more have Bible verses on their personal Twitter accounts.

“Not at all. Not at all,” Rashard Higgins said of being worried about the season going down the drain. “I’m just not worried, man. I’m going to put it in God’s hands. And that’s for him to worry about.”

Faith is strong, faith bonds individuals together and makes them a group.

“I think Johnny Square is doing a great job,” KPL said of the Rams’ team pastor. “He’s doing a good job of keeping us in there, man. This team has so much faith. We’re not giving up on each other.”

The Rams know how close they are to being a winning team, losing two overtime games and, as he explained, without the three explosive play touchdowns Saturday the game would have been much more competitive.

“Three plays away from having a fourth-quarter game,” Pierre-Louis said. “Especially, a team that lost two overtime (games). Still continuing, going out there, playing hard. Still continue believing in this team.

“We have faith in each other and we have faith in God,” KPL continued. “That brings us together. Nobody’s pointing fingers. We just know that, once one messed up, we all messed up. So, together we’ve got to go in and practice hard.”

“We’ve got to execute,” Higgins said of getting back on track. “We’ve got to watch more film. I’m frustrated in myself. I’ve never been a part of a losing team back-to-back. I’m always used to winning. So, I just have to pick my head up and encourage these guys, ‘Come on, men. Let’s do this. It’s not over. We’ve still got a lot of ball.’”

And there are those all-important leadership and accountability pieces which must be included for a team to prosper.

No matter where you lie on the continuum of religion – atheist, agnostic, devout or somewhere in between – within religious texts morals, values and life lessons can be found. Those Rams who are religious have learned accountability, a togetherness and an overarching faith in one another due to their faith in God.

Now, the team just needs fans to have faith in them bouncing back, too.