Ah, Border War week. Nothing quite like it.
Colorado State football (3-5, 1-3 MW) faces a must-win game against a heated and hated rival in the Wyoming Cowboys (1-8, 1-4 MW).
“We’re preparing for a team that could beat anybody, on any given day,” Rams head coach Mike Bobo said after practice Wednesday. “They have the talent. Anytime you’ve got a running back like that you better be ready to play.”
After a gut-check team meeting on Monday, this CSU team has to prepare for an emotional Mountain West match-up against the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
“I’ve been happy,” said Bobo of the team’s energy in practice. “On Monday I thought that it was the best Monday we’ve had, yesterday was a good practice. Today was a little bit difficult because of the rain. I thought that there was some spirit out there. I thought the guys got after it. I like where were at but we have to carry it over to tomorrow first, and the ultimate test is can we carry it into Saturday.”
This week, Coach Bobo has brought in guests every day to speak to the team about this game coming up on Saturday. Wednesday, it was linebackers coach Marty English.
“It was Coach English today, ” Bobo said. “He had spent nine years at Wyoming as an assistant coach and it’s his fourth year here, so to get some insight on the rivalry from both perspectives. It was good to hear some information that I felt helped me with the rivalry. It got me ready to play the game a little more. I’m excited for the game.”
Part of that tradition begins Friday, when Bobo must rise early to hand off the game ball to the Colorado State Army ROTC, who will run it 39 miles to the Colorado-Wyoming border and hand it off to the Wyoming ROTC, who will run 26 miles to Laramie and War Memorial Stadium.
But, back to practice: For the second straight afternoon, the Rams held practice Wednesday at Hughes stadium for the same reasons as Tuesday; surer footing and better lighting than on the practice fields. But the Rams had an added twist for Wednesday with the weather elements that moved in and gave the Rams an opportunity to work in not ideal game play.
“They have to play in them too,” said Bobo when asked about preparing for a game in the poor weather. “You just have to play in the elements. It was good that we got to practice in some elements today. But I’m not one of these guys that feel that you need to go into elements just to go into elements. I think a good practice is better sometimes than just going into elements. It was good to get to throw a wet ball around today. You will be more conservative if you have the wind or don’t have the wind, that sort of thing; we got some packages but not necessarily for the weather.”
The weather has been picture perfect for Colorado State’s home games this season, but this week they travel to Laramie, Wyoming where the weather is always a toss-up. Luckily for the Rams and Cowboys, the forecast is calling for sunny skies, a high of 41 degrees and a 10 MPH wind; not bad at all for early November.
The game kicks off at 1 p.m. MT at War Memorial Stadium. Of course, the Rams want to keep the Bronze Boot in Fort Collins after winning the last two by an average of 22 points per game.
