Border War Preview: 3 things the Rams must do better against Wyoming

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State football (0-1) did not live up to expectations in their season opener against Fresno State (1-1). 

Offensively CSU struggled to maintain drives and failed to move the ball through the air. Defensively things were not a whole lot better as the Rams allowed 38 points and 432 yards of offense in the loss. 

While the double-digit beatdown on the road was a tough pill to swallow for coaches, players and fans alike, with another Thursday night game on CBS Sports Network, CSU has to quickly put last week’s letdown behind them and find a way to execute against their bitter rivals.

After rewatching the Fresno State game in its entirety and listening to what Steve Addazio had to say in his weekly virtual press conference on Monday, here’s what the Rams need to do better in Thursday’s game against the Cowboys (1-1). 

Get off the field on 3rd Down

Less than one week after Hawaii was able to wreak havoc against the Bulldogs, the Rams got torched through the air by Washington-transfer quarterback Jake Haener as he went 22-of-32 on the night, finishing with 311 passing yards, three touchdown passes, and no turnovers. 

Despite not being particularly lethal over the top — Haener only had two completions of 20 or more yards in the win — the athletic QB did a nice job of using his legs to buy time and not trying to force things that weren’t there. The other thing Haener did time and time again was get the ball to his playmakers in space on third down, and in turn, the backs and receivers rewarded him by breaking tackles, moving the chains and making plays. 

In total, the Bulldogs converted on 10-of-18 third-down attempts in their win over the Rams. It does not take a genius to understand that any time you allow an opponent to convert on 55 percent of their third-down attempts, it’s not going to be a fun outing for the defense. What’s even more alarming, though, was that five of the conversions were on third and long. 

“I think that we had too many execution errors on both sides of the ball — that created some problems,” Steve Addazio said. “I’m not a big guy to be like, ‘Oh, if it wasn’t for this play’, but on defense, on five occasions we gave up third and long, and that was the tale of that game.” 

Addazio continued, explaining how the Rams continually allowed the Bulldogs to keep drives alive and stay on the field. As a result, Fresno State finished with 36 minutes of possession in the game, compared to just 24 for the Rams. 

If there’s a silver lining, according to Addazio, it’s that CSU still managed to run 77 plays and record just shy of 400 yards of offense in the game — even with 20-percent less time of ball control than their opponent. 

Execute in the Red Zone

While there were a few positives for the Rams on offense, such as Todd Centeio’s rushing abilities, Trey McBride’s versatility, and eventually Patrick O’Brien’s ability to pick up the passing offense after a long night, what constantly killed CSU was the inability to capitalize in the red zone. 

On CSU’s second offensive possession, Centeio led one of his best drives of the night, a 12-play, 86-yard series that ate up 6:26 off the clock. Unfortunately, though, on third and 3 from the 6-yard line, Centeio missed a wide-open checkdown and tried to force the ball to E.J. Scott in the end zone. So, instead of a touchdown, the Rams had to settle for a field goal after allowing Fresno State to score a TD on the series before. 

Centeio responded well with a 10-play, 81-yard drive capped off by a 13-yard rushing touchdown from Marcus McElroy on CSU’s next trip to the red zone. The problem was that after that drive, CSU then punted or turned the ball over in seven consecutive series — the longest drive taking just 2:37 off the clock. 

It’s important to note that the offensive issues do not fall solely on Centeio. He definitely struggled with accuracy at times but he also had a couple of perfect passes that were dropped, and all of them would have gone for first downs. Having said that, missing a wide-open Trey McBride in the end zone on fourth and goal was brutal. As was his first drive of the fourth quarter, which ended with a fumble, just one play after getting called for intentional grounding. 

“I’m hoping that going into Week 2 we can sure up some of those things,” Addazio said. “What’s really important to me right now is that we build the identity and the foundation of our program — and that is to be a physical team, a tough team, a team that can stop the run, a team that can run the ball, and a team that can be explosive and protect the football.”

Limit the mental mistakes

Between having a wonky offseason and then getting training camp disrupted by COVID-19, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Rams did not play great football on Thursday night. Across the country, one of the consistent themes this year has been sloppy football early and quite honestly that makes sense given the circumstances. 

Moving forward, it would be unrealistic to expect that everything will immediately improve. The one aspect where the Rams can help themselves immediately, though, is limiting the yards they give their opponents through penalties. CSU had seven penalties for 70 yards last week and the toughest part was a lot of them were in pretty crucial situations. I.e. pass interference on third down or intentional grounding on the first play of the drive. 

In a rivalry game like the Border War, effort should not be an issue for the CSU players. But if they want to secure the Bronze Boot, the Rams have to clean up the small things. Eliminating penalties is a great start.