Colorado State struggles at the Big House — 3 takeaways from the Week 1 loss to Michigan

Colorado State was overwhelmed by No. 8 Michigan in a 51-7 loss in Ann Arbor on Saturday. 

The Rams avoided being shutout with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with QB Clay Millen connecting with junior wide receiver Tory Horton for a 34-yard touchdown about halfway through the fourth quarter. 

On that particular drive the Rams were able to get the run game going with fifth-year running back David Bailey. It was the only drive Bailey saw significant action on, but he managed to finish second on the team in rushing with 27 rushing yards on six carries (4.5 YPC), and also added a reception for 8 yards. 

After leaning on Bailey to get down the field, Millen dropped back and threw a perfect ball to Horton, who beat his man on a go route for CSU’s only score of the day. Horton also led the team in targets (7), receptions (6) and receiving yards (69) in his CSU debut. After torching CSU in the 2021 finale with Nevada, it’s definitely nice to have the future NFL receiver scoring for the Rams instead of against them. He’ll be an absolute handful for any corner that has to cover him this year. 

Unfortunately for the Green & Gold though, outside of the lone scoring drive in the fourth and a few plays here and there, offense did not come easy for a group that is still learning how to play together. 

Here are the takeaways from the game. 

Offensive line overmatched by Michigan defense

Clay Millen was consistently under pressure and took an absolute beating in his first career start. 

The Wolverines recorded seven sacks for a result of 50 lost yards on Saturday. The Rams didn’t run the ball much better either, finishing with an average of 2.1 yards per carry on 39 total attempts. 

Considering the opponent, it’s too early to panic about how the offensive line fared. Michigan is just a completely different beast than any other opponent that the Rams will face this fall, so we don’t want to be over-reactionary in Week 1. 

While four of CSU’s five starters had prior experience at other schools, this was the first start together for the group as a unit. It’s going to take time for them to figure everything out together. 

Millen is going to have to learn to get rid of the ball quicker as well, but again, these things take time. 

Passing offense was a struggle, but there’s hope

On the first series of the game we saw Millen gain a little confidence as the coaches were able to scheme up some easy quick completions for him. Horton moved the sticks on the second play of the series by taking a screen for eight yards. Then on the next play, tight end Tanner Arkin caught a quick strike for nine more yards.

A few plays later the drive ended up stalling, and Millen was sacked on third down, a common theme for the offense in this one. But on his first couple of throws, I thought that it was smart to just let Millen get the ball out of his hands quickly and not have to think too much in what could have been an overwhelming situation.

As the game progressed, Michigan started to sit on a lot of the stuff underneath and dared the young QB to try and beat them downfield. That is if he actually had enough time to do so. 

On one instance in the first half, Millen did a nice job of avoiding the pass rush and stepping up in the pocket, but completely missed a safety and forced an interception as a result. On another play in the second half, Millen was stripped from behind after holding on to the ball too long, something he’ll have to work on as he gets more comfortable adjusting to game speed. 

While it was not the flashiest first start in the world, on more than one throw we saw Millen display the type of impressive touch that Rams quarterbacks have lacked in recent seasons. A couple of his throws to Horton, including the touchdown, were a glimpse into what this offense can be. 

Even though he took some hits, I’m glad that Jay Norvell kept Millen in the game until the final series of the game before allowing Giles Pooler to see the field for a few snaps at the end. Putting together a scoring drive will be beneficial for the starting offense and the player’s mindsets going forward. 

And all things considered, completing 16-of-20 attempts (80%) in front of the biggest crowd the Rams have ever played in front of (109,575), is not too shabby — especially when it’s your first career start and it’s against a top 10 team.

Red Zone defense was a bright spot early

With the way that the offense struggled, Michigan could have easily scored 40 or more in the first half if it was not for an admirable effort from the defense. 

The Rams allowed the Wolverines to take a quick screen 61 yards to the house on Michigan’s second offensive series on Saturday. On that play the defenders simply did not tackle well enough and wide receiver Roman Wilson made them pay. 

However, after that poor play, CSU at least forced Michigan to sustain drives to score. And impressively, the defense was able to really hold tight in the Red Zone, as they held the Wolverines to field goals on three of four trips in the first half. 

Modern defense is all about being able to bend and not break. Offenses are going to move the ball against you at times, but if you can consistently hold them to field goal attempts, you’re going to be successful most weeks. 

While Michigan did end up scoring a couple of Red Zone touchdowns in the second half, you really can’t fault a CSU defense that was on the field all day and constantly had to defend short fields. 

For their first game in the 4-2-5, the defense deserves a ton of praise for the way they fought to keep the game from getting out of control in the first 30 minutes. I’m excited to see how this group fares against more even competition, because the potential to be disruptive is there.