Jay Norvell looks to improve the losing culture that's plagued Colorado State for a half decade

Colorado State is working through growing pains in the early stages of the Jay Norvell era. 

While we have seen the team’s talent pop in small spurts over the first couple of games, the Rams need to be far more consistent if they are going to have an opportunity to be competitive in 2022. 

Norvell addressed this on a couple of occasions this week, saying that his squad needs to find a way to start playing for four quarters. He also expressed that he would like to see the group be more resilient though, to learn how to battle through the inevitable challenges that will arise both in a game and over the course of a football season. Injuries happen, bad quarters happen, but good teams find a way to work through it. 

Alabama largely looked lackluster in their trip to Texas, but when the game was on the line, the Crimson Tide played complimentary football down the stretch and stole the game. That’s the thing about great programs, they expect to win, even when things go wrong. 

Obviously, CSU is not going to be Alabama, that’s not the point. It’s that a big part of having a winning culture comes down to the team’s mindset. And unfortunately, after years of being a losing football program, the Rams as a whole have lacked the proper mentality to be a real threat in the Mountain West. 

The hope is that Norvell and Co. will be able to exercise some of the demons that have plagued CSU. Through the first two weeks though, the first-year CSU coach has not been thrilled with the team’s attitude or body language as they’ve tried to work through some of the struggles.

“We really have to continue to work and get the mindset of our football team to where we want it,” Norvell said on Monday. 

Norvell talked about how there were moments in the Middle Tennessee game where the Rams played the way they wanted to, but far too frequently they did not. As the 59-year-old head coach sees it, that largely comes down to a lack of preparation and the inability to battle through adversity. 

He stressed that the coaches are always going to be there for the team, but there’s ultimately only so much that they can do if the guys are not willing to go the extra mile to ensure they are ready to go to battle. It takes more than just a couple hours of practice every day and team meetings to get this team where they need to be, and Norvell wants everyone to embrace that. 

“They have class and they have other responsibilities, but good football teams all over the country, they come back and they watch film, they’re getting with their coaches, and they’re spending extra time to really sink their teeth into the game plan.

“We’ve got some guys that have done that, and some guys that don’t understand that all,” Norvell continued. “We have some room to improve in that area. It’s part of teaching a football team how to win, and how to prepare to win.” 

Another thing that Norvell would really like to see from his young team is to get rid of the bad body language, which he believes reflects attitude. Norvell referred to CSU as a “scarred football team” and explained that the coaches need to build up the self esteem of a lot of the players after years of losing. He talked about how the guys have had to hear a lot of vocal criticism over the last five years and that’s challenging, but ultimately they’ve got to learn how to work through adverse circumstances. 

“We didn’t handle it well last week,” Norvell said. “And all of our players have to be mindful of their body language and, and their response to adversity. We’ll keep continuing to teach that and to press for that… But I think the negativity is not good around this football team, and we’ve got to make it a positive thing. We got a lot of good kids. They’re working hard, they’re trying to do the right thing. And we’re trying to pour positivity in them so they have confidence to do what they can do.”

As Norvell has been very honest about, rebuilding CSU is going to take more than just adding talented players to the roster. It’s going to take a complete shift in mentality. 

What’s important to remember is the excitement that swept over Ram Nation over the last six months, after seeing the way that Norvell embraced the community, recruited, and just generally conducted himself. 

I’m not saying that results do not matter, because they absolutely do. If CSU is still struggling immensely at this time next year, there will be a little more cause for concern. While I may sound like a broken record at times, the reality is that Ram Nation is just going to have to display a little patience. 

Going from a ground and pound offense to a finesse passing offense is not a process that happens in one summer, at least not perfectly. Having said that though, we’ve all seen firsthand just how potent this offensive approach can be. In three games against the Green & Gold, Norvell-led Nevada teams averaged 48 points per game, including a resounding 52-10 beatdown in the 2021 regular season finale.

Having already seen Norvell’s teams may have created unrealistic expectations for what CSU would be in year one.  The Air Raid offense looked pretty much unstoppable when the Rams were being torched by it, and after two long years of meathead football, the fans in Fort Collins were chomping at the bit to resemble the flashy Wolf Pack teams that frankly kicked our ass multiple times. But the team is just not there yet. 

Other than a few moments, largely shots over the top from Clay Millen (QB) to Tory Horton (WR), CSU has not really been able to establish much offensively through the first two weeks of action. Obviously, the offensive line struggling to protect the quarterback has played a big part in that. The inability to consistently run the football has not helped CSU’s cause either. Both will be areas that the Rams must improve moving forward. 

But for CSU to get where the program should be, contending in the MW, battling with rivals, etc, the biggest change that needs to occur is eliminating the losing culture that’s been extremely prevalent in this program for far too long. We’ll see how the Rams respond as the season progresses.