Rams fall to 1-4 after dropping another winnable game to Utah State

LOGAN, Utah — Just a little football weather.

Coming into Saturday’s game against Utah State (3-1), head coach Mike Bobo hoped that mother nature would assist his team of double digit underdogs.

“Weather might be an issue which is a good thing,” Bobo told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “I’m excited. I hope it gets cold and I hope it rains a lot. That would be good for us.”

Bobo got his wish. With temperatures in the forties and rain falling throughout the contest, Colorado State football (1-4) battled the elements to put together one of their most complete performances of the season. In the cold Logan air, the Rams went blow for blow with one of the league’s deepest teams. Unfortunately for CSU, the green and gold made a few too many mistakes to come away with a win — a familiar theme in 2019.

Down a single possession at the start of the fourth quarter, Marvin Kinsey fumbled on back-to-back possessions. While there may be a dispute about whether the second play should have been blown dead — considering the senior running back clearly had his progress stopped before being stripped by a gang of USU defenders. Regardless, the play resulted in a defensive touchdown for the Aggies and proved to be the final nail in CSU’s coffin.

Here are three takeaways from the 34-24 loss at Utah State.

Defense does enough

The defense still gave up way too many explosive plays. In the first half alone, Utah State scored with a 100-yard kick return and passing touchdowns of 37 and 40 yards. However, it was also the defense that kept CSU in the game with five forced turnovers and only three offensive points allowed in the final two quarters.

“I thought our guys came and played extremely hard against a really good football team,” Bobo said. “I thought the defense played outstanding tonight.”

The first takeaway came on Utah State’s opening offensive possession, when Manny Jones stripped USU QB Jordan Love. It was a stellar game for Jones in general — the junior defensive end led the Rams with 10 total tackles, one sack and one tackle for a loss. Jones’ 10-tackle outing is the most by a defensive lineman since 2015.

“I have to watch the tape but I thought No. 33 was all over the field for us,” Bobo said.

Later in the half, redshirt freshman linebacker Troy Golden blocked a punt — something the Rams hadn’t done since 2014. The Rams capped off the first half with their first interception this season. Senior cornerback Andre Neal jumped the route and took the football back the other way for six points — the Rams’ first defensive score of 2019.

“We had a chance to change the game,” Neal said. “You always want to create big momentum plays.”

In the second half, CSU, once again was able to force a turnover on the Aggies’ first offensive series. Freshman cornerback Keevan Bailey undercut an inside route and picked off Love to set up a successful 45-yard field goal by kicker Caden Camper (24-24). Although it did not end up leading to a touchdown, the play was huge for momentum and really set the tone for the third and fourth quarter.

USU’s fifth turnover was the result of a botched snap near the goal line — and although the defense didn’t actually cause the play — the Rams will never apologize for a goal line stand.

Looking at the defensive performance as a whole, the unit did enough to earn a win Saturday night, especially against a talented offense like Utah State’s. Obviously, they were assisted by the poor weather, particularly in the later stages of the game. But if there is a silver lining in another frustrating loss, it’s that the defense truly left it all on the field.

Inconsistent offense kills CSU

Offense has always been the team’s identity under Bobo but the group really struggled in the loss. The passing game was inconsistent, the run game was nonexistent and when the defense stepped up in the second half, the offense couldn’t do anything to reward them.

Possession after possession, the Rams struggled to do much of anything and consistently wasted great starting field position.

“Offensively, we couldn’t get anything going in the run game,” Bobo said. “The pass game was pretty much ineffective.”

In total, the Rams finished 4-of-16 on third down (25 percent), 0-of-2 on fourth down and finished with a season-low 79 rushing yards on 35 attempts (2.3 yards per carry). Had it not been for the big plays on defense, the final score likely would not have been so close.

Rams still don’t know how to win

Moving forward, CSU needs to figure out how to play a complete game. There is clearly talent on the roster but the inability to have both sides show up has killed them all year.

When the offense goes off, the defense cannot tackle. When the defense shows up, the offense can’t move the football.

Whether the issues come down to preparation, effort, etc., the staff has to figure out how to start winning some of these tight contests. There’s only so many ways you can spin these losses and the fans are clearly tired of hearing about “next week”.