Rams looking to ignite offense with major changes

FORT COLLINS – It didn’t take long for Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo to try getting a much-needed spark ahead of their week 2 home opener against UTSA.

Bobo announced at his Monday press conference that he would start Faton Bauta, who completed six of nine passes for 32 yards against the University of Colorado. Bauta also scrambled for 39 yards, giving the Rams offense more of a dual-threat quarterback than last year’s starter Nick Stevens.

“He gave us a little bit more energy, with the ability to make plays with his legs,” said Bobo, admitting that much of Bauta’s success came when the game was well out of hand.

Though Bobo still had a difficult time talking about the number of challenges his team faced against CU, he made it a point that the Rams are moving forward.

“We didn’t execute the assignments and we didn’t put ourselves in the position to make plays,” he said. “But we can’t let CU beat us twice. We’ve got to be ready for this week.”

Bobo went on to say the 44-7 meltdown was a reflection on the entire team and coaching staff. Specifically, he explained how he needs to be more aggressive with his play calling and “taking more shots on first down.” Doing so would obviously make things easier on later downs.

One eyesore that the Rams must figure out in a hurry is where the offense will come from. When Michael Gallup led CSU receivers with four catches for 38 yards against CU, it brought to attention the lack of firepower on the outside.

“That’s a lot of production gone offensively,” said Bobo, referring to Rashard Higgins, Joe Hansley, Kivon Cartwright and others from a year ago. “We’ve got to be able to generate some more maybe with the quarterback run game until we get everybody on the same page with some skill players.”

While the spotlight this week likely shines brightest on Bauta, there will be a great deal of pressure on the Rams defense as they try to stop UTSA, a team that saw very little resistance in a 26-13 home opener win over Alabama State.

The Roadrunners offense totaled 449 yards of offense and saw 10 receivers record a catch while UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm was 20-of-25 for 274 yards and two touchdowns, adding 52 yards rushing and another score. Those numbers are eerily similar to what CU quarterback Sefo Liufau put up against the Rams, giving the Rams a bit of a headstart on trying to shut down the dual-threat in Sturm.

Defensive coordinator Marty English admitted that last week’s practice didn’t exactly translate to the game and that they “didn’t play fast enough.” He stressed that this week will be all about attention to detail and getting the defense to play fast without thinking too much. Fortunately for the Rams, he has an idea in mind as to how many defensive stops will be needed for a win.

“We’ve got to formulate three or four stops a half,” English said.

That’s only doable if Bauta and the Rams offense can stay on the field for more than three plays at a time. Whether or not the game plan comes to fruition on the field or not, it’s clear the Rams coaching staff is focused on what went wrong versus Colorado and trying to move forward with their focus on UTSA this weekend.