Rams Notebook: Everything you might have missed in the win over Wyoming

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State football (1-1) is coming off of its biggest win since upsetting Arkansas at home back in 2018. After a half-decade of frustration and misery, the Rams finally defeated Wyoming, 34-24, at Canvas Stadium last Thursday night. 

Now that we’ve had a few days to let the excitement of the upset mellow out a little bit, I went back and rewatched the 2020 Border War in its entirety. Here’s a recap of everything and everyone that especially stood out in the win over the Pokes. 

3 stars 

Marshaun Cameron 

The defense has plenty of issues to work out in the secondary after giving up far too many explosive plays through the air for a second consecutive week. Even if there is plenty of room for improvement, though, the one guy that absolutely balled out against the Cowboys was redshirt senior cornerback Marshaun Cameron. 

Coming into the matchup, Cameron promised that the green and gold would finally snap their losing streak to the team up north, and thanks to his play on the gridiron — his words were not hollow. Cameron forced turnovers on each of Wyoming’s first two offensive possessions — first returning an interception off QB Levi Williams for a 30-yard pick-six less than 3 minutes into the ballgame — and then stripping Williams on the following series to set up CSU’s first offensive touchdown.

When you’re underdogs against an extremely tough and well-coached team like Wyoming, you absolutely have to create positive momentum for your side. Cameron did exactly that — and it was a big reason why the Rams were able to bring the Bronze Boot back to its rightful home. 

Years from now, when Ram fans are gathered together and tossing back a few cold ones, Cameron’s name will most surely come up in the conversation of all-time great Border War performances. 

Dante Wright 

The Rams desperately missed having Wright in the lineup in the loss to Fresno State, so it’s not surprising that getting him frequent touches was a point of emphasis for the offense in the win over Wyoming. 

On the first offensive series alone, CSU ran five plays and three of them were designed to get the ball into the hands of No. 22. Unfortunately, for the Rams, Patrick O’Brien’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 5, so the first possession ended up stalling at about midfield. As we saw throughout the game on Thursday night, though, just having Wright in the lineup made CSU a whole lot more explosive. 

Wright finished the win with 146 receiving yards on 10 catches for an impressive average of 14.6 yards per reception. His average was slightly skewed by a 42-yard catch, but even if you took that play away, he still would have averaged about 10 yards per reception. What’s more, Wright caught nine of his final 10 targets and did so through a variety of different routes — demonstrating not only that he can be the type of consistent receiver the Rams lean on up and down the field — but also that defenses won’t be able to just bank on him going deep or staying close for a screen. 

As a true freshman in 2019, Wright exploded onto the scene with an impressive 57-catch season for 805 yards and four touchdown receptions. But after catching touchdowns in each of CSU’s first three games, and rushing for scores in two of them, Wright only found the end zone once over the final nine games. What’s even more confusing is that Wright only had one game with 100 or more receiving yards, and unsurprisingly, it was a Rams victory (New Mexico, Oct. 11, 2019.)

Looking at the entire situation, it makes sense why Wright’s numbers dipped to an extent — Collin Hill went down with a season-ending injury and defenses started to focus on not allowing the speedy youngster to beat them over the top, especially after seeing Colorado, Western Illinois and Arkansas all make the same mistake. 

That said, as Wright demonstrated against Wyoming, he is more than capable of working the sticks through the intermediate game. His routes were smooth, his cuts were sharp, and his hands were soft against the Pokes. Obviously, not having Warren Jackson in the picture helped Wright shine a little brighter as it freed up some targets that most definitely would have gone the veteran’s way. 

Moving forward, though, it will be intriguing to see how offensive coordinator Joey Lynch continues to create opportunities for Wright. He’s impressed since the very first day he put on pads in training camp his freshman year, and I fully expect Wright to take his game to the next level in 2020. He’s too fast, too savvy, and too reliable for Mountain West defenses to consistently handle. And it certainly doesn’t hurt his cause that the Rams also have the best tight end in the league to help alleviate some of the attention away from him. 

Robert Liss 

There were quite a few players deserving of this third star on special teams. 

Ryan Stonehouse dropped bombs all over Sonny Lubick Field and played a crucial role in helping the Rams dominate field position throughout the night. Thomas Pannanzio had two really solid kickoff returns. Tywan Francis had a beastly block, and Christian Cumber made a terrific play on punt coverage.

However, if we are going to highlight someone individually, it kinda has to be true freshman kicker Robert Liss, who stepped up for CSU in a big way Thursday night.

With a chance to put CSU up three scores in the first quarter, Liss missed his first field goal attempt — a 45-yarder that would have given the Rams a 17-0 lead. After redeeming himself with a successful 29-yard field goal before halftime, though, Liss really came up clutch in the fourth quarter.

With the Rams leading by a touchdown late in the fourth, Liss drilled a game-sealing 48-yard field goal to give CSU an insurmountable 34-24 lead. The kick itself was impressive as it was right down the middle and had enough leg to be good from 50 yards out. Even more impressive, though, was that a true freshman had the composure to deliver in what will likely be one of the biggest moments of his entire collegiate career. He may not get the same love and appreciation that he deserves, but those that watched the game closely will never forget what the kicker with two left-footed shoes did in the win over Wyoming. 

MVP 

Trey McBride 

It’s no secret that Trey McBride is one of the most talented players in the Mountain West — and the junior tight end certainly played like it against Wyoming. 

McBride caught five passes on Thursday night, finishing the game with 90 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. If he wouldn’t have been pushed out of bounds at the 1-yard line on another reception, McBride would have scored three times. Even without that score, though, McBride was about as dominant as it gets. 

While blocking for the running backs, McBride looked like a man amongst boys, as he constantly put Pokes flat on their backs. And when Patrick O’Brien targeted him in the passing game, McBride came up big as well — generally helping the offense make up for a lack of success in the Red Zone. Through two games, CSU has just 13 points to show for five trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. However, when No. 85 is hauling in touchdown receptions of 25+ yards, it helps offset things quite a bit. 

As CSU continues to refine its passing offense and find ways for more explosive plays downfield, Ram fans should expect to see plenty more of McBride in the passing offense. In roughly four and a half quarters with O’Brien as the team’s starting quarterback, McBride has scored three times already — and along with Wright, appears to be the gunslinger’s most trusted weapon on offense. 

After exploring the possibility of transferring out of the program this offseason, it’s safe to say that everyone in Fort Collins is thankful that McBride decided to stick with the Rams for at least one more season. Players like Trey do not come along very often, but when they do it’s a genuine pleasure to watch them on a weekly basis. 

Takeaways

D-Line is for real 

While it may be clear that there is still quite a bit of room for growth on the defensive side of the football, the defensive line and front-seven in general, have played extremely well for the Rams so far this season. 

Against Wyoming on Thursday night, CSU’s defensive line constantly made things difficult for an extremely experienced Cowboys o-line that returned six different key contributors from 2019. The Rams were able to create pressure in the passing game, sacking Levi Williams six times and hitting him another seven times. And despite giving up 144 yards on the ground, the front-seven did enough to force the Pokes to rely on their aerial attack — particularly after CSU went up 14-0 in the first quarter. 

In total, CSU’s three starting linebackers combined for 29 total tackles, two sacks and five tackles for loss. But much of their success was a result of the dirty work being done by the guys in the trenches. If the Rams can keep getting this type of production from Toby McBride, Scott Patchan, Manny Jones, etc., the Rams are going to have one of the better defensive front-sevens in the conference. They just need to tighten things up in the secondary and they should be golden. 

A’Jon Vivens at RB1

In order for the Rams to have consistent success this season, being able to to put the ball on the ground and dominate their opponents with the rushing attack is going to be an important factor — particularly in games where CSU is able to establish an early lead. 

Against Wyoming, CSU only averaged 2.7 yards per carry on 37 attempts, which really could have come back to bite them in the butt. Luckily, CSU did just enough with the passing offense to survive on Thursday night. 

As we progress through the 2020 season, someone, if not multiple backs, need to be able to step up and shoulder the burden for the team. 

Maybe in the end it will be Marcus McElroy, who started the season as the team’s top running back on the depth chart, but has struggled to get much going early. As of right now, though, A’Jon Vivens appears to be the guy that needs more touches. 

Vivens is significantly smaller than his high school running mate, McElroy, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in explosiveness. Vivens is a shifty runner with impressive speed, and what’s really stood out so far is his vision in the backfield. 

Against the Pokes, Vivens led the team with 62 rushing yards on 14 carries. McElroy, on the other hand, only recorded 20 rushing yards on 16 carries. Now, obviously, there were a lot of factors to consider — for instance, McElroy was primarily getting looks between the tackles while Vivens got some touches to the outside. But in general, Vivens just appears to be the more dynamic runner of the two options. Looking at the numbers, it’s pretty tough to argue against the difference in productivity as well. 

Moving forward, it would benefit the Rams to find more ways for Vivens to touch the football on offense. Whether it’s quick passes to the flat, traditional carries between the tackles, or sweeps/pitches designed to take advantage of his speed, Vivens is simply too talented to not get more involved.

Next Up

Colorado State will attempt to take down Boise State for the first time in program history on Thursday. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. MT on FS1.