FORT COLLINS – There comes a time in a team’s season where something has to click. That moment came Saturday afternoon for Colorado State as the Rams finally showed what they can do when they perform for 60 minutes.
In a handful of games, CSU showed flashes of brilliance. But there always seemed to be that one quarter or half where their youth and inexperience could make fans cringe.
Head coach Mike Bobo and company solved their third quarter riddle against the Bulldogs and are starting to peak just in time for a date in Colorado Springs with Air Force.
“We finally put together four quarters,” said running back Izzy Matthews. “It’s just unfortunate that it happened nine games into the season.”
The numbers from this one were astounding. At one point in the second quarter, CSU had recorded 11 first downs while Fresno State had zero.
Nick Stevens continued his efficient, turnover-free play, Michael Gallup turned in another monster outing and the running game sliced through Fresno State’s defense.
And of course, the Rams’ defense pitched a shutout for the first time since 1997.
When asked about the possibility of a shutout, Bobo explained that you can’t take for granted an opportunity.
“Yes we were up, but you have 30 minutes left to play football with your family,” Bobo said. “We shouldn’t have any regrets. We only have three games left now. Why would we go through the motions for a half? Let’s go out there and play ball and enjoy every minute of it. Have that championship mindset of ‘I’m trying to dominate. I am trying to dominate my job on every play and that’s what we’ve talked about for the last two weeks.’ I was glad the guys came out and they did it. They took it upon themselves to play that way.”
These last three games are going to be interesting. Air Force, New Mexico and San Diego State are much more polished than Fresno State. Can you imagine if the Rams were to beat Air Force at the academy, handle the Lobos and then push the Aztecs to a fourth quarter game?
It’s very, very possible. You have to give Bobo and the coaching staff their dues for turning around what could have been a disaster of a season following the catastrophe against Colorado.
But you also have to credit the players for stepping up and instilling a winning attitude that’s contagious on and off the field.
“I think that people are coming together as one,” said Jake Schlager, speaking of the improvement of the defense. “You don’t see cliques in the locker room at all. Everybody is friends with everybody and that’s really awesome to see. In previous teams, people just always had their little cliques, like normal society does. The way that we’ve been able to come together as a team this year has been awesome to see and it’s a great experience.”
We now realize the talent is there for the Rams to be dangerous. They’ve got a coaching staff that preaches winning each day. And based on Schlager’s comments, we know that this team rallies around each other.
It definitely seems like the recipe is in place for this CSU team to dominate.
