Run-pass balance helping Rams' efficiency on offense

FORT COLLINS – Very rarely does a team’s offense improve soon after its starting quarterback goes down with an injury. Ironically, that’s just what happened with Colorado State when Collin Hill was sidelined with a season-ending injury earlier this month.

Rams’ head coach Mike Bobo had no choice than to lean on his offensive line, a trio of running backs and a backup quarterback that looked nothing short of abysmal in the season opener.

The UNLV game last week may be the blueprint for the CSU offense.

Nick Stevens finished 21-of-28 for 237 with two touchdowns and no interceptions, a performance that Bobo wants his quarterback to build on moving forward.

“Last game, we were very efficient,” Bobo said, regarding the play of Stevens against the Rebels. “He did a nice job of going where we needed to go with the ball and completing a high percentage of passes.”

The formula is now there for the CSU offense. Play complementary football, mix up the tempo with the occasional hurry-up and take advantage of chunk plays in the passing game when they’re available.

Not to mention, the Rams continue to avoid turning the ball over.

It’s a recipe that CSU must maintain if they want to be involved in postseason play. Dalyn Dawkins, who remains in a timeshare with Marvin Kinsey and Izzy Matthews at running back, stresses the importance of the offense staying balanced following the bye week.

“It starts at every position,” said Dawkins, explaining how the running game got going against UNLV. “Everybody’s doing their job now.”

Dawkins and company figure to be in a good place mentally when it comes to putting points on the board. Going back to that wild fourth quarter against Boise State, the Rams have scored 62 points in their last five quarters.

It’s a trend that Stevens hopes to maintain for the remainder of the season.

“It’s really important,” he said, talking about playing complementary football. “The last few games last year where we had that balance and had our running game going as strong as it would, I played my best in those games. I think that having a strong running game really opens up passing lanes down the field and also vice versa. When you’re throwing the ball at will, they (the defense) kind of have to drop some extra guys out of the box and then you’re able to run. So it’s hugely important to have that balance and ability to move the ball on either aspect.”

All that said, let’s take a closer look at the UNLV game and note how dangerous this CSU offense can be when everything clicks.

1. The three-headed monster of Dawkins, Kinsey and Matthews combined for 182 yards on 39 carries. That can be attributed to the offensive line getting excellent push at the line of scrimmage, as well as the running backs “finishing runs” as Bobo would say. While the Rams’ head coach said he’s waiting for one to separate from the pack, he has to be pleased with the production at this position.
2. Nine different receivers caught a pass against the Rebels. Michael Gallup has established himself as the clear number one target, but it’s huge that guys like Robert Ruiz, Olabisi Johnson and others are starting to take the next step as additional options for Stevens.
3. Stevens posted a QBR of 95.3 compared to the 43.2 rating of opposing quarterback Dalton Sneed. Stevens averaged 8.5 yards per completion and worked through his progressions effectively on the way to hitting the open receiver.
4. Though Anthony Hawkins lost a fumble at one point, the game was already in hand. CSU will look to keep on avoiding turnovers after the bye week.
5. Maybe most impressively, the Rams possessed the ball for nearly twice as long as the Rebels (39:37 to 20:23). That’s the number one indicator of how balanced and dominant the offense really was.