FORT COLLINS, CO- Saturday night’s matchup between Colorado State and the Cougars of Washington State was one fueled by offseason hype and encouraging signs in camp ahead of week one for the Rams. The last meeting between these two teams took place last season in week 3. The game ended in Pullman 38-7 in favor of the Cougars. For the Rams, many of the same problems befell them as they lost to the Cougars 50-24.
It looked like a promising start for the Rams who forced a three-and-out on the first defensive possession and put together a good offensive drive that stalled out in the red zone that ended in a field goal. However, that would be the last time they scored until the 4th quarter. The Cougars dominated on the offensive side of the ball the rest of the way, having 556 total yards of offense, with 466 of those accumulating through the air. The Rams’ secondary could not contain Cameron Ward’s air attack, specifically to receiver Lincoln Victor, who reeled in 168 yards receiving. The Cougars went 9-14 on 3rd down, and controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes of the game compared to the Rams 22.
The defense was not the biggest ire of the Rams on Saturday however, as the offense created no threat for the Cougars. When Colorado State did have the ball, nothing was working. For the first three quarters, the Rams made one trip to the red zone and that was the very first drive of the game. After that the Rams punted 5 times, turned the ball over on downs twice, and had two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
The game really got away from them in the 3rd quarter, when the Rams came in down 17-3. What was still a recoverable game became a losing affair, as the Rams received the ball at kickoff, went 3 and out, and allowed the Cougars to go 70 yards down the field efficiently for a John Mateer 3 yard touchdown run. The Rams came out the next drive looking to throw, which worked for one play before Clay Millen was intercepted by Jaden Hicks of the Cougars and returned for a touchdown, pushing the game to 29-3. Later in the quarter, Clay was banged up on a hit and taken out of the game. Enter Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi who led the Rams to their only touchdown scoring drives with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Coach Jay Norvell later credited the 3rd quarter as the reason they lost, as they just never had a response for that aggressive Cougar team.
Not everything went wrong for the Rams. There were flashes of promise from many different parts of the team. The offensive line allowed just one sack throughout the 60 minutes. Two NDSU transfers shined, with Kobe Johnson breaking for a 98 yard kick return touchdown, and Tony Pierce Jr. getting a fumble recovery as well. Tory Horton and Justus Ross Simmons had flashes of potential at times with both Clay Millen and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi. Norvell in the post game press conference harped on the fact that there were just those certain plays that stopped them from gaining any traction to continue moving the ball, which can be backed up by the Rams being 1-10 on 3rd down conversions. Norvell stated in his presser that this has nothing to do with the guys on the team. He insisted throughout all questions that his guys have what it takes, that there are many talented young men in that locker room that just need the right opportunities in the game to show what they can do.
The Rams come off this loss heading into a bye week before they face the Colorado Buffaloes down in Boulder, CO. Coach was unsure about having a bye this early in the season when the schedules were released, but made comments during the presser about the need for some rest for the guys. Norvell also stated the need to find the team’s rhythm and get the young guys acquainted now that they had experience in a game against a Power-5 opponent. The Rams will need to try and find their offensive identity specifically coming into this bye week to be able to try and find rhythm to handle and keep up with a fast paced high scoring Buffalo team, as well as a hard environment to play in like Folsom field.
Your CSU Rams will make their return to the field on September 16th, at Folsom Field versus the Colorado Buffaloes at 8 p.m., looking for a way to show everyone the kind of team they can be against a tough in-state opponent.