Colorado State University Athletics
Rams ready to begin “second season” at Hawaii on Saturday
9/26/2017 8:28:00 PM | Football
CSU feeling confident coming out of bye week, ready for stiff test from Rainbow Warriors
The Colorado State Rams are coming off a productive bye week, and are set to begin league play with a trip to Hawai'i on Saturday.
The bye week came at a good time for the Rams (2-2, 0-0 MW), who were able to have a clean separation between non-conference and Mountain West play.
"The week off came at a good time for our football team," CSU Head Coach Mike Bobo said. "It was good to get the week off and get back to fundamentals last week."
CSU's main objective for the season was to be competing for a Mountain West championship, and the journey to that goal begins Saturday.
"The message to the team was that this is our 'Season No. 2', as we start conference play," Bobo explained. "It's one day at a time, one week at a time. Conference games are huge and important for us, and we have a tough task this week as we go on the road to play a very good football team."
Hawai'i (2-2, 0-1 MW) began its league slate along the Front Range last weekend, falling in overtime at Wyoming. The game was close all the way through, with the score tied after each quarter. Wyoming won on a 25-yard TD pass from Josh Allen to James Price on its first play of OT.
The bye weekend allowed the Rams the rare opportunity to watch their MW peers live on television. The team was definitely watching the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night.
"Everybody that watched the game against Wyoming saw a team that played extremely hard and was able to move the ball offensively and played extremely well on defense," Bobo said. "Wyoming just made a few more plays than they did, [including] one in the kicking game that was huge and were able to pull out the victory in overtime. But when you turn on the tape, the tape doesn't lie; this is going to be a tough challenge for our football team."
A few of UH's offensive stars stood out against the Cowboys. Junior quarterback Dru Brown threw for 280 yards on 29-of-40 attempts with a touchdown, bringing his season TD count to eight. Senior running back Diocemy Saint Juste ran for 124 yards on 26 carries and also had three receptions for 34 yards, while sophomore slot receiver John Ursua had 102 yards on eight catches.
Ursua currently leads the nation in receiving yards per game (151.0) and ranks second in receptions per game (10.0). He has been Brown's favorite target this season, totaling 453 yards and three TDs in just three games played.
"He's a tough guy to guard," CSU defensive back Justin Sweet said of Ursua. "He's quick, he has agility in the slot and he plays hard. He looks like he has fun while he plays; it's going to be a tough matchup for us but we're looking forward to the challenge."
CSU's offense has reason to be confident that it can produce points in Honolulu, however. Senior QB Nick Stevens leads the MW and ranks 15th in the NCAA in passing yards per game (306.8) and also leads the conference in points responsible for (54).
In their last game before their bye week, the Rams tallied 22 first downs and scored 23 points at No. 1 Alabama – the most points the Crimson Tide had allowed to a non-Power 5 program in nearly a decade. The following week, Alabama's defense surrendered only three first downs while shutting out a previously-unbeaten Vanderbilt team on the road.
The Rams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter at Alabama, exemplifying an attitude that Coach Bobo has acknowledged on several occasions this season.
"What I saw out of the first four weeks from our football team is that we are going to play for 60 minutes," Bobo said. "If we can clean up some of the things fundamentally, the little things that can cost you games… if we can clean some of those things up and limit [them], we'll have a chance to be in every football game."
MATCHUP NOTABLES – HAWAI'I
The bye week came at a good time for the Rams (2-2, 0-0 MW), who were able to have a clean separation between non-conference and Mountain West play.
"The week off came at a good time for our football team," CSU Head Coach Mike Bobo said. "It was good to get the week off and get back to fundamentals last week."
CSU's main objective for the season was to be competing for a Mountain West championship, and the journey to that goal begins Saturday.
"The message to the team was that this is our 'Season No. 2', as we start conference play," Bobo explained. "It's one day at a time, one week at a time. Conference games are huge and important for us, and we have a tough task this week as we go on the road to play a very good football team."
Hawai'i (2-2, 0-1 MW) began its league slate along the Front Range last weekend, falling in overtime at Wyoming. The game was close all the way through, with the score tied after each quarter. Wyoming won on a 25-yard TD pass from Josh Allen to James Price on its first play of OT.
The bye weekend allowed the Rams the rare opportunity to watch their MW peers live on television. The team was definitely watching the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night.
"Everybody that watched the game against Wyoming saw a team that played extremely hard and was able to move the ball offensively and played extremely well on defense," Bobo said. "Wyoming just made a few more plays than they did, [including] one in the kicking game that was huge and were able to pull out the victory in overtime. But when you turn on the tape, the tape doesn't lie; this is going to be a tough challenge for our football team."
A few of UH's offensive stars stood out against the Cowboys. Junior quarterback Dru Brown threw for 280 yards on 29-of-40 attempts with a touchdown, bringing his season TD count to eight. Senior running back Diocemy Saint Juste ran for 124 yards on 26 carries and also had three receptions for 34 yards, while sophomore slot receiver John Ursua had 102 yards on eight catches.
Ursua currently leads the nation in receiving yards per game (151.0) and ranks second in receptions per game (10.0). He has been Brown's favorite target this season, totaling 453 yards and three TDs in just three games played.
"He's a tough guy to guard," CSU defensive back Justin Sweet said of Ursua. "He's quick, he has agility in the slot and he plays hard. He looks like he has fun while he plays; it's going to be a tough matchup for us but we're looking forward to the challenge."
CSU's offense has reason to be confident that it can produce points in Honolulu, however. Senior QB Nick Stevens leads the MW and ranks 15th in the NCAA in passing yards per game (306.8) and also leads the conference in points responsible for (54).
In their last game before their bye week, the Rams tallied 22 first downs and scored 23 points at No. 1 Alabama – the most points the Crimson Tide had allowed to a non-Power 5 program in nearly a decade. The following week, Alabama's defense surrendered only three first downs while shutting out a previously-unbeaten Vanderbilt team on the road.
The Rams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter at Alabama, exemplifying an attitude that Coach Bobo has acknowledged on several occasions this season.
"What I saw out of the first four weeks from our football team is that we are going to play for 60 minutes," Bobo said. "If we can clean up some of the things fundamentally, the little things that can cost you games… if we can clean some of those things up and limit [them], we'll have a chance to be in every football game."
MATCHUP NOTABLES – HAWAI'I
- The Rainbow Warriors are 5-3 at home under Coach Rolovich, and 11-11 since 2014 (compared to 5-17 on the road or at neutral sites).
- Hawai'i began the year 2-0 with wins over Massachusetts and Western Carolina, but dropped to 2-2 following losses at UCLA and Wyoming.
- Hawai'i is 8-33 (.195) in MW play since joining the league in 2013.
- UH blocked three kicks against Western Carolina, setting a new single-game record. Defensive lineman Meffy Koloamatangi had two of the blocks.
- Colorado State's offense ranks sixth in FBS (1st MW) in fewest sacks allowed (0.5 per game; 2 total) and 13th (1st MW) in tackles-for-loss allowed (4.0).
- Defensively, the Rams rank third among all FBS schools in red zone defense (57.1%) and fifth in interceptions (7).
- Overall, the Rams have won the last six contests in the series, dating back to 1995 when the two teams were members of the WAC. Dating back to 1989, CSU has won nine of the last 10 matchups.
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