Rams Working Toward Consistent Defensive Performance

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – None of it made sense in the early morning hours, still sitting in front of his locker at Canvas Stadium.

Ellison Hubbard remembers heading to the locker room at half knowing the performance of Colorado State's defense had been solid. Toledo had only rushed for 95 yards, thrown for 77. The Rams had allowed one sustained drive to the Rockets early, then were tagged late with a big play setting up a quick drive.

Still, a defense they felt they could win with Saturday evening.

"The first half, we were starting to look like a defense. We went in the locker room and said we just have to keep going after it," Hubbard said. "I don't know what happened, but we need to make sure we can stay consistent. If we stop them in the first half, we need to make sure we're continuing to help the offense out."

Then the third quarter happened. Toledo rushed for 224 yards in those 15 minutes and scored on explosive rushing plays – 37, 75 and 47 yards. Those glitches are what haunt the Rams on defense this season.

The first and fourth quarter at Arkansas. The fourth quarter with Colorado.

Would you believe CSU has been a better third-down defense this season than last? It's true. But the other numbers are facts, too – the yards allowed per play, the number of explosive plays yielded.

"We've got to play better, and we have to put our guys in position to make plays, too," head coach Mike Bobo said. "It could be taking more chances, it could be a couple of different things we can do. At the end of the day, we've got to find ways to keep chopping wood. We can't hang our head."

It's a sore subject for defensive end Manny Jones. He's not happy about how the season has played out, how the defense has not been able to survive lapses. Explosive plays have developed through a myriad of reasons, execution errors, personal mistakes, communication gaps.

"Oh, it's going to get fixed. There's no doubt about that," Jones said. "It's just doing the little things right. We have to get those right. We can't afford to make the little mistakes that lead to big plays. It's not how we're built. We can't afford to give up little, small mistakes, so we have to execute and communicate better.

"I play ticked off all the time. It's how I play. I think the defense overall is getting to that point where we know we've got it, we've just got to show everybody. We know we've worked for it. It's just putting it all out there on the field the whole game. We work hard, but it shows for one or two quarters. We have to play the whole game. We have to emphasize playing the whole game tough."

Big plays will happen. Bobo sees it on film to just about every defense, and the fans can see it all day Saturday flipping through channels from game to game, conference to conference. Defenses can survive big plays, but for Colorado State, they've been leading to scoring plays.

Step one has to be getting a guy on the ground. Step two is reacting correctly the next play. Be mentally tougher.

"I think if we could just calm down when we're under pressure and just focus on the play we get, then we could go out there and dominate up front and as a defense," Hubbard said. "At times, I think we start thinking as a defense when we get the call. I think if we can calm down, we could be good.

"I think we're getting there. When we give up big plays, we're like, 'dang, how did that happen?' We just need calm down and say, 'that's a big play, we can stop them still.'"

The idea of doing it against a Utah State offense which leads the Mountain West in scoring (40 points per game) and total offense (562.7 yards per outing) is a tall task. The Aggies were potent in 2018, too, yet CSU found a way to slow them down.

Bobo talks of the positives and rallying around those, building confidence here to have it spread there. In spots, the Rams have been good. Overall, the numbers don't suggest the same feeling.

"We've just got to keep chopping wood, and keep trying to get better. Obviously we're not playing at a high level right now defensively, but we've got to find ways to get small victories, third-down stops, stops in the red zone, which we were able to do against these guys last year, things like that," Bobo said. "I think that will give us confidence to hopefully continue to make plays on a more consistent basis. We're giving up too many yards per play, which is in big chunks, which is tough. I think we're looking for – I don't want to say bend, not break – but we have to be good in situational defense, and that's third down and red zone and hopefully cause some turnovers."

That, and do it consistently throughout a game. It confounds the players and coaches alike the performance of the first half against Toledo transformed into the Rockets' third-quarter outburst.

It didn't look the same, and that's at the heart of the matter.

"We have to keep our foot on the pedal. You loosen up, things like that happen," Jones said. "Assignment and execution is what we talk about, that we have to stay on them. We should be able to keep it like that, but little things like not having enough people on the field, not the right personnel, that kills you.

"The first four games, we haven't played all four quarters, a complete game. We've had spurts, but we need a complete game to win. It's having the mindset to play four quarters, and if so, play more. Just play until the end."

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