Monday Presser: Game Reps In Practice Translate for McCullouch

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Colorado State (2-3, 1-0) at New Mexico (2-4, 0-2)
Dreamstyle Stadium | Albuquerque, N.M.
Saturday, Oct. 16, 5 p.m.

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Rams Step into Mountain Division Play

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Building depth is part of the process, but so is developing production.

Bit by bit, Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio is starting to fill the ledger in both columns. One of the latest entries has been wide receiver Ty McCullouch. The staff has always been impressed with his speed and the ability to beat a defense vertically, but they've been waiting for him to put it to full use.

Not on game day, but in practice. Addazio isn't sure why something clicked, but he's seen it happen for the junior target.

"I'm not sure, but over the past couple of weeks, Ty has noticeably picked up his practice intensity, his demeanor, everything," Addazio said Monday at his weekly press conference. "He's been very vocal out there, and it's been fun to watch, and it's showing up on the field. It's more validation of what your practice work has to look like if you want to have great results on the field."

Addazio mentioned he watched Nick Saban's press conference this week and how the Alabama coach talked about creating game reps in practice. If you don't get them there, Addazio said, you won't see them on game day either.

McCullouch has been doing it in practice, and in Saturday's win over San Jose State, he produced big with a 60-yard touchdown catch on third down, finishing with two catches for 71 yards.

"It's not going to mystically happen on Saturday. It won't happen," Addazio said. "So you either have them or you don't, and if you don't, you need to get it fixed or you'll get exactly what you deserve on Saturday.

"Ty, he is giving us a lot of game reps right now. So he's getting more playing time, he's making more plays. I think that's a great example of a guy on our team who is sort of bought in. You're in a foot race to get as many guys bought in as you can. I think we have a pretty fair amount bought in right now. I don't know that were 100 percent there, but were certainly more there than not there. That's part of team culture, and that's what it's all about."

Rocky Effect

The Mountain West can't shake Rocky Long or his defense. The longtime New Mexico and San Diego State head coach is back in Albuquerque, serving as the Lobos' defensive coordinator with his 3-3-5 look which brings a myriad of pressures from a host of angles.

It keeps an offensive line honest, as the goal is to make the group see one thing while another is coming.

"It's a 3-3-5, or a 4-2-5 defense, and they give a multiplicity of different looks and the most pressures I've ever seen by one team," Addazio said. "I don't know their details, but in that scheme, I'm sure they have to spend an awful lot of time in that scheme, and I'm guessing it's hard to get your fundamental work done, because there's just so much of it, volume.

"For us, the key is to simplify it and rely on our fundamentals and our explosiveness and try to not get fooled, tricked or stunned by all the movements and all the pressures. We are in a foot race right now to become comfortable on all their patterns."

Addazio said the defense creates tackles for loss by design, and the Rams' offense is going to have to be mentally ready to attack from behind the chains at times. That's how it works. It's how it's always worked in the Mountain West when Long brings a defense to town.

Long is still trying to build the defense, however, as the Lobos average 5.3 tackles for loss per game, one of the lower figures in the Mountain West.

Here and There

Colorado State has won 10 consecutive meetings with the Lobos, the last loss in the series coming on the road in 2009. The Rams lead the series in Albuquerque overall, 20-14. … The Rams will be looking to win consecutive Mountain West games for the first time since 2019, when they won three in a row, a run which started at New Mexico (10/11-11/2, UNM, Fresno State, UNLV). … CSU has won its first game in the Mountain Division three of the past four seasons. … Graduate transfer guard Vincent Picozzi will have season-ending surgery this week, Addazio said.

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