Rams Fall on Road to No 5 Iowa

Calendar

Show:/

Sep 20

12-Days

Football

vs UTSA

Sep 27

5:30 PM

Football

vs Washington State

Oct 3

8:30 PM

Football

at San Diego State

Oct 10

7:00 PM

Football

vs Fresno State

Oct 18

5:00 PM

Football

vs Hawai'i

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In less than 4 minutes, the emotions turned.

Colorado State finished the first quarter in a scoreless tie with Iowa. The No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes. On the road at Kinnick Stadium.

Alright. That's pretty good.

Down 7-0 late in the first half, with a defense playing pretty stingy, the vibe was still really promising. The Rams, at 1-2 on the year, were hanging in there, holding their own.

Then 14 unanswered points later, the thoughts turned to pulling off the upset.

The Rams led 14-7 at half. They were out-rushing Iowa and the total yards were pretty close, with the Hawkeyes gaining most of it off two long pass plays. A team used to grinding out drives was being ground to a halt by Colorado State's defense.

It didn't last, as Iowa scored 14 unanswered in the third quarter – using a CSU turnover to set up one, a long punt return to tee up the other – en route to a 24-14 victory. Colorado State's upset bid may have come up short but nothing about the effort dampens the Rams' belief in what the rest of the season may still hold.

It was a 10-point loss, and it's not one the Rams feel good about. They didn't come seeking morale victories, but they did prove they could hang with a big, physical team.

"This stinks," tight end Trey McBride said. "It's frustrating, but we're going into conference play, and that's something I'm looking forward to, to see how we can bounce back."

Colorado State's second-quarter thunder started when Iowa shanked a punt, setting up the Rams in Iowa territory. After picking up a few key third downs, quarterback Todd Centeio scored on a 10-yard run off a designed draw to tie the game with 3:55 in the first half.

A sinking feeling crawled back in when Iowa hit a deep pass, but a few players later, Robert Floyd – who had been beaten in coverage on the earlier play – stepped in front of a Spencer Petras pass for his first career interception and returned it 62 yards to set up the offense once again.

The Rams picked up another key third down to the Iowa 3, and a play later Centeio found Gary Williams in the end zone for the short score, the first touchdown of his career.

What the Rams lament is the idea it could have been a bigger lead. In the first quarter, a flea-flicker was set up perfectly, leaving Trey McBride wide open down the sideline, but Centeio overshot him and the drive produced no points. The running game found the going rough – as expected against Iowa's front seven – made more difficult when starting running back David Bailey left the game after his first carry.

Still, Addazio never saw his team blink.

"I think what impressed me most was their resiliency and their physicality. Again, when you lose a star player like that on the first play of the game – you know we're already down a star player in Dante Wright – and our kids just didn't miss a beat and we kept going with that," he said. "I thought there were a lot of good plays. Obviously there are ones we'll look at and always wish you had back, that's always the case. That 10-point swing that happened in the third period, which started with the fumble on the exchange on the 6, but I thought we played hard. I think our team, we've been through the gauntlet here in the non-conference schedule, but I think it's going to make us better in the long run and the big picture. We just have to stick together and get healthy."

The defense played well, especially against the run, allowing Iowa less than 60 yards rushing in the game. The unit was also solid on third down, with the Hawkeyes converting just 4-of-13 in the game. The downside was Iowa was able to find holes in the secondary, throwing for 213 yards in the game with five plays of 20 yards or longer, two of them surpassing 40.

Iowa took the lead back and remained undefeated, taking advantage of short fields and scoring those 14 points in a 2:16 span. At the beginning of the fourth, a field goal made it a two-possession lead.

"This is a really good football team, and I thought we played tremendous up front," Addazio said. "Obviously the chunk plays came in the back end on us, but up front, we stopped the run. You can't stop the run better than that.

"Our team is learning how to play and learning how to beat that kind of team. That's evident. If you don't see that, then you don't want to see it."

The Rams come out of non-conference play 1-3. The third quarter has not been productive offensively, and it wasn't again against the Hawkeyes. But from the opening week to this point, the Rams have proved they can be a physical team on both front, foundations Addazio wants.

The record isn't anywhere close to what they've sought, but it hasn't put a damper on what the Rams feel they can still accomplish.

"I'm not discouraged at all. We can be an explosive team when we don't shoot ourselves in the foot and turn over the ball," defensive end Scott Patchan said. "I think if we take care of the penalties, the silly mistakes in formations that cause Coach Addazio to burn timeouts when we don't have to and we can play complementary football on both sides of the ball and our special teams unit as well, we can go ahead and accomplish great things in this conference. So, no, I'm not discouraged. The writing is on the wall as far."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Team Stats

Todd Centeio

Players Mentioned

David Bailey

Todd Centeio

Robert Floyd

Trey McBride

Scott Patchan

Gary Williams

Dante Wright

Players Mentioned

David Bailey

Todd Centeio

Robert Floyd

Trey McBride

Scott Patchan

Gary Williams

Dante Wright

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Colorado State University Athletics