Monday Presser: Film Answers Pose More Questions

Colorado State (0-1) vs. Vanderbilt (0-1)
Canvas Stadium | Fort Collins, Colo.
Saturday, Sept. 11, 8 p.m.

GAME LINKS
Watch \| Listen \| CSU Stats \| Vandy Stats

Addazio Expects Fired-Up Response from Team
GAME RECOGNITIONS
Cannoneers: Johnny Matsuhshima, 2021 Founders Day Recipient	Bell Ringers: Kristie and Jim Docheff, 2021 CAS DAA Honor Alumni

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Mistakes happen. There will be blown assignments. Nothing is perfect in a football game, and coaches understand as much.

What stuns them – as was the case for Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio – is when they see mistakes on film that shouldn't happen and weren't happening during preseason camp. There are some aspects of a football team, no matter how good a squad is, which are always requiring more attention. Addazio didn't expect those things to be either of his fronts in Friday's season opening loss.

But they did.

"I'm asking myself those questions. If you make a bunch of mistakes in camp and you make a bunch of mistakes in the game, well, then you didn't get them corrected in camp," Addazio said at his Monday press conference. "But in camp, when you're firing at a pretty high level and then you come out here … We went the wrong way up front on offense several times. The wrong way. That happened. Hard for me to explain that to you, but that happened. It's hard to have a run game when those things happen. We had a lot of missed assignments, going the wrong way or missed assignments, on simple, simple assignments schemes we've run. We've faced more multiple defense in our training camp than we did Friday night."

He was just as curious about what happened on defense, especially with an experienced front. Again, he didn't think it was anything physical taking place, that they were just out-muscled. Then again, it would be hard to be outmuscled if one is not there, which is what Addazio said happened.

The Rams just were just not lined up where they were supposed to be often enough. They showed a run-stopping capability at times, but being out of place led to allowing 7.1 yards per carry, just three tackles for loss and no real pressure on the quarterback.

"That's my job. All I can do is put that on me," Addaizo said. "And on defense, in all of our different fronts and stunts and pressures, we missed some gap fits. Those are the facts. When you see the ball slicing you like that, you're missing gap fits. That means people are out of position. That's what happened, and we have to get that corrected."

The Rams ran more plays offensively, generated about the same amount of yardage, had a quarterback throw for 300 yards with a pair of 100-yard receivers, generated more first downs and still lost by 19 points.

None of it added up during the game, but watching the film, he saw why.

And the why left him just as perplexed.

Rebounding

The loss is over, and the Rams can't do anything now to change the result. What they can affect is the response of the team.

Addazio spoke early in the media session of learning how to win, and he came back to it again. Speaking long term about his program, his goal is to win the war, realizing a few battles will be lost along the way. Each time, the Rams will have to show resiliency, learn how to compete and rebound from setbacks.

The team is angry, and so is he. And what he told the media was a lower-decibel message than one the team probably heard.

"I'd say pissed off is a really good word; probably not a great one for me to say, but it's true," Addazio said of the team mood after Sunday's workout. "I would say, my mindset is … Big picture, I'm trying to build and develop a really strong foundational program that's here to last. Essentially, truth be told, this is year one. That's' where we are big picture. But here and now in this circle I'm in right now, I told our team we've got our backs up against the wall, and when I've got my back up against the wall, I'm coming out swinging, and everybody in this program is going to come out swinging. That's' what I want to see.

"I want to see an intensity, an attitude intensity, because you know why? Because we're never going to accept losing in this football program. Ever. That's what I talk about, you have to learn how to win. That's part of learning how to win. Don't get used to losing. Learn how to win, coaches and players and everybody, and everybody better take it real personal. There better be an energy shift, because that's what we need to do. We need to go take a football game."

And he also knows Vanderbilt, under first-year coach Clark Lea, is thinking the same thing.

Needed Snaps

None of the healthy quarterbacks on the depth chart behind Todd Centeio had ever taken a college snap. Now true freshman Evan Olaes has 15 under his belt.

He entered the game in the fourth quarter, completing 3-of-6 passes for 22 yards and an interception. The same happened for walk-on true freshman corner Robert Floyd, and wideout Gerick Robinson, who played on special teams.

Those snaps were very key, if brief.

"We knew it was more important at that point to get Evan some reps. He's really young," Addazio said. "That was valuable time for him. Robert played in meaningful snaps, and hopefully he'll continue to get better and we grow from there."

There is no better teacher than a game, and now they all have an understanding of what the speed of the college game looks like and what it's like to make decisions on the fly when a coach is not standing next to you.

The backup quarterback position carries so much value due to the nature of the game, and for Olaes, this was a good first step. However, getting him additional reps is not always a good sign.

"There's no question. He got in that game, we're running the read zone and he's looking back at the back not running the give key. All kinds of stuff was going on. He'll learn from that, it'll be valuable. It's a kinda a double edged-sword, you hope there's not too many opportunities."

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