Rams Fall On Road At Washington State

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Sep 20

12-Days

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Sep 27

5:30 PM

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vs Washington State

Oct 3

8:30 PM

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Oct 10

7:00 PM

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vs Fresno State

Oct 18

5:00 PM

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vs Hawai'i

PULLMAN, Wash. – The dream was for a quick turnaround. The reality is becoming clear -- Colorado State's football program is just in the early stages of a total rebuild.

The offensive system is a 180 from what the program ran a year ago. The defensive system is different, even if not as massive a change. But three games into the season, the offense is still looking to score points in the first half and for the third year in a row, the Rams have now allowed an opponent 21 first-quarter points.

Washington State did it Saturday, then took a 28-0 lead into halftime on the way to a 31-7 victory.

"I think we have some pieces of the puzzle, but we have a lot of new pieces that don't have a lot of experience, don't have a lot of confidence at this point and we're trying to build them fast and give them experiences that will help them compete on game day," CSU coach Jay Norvell said. "Unfortunately, you have different pieces breaking down at different times, so it's really hard to gain traction. All we can do – I just told the players, this is a hard business, nobody feels sorry for you in this business. Sometimes the answer is you just have to work harder, and you have to play better, and that's what we have to do."

In the opening salvo of scoring, the Cougars used a mix of good field position and explosive plays, covering 46, 52 and 73 yards, needing no more than five plays in any of them, not even 2 minutes to find the end zone. Quarterback Cameron Ward engineered it all, throwing four touchdown passes in the first half, two each to De'Zhaun Stribling and Donovan Ollie.

Offensively, the Rams sputtered for the most part, and when there was promise, pain was soon to follow. A missed field goal, a low snap and at the end of the opening half, a strip sack on a fourth-down chance.

In a matchup of two Air Raid offenses, Washington State displayed what Colorado State wants to become. Ward was given time to navigate the field, spotting receivers in open spaces in the Rams' secondary. It allowed them to move down the field with precision and do so quickly. Only one of the Cougars' scoring drives took more than 2 minutes off the clock, a 13-play affair which covered 82 yards and removed 5:06 off the clock.

In every game, the Rams have faced a deficit early.

"We're just trying to watch as much tape as possible and figure out what we can do better as a team," receiver Melquan Stovall said. "We have to figure that out."

Ward finished 26-of-36 in the game, good for 296 yards and the four scores as Washington State had just two scoring drives in the second half, a field goal on their first drive, an impressive one to close resulting in a short scoring run. The Cougars amassed 440 yards of total offense.

The Rams haven't found a rhythm in the passing game, and there is no running game to take away any of the heat. At one point, Clay Millen had completed 12 consecutive passes accounting for 109 yards, and three of the completions covered 20 or more. The rest were limited to short gains, not big strikes. His 11-yard scramble in the first half was Colorado State's biggest ground gain.

A reconfigured offensive line struggled in the first half, allowing four sacks, seven overall. As the day closed, Colorado State had just 248 yards of total offense as Millen closed 24-of-34 passing for 211 yards with one interception.

Again, consistent execution is the main break in the equation for the Rams, and the fixes are not coming easy.

"Whether it's offense or defense, it's kind of different pieces taking turns having breakdowns," Norvell said. 'It's hard to build off that and it's hard to build consistency. We have guys who are trying to do the right things, and there's not a lot of answers personnel wise right now. It's not like we can just put somebody else in there right now."

Again, in the fourth quarter, Colorado State was able to avoid being shut out, as the Rams did against Michigan. In an impressive 10-play, 70-yard drive, the Rams finally found the end zone when Millen connected with true freshman Justus Ross-Simmons for a 14-yard score, the first score of his career on the day he made his first start.

The defense did create two turnovers, but the Rams couldn't convert either of them into points. The last, an interception by Jack Howell for the second game in a row, put the Rams at the WSU 21, but the offense went backward, the door closed with the Cougars' last sack of the second half.

Norvell reiterated to create change, the team has to come together, each and every player doing their part. While no one on the team is happy, they aren't discouraged. What they see good in a game, they hold on to and carry forward.

What isn't so good, they have to carry that too and find a way to make it disappear.

"I just came from a program where I had two different shifts. I didn't expect the results to come right away," defensive end CJ Onyechi said. "It just came with working. I feel like we have the guys who trust in the process and are ready to make it happen. It's just we have to keep fighting and paying attention to little things."

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