Monday Presser: More Beneficial Than Just the Win Itself

FORT COLLINS – The win itself was imperative. Colorado State's football team needed one to avoid a 0-3 start and to gain some confidence. To make sure the effort the week prior in an overtime loss didn't go to waste.

For the development of the program, the victory over Middle Tennessee State on the road carried deeper meaning.

"I think it was important that we won a hard game, that we had to rely on each other offensively and defensively and special teams," CSU head coach Jay Norvell said at his weekly press conference. "There were critical big plays in all three phases that were needed to win that game. If we don't get the fake, we don't win. If we don't get the turnover at the end, it's tough for us to win. I though the drives in the third quarter were really critical and important."

After losing the week before in nearly the identical situation, the Rams needed to prove they had learned their lessons and made the right adjustments. They did.

What was different was the Rams needed to rally in the second half this time, and the two sides played off each other.

The defense produced stops, and the offense finally clicked in the third, putting together a pair of impressive touchdown drives to take the lead. The defense responded immediately with a strip-sack leading to a touchdown by Mohamed Kamara, extending the lead.

One side helping the other. Even the special teams, not only with the early touchdown, but Grady Kelly blocking an extra point to apply more pressure.

"The defense, they always hit really hard. We sometimes … We back off, we have some bad plays, but they're very consistent I believe," offensive lineman Drew Moss said. "Just seeing them go out there, we have to back them up every time. That's where complimentary play comes in.

"You've got to keep the defense on the bench whenever you're on offense. They need some rest; they get tired. I played D line in high school, and you get tired fast. We have to go out there and do our thing."

Norvell said the staff prepared the team for a tough battle. It's what was expected for a second week in a row, based off the history of the MTSU program, which the Rams had a glimpse of last year in a home loss to the Raiders.

And, Norvell said, it's a style of play the team has to continually replicate as the season moves forward.

"We want to play complementary football," he said. "With these new clock rules, it affects the game with the running clock. We just have to be mindful of that."

Victory Monday

In the locker room after the win, Norvell announced to his team it had earned a Victory Monday.

Cool. Sounds good, but is it exactly?

"Our kids don't even know what Victory Monday is," Norvell said.

It's officially a day off of practice because the Rams normally hit the field on Monday. Norvell said he's invoked the designation a few times in his tenure as a head coach, calling it "an NFL thing", and they only come about with special circumstances. Norvell felt it fit his team's needs at the moment.

"We had a tough couple of weeks. We had an emotional in-state rivalry game against CU, we got back late, and most people didn't get any sleep," Norvell said. "It was a draining game with all the things that happened off the field with our kids, a lot of distractions. Then we had to empty our tanks again against Middle Tennessee.

"I just thought it was a good time … All three of our receivers were sick last week – Tory Horton, Justus Ross-Simmons and Louis Brown IV. Tory didn't practice the whole week last week. They were gassed in that game; they tried to run and give everything we had, but we had to sub for them. I was really proud of their effort. Mo was banged up … We just had a lot of guys who went through a lot physically, so I just felt it was a good time to do it."

Colorado State's team plane didn't land at the local airport until nearly 2 a.m., leading to another short sleep cycle.

The goal is to make victories a regular thing, but Victory Monday's don't happen often.

"We'll look at the situation and decide moving forward if we'll do it again," Norvell said. "Everybody just needed a couple more hours of sleep this morning, get some rest and be ready to go (Tuesday).

Final Second

With 7 seconds in regulation, Middle Tennessee State appeared to have one final chance, throwing up a Hail Mary into the end zone. When Henry Blackburn batted the ball away, the Rams were ready to celebrate.

Not quite yet. Another second remained, much to the chagrin – and surprise – of the Colorado State sideline.

"I looked up and I started celebrating after we batted the ball down and I saw one second on the clock," Kelly said. "I was like, 'oh my gosh, we've got to go back out.' We've got dudes on defense. We've got dudes to go rush the passer. In a situation like that where we're not rushing very many people, drop back in prevent, and we've got dudes that are still going and getting strip sacks.

"It was surprising to see 1 second on the clock, but that's just another opportunity for us to go and showcase our defensive ability."

On the final play, Mohamed Kamara got to the quarterback and forced a fumble, with Chase Wilson securing the ball and the victory. Originally, the sack was credited to Nuer Gatkuoth, but replay showed it was Kamara, his fifth sack of the season and his second big play of the game after sitting out the first half.

Kamara now has 22.5 sacks in his career, tying him for fifth on the program list with Adrian Ross. His 33.5 career tackles for loss rank seventh, passing Manny Jones this week.

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