Monday Presser: Norvell Criticizes His Approach

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FORT COLLINS – Monday, the head coach said one of the things holding back Colorado State's offense on Saturday was the play caller.

Which is head coach, Jay Norvell.

"I want to take responsibility for what happened this weekend," he said to open his weekly press conference. "We called the game a certain way. We had some real issues a year ago where we made a lot of negative things happen, and we really wanted to go into this season not beating ourselves, and I probably have to take the brunt of that responsibility.

"In doing that, we kind of played a little close to the vest."

The bottom line was the play makers on the field have to have the ball to be effective. After the initial drive led to a field goal, the next three all ended when third-down passes were completed, each a yard shy of moving the chains.

Five consecutive drives to end the first half went nowhere, and before long, the mistakes Norvell had previously mentioned appeared in the third quarter, allowing Washington State to build a big lead.

"I just think we wanted to make sure with all the new kids we had that we didn't make critical mistakes early in the game. We wanted to give ourselves a chance to play these guys, and quite frankly, they got away from us a little bit with our defense," Norvell said. "I thought we would hold them a little bit better than we did.

"The third-quarter turnovers, that was the ball game really. We just weren't able to recover after that. It is what it is. It's one game we can learn from, and we've just got to be able to use our firepower a little bit better. I told the guys I was kind of protecting them a little bit, and I was. We've got to call the game; we've got to let our guys play and we have to let our skill players impact the game. That's how we have to move forward."

Colorado State considers explosive plays in the passing game to gain at least 20 yards, rushes 12. The Rams had just two in the game, both on fourth-quarter touchdowns thrown by backup Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, 75 yards to Justus Ross-Simmons and 20 to Dallin Holker. The offense didn't have an explosive run.

Norvell said starting quarterback Clay Millen is fine and is ready to practice.

"I had some great talks with Clay, and we have to put ourselves in position to use our playmakers better," Norvell said. "We've got really good players, Tory (Horton) and Dallin on offense and our other receivers … I have to do a better job getting them the ball in the game early."

Under the Lights

Practice times these next two weeks will begin at 8 p.m., not 8:30 a.m. It's a practice Norvell and his staff started using to prepare for games in Hawaii and he feels it fits for the upcoming opponent, Colorado, in two weeks.

"We've really done it in Hawaii when we go play over there. It's been beneficial," Norvell said. "I just felt like it was a good way for us to break up the routine and change it up for our guys. Sometimes you get in a rut when you do things the same all the time. It gives us a break in our schedule now in September and then we'll get one in November as well when we play at Hawaii."

The team will use the schedule four days this week with the bye, then come back and do it again the following week. He remembers during his days at Oklahoma the team looked fresher in November than September due to the team coming off a hard camp and hitting the first month hard. With that in mind, he said the schedule will find ways to keep the team fresh, let them get their legs under them and get recharged.

It'll be new for the players, but they're unfazed about the change.

"To be honest, I don't think it's a crazy change or anything like that," Holker said. "When we're schedule to be at practice, we'll be out there, whether that's 8 at night or morning time, we'll be ready to go."

Here and There

Norvell said he joked with Johnson about his speed after the game. "I told Kobe in the hallway after the game, I didn't know you were that fast, and he started laughing,'" Norvell said. Johnson's kick return was produced the first touchdown of the season. … Norvell liked the play of special team, noting Johnson's return, Jordon Noyes on kickoffs and his field goal and punter Paddy Turner, who had his best game as a Ram with a 48.6 average. … As with any bye week, the coaching staff will hit the road on the tail end to recruit.

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