Bye Week a Chance to Look Inward and Forward

Calendar

Show:/

Sep 5

TBA

Football

vs Wyoming

Sep 12

TBA

Football

vs Southern Utah

Sep 19

TBA

Football

vs BYU

Sep 26

TBA

Football

at UTSA

Oct 3

TBA

Football

vs Oregon State

FORT COLLINS – A two-pronged approach.

With an extra week built in before the second game of the season, Colorado State had two topics of conversation. One is naturally the upcoming game with Colorado in Boulder (Sept. 16, 8 p.m.). The other is the Rams themselves, coming off a game which left the squad plenty to clean up before taking the field again.

They can work hand in hand, but for offensive lineman Oliver Jervis, there was definitely a priority.

"I think fixing us is a priority. We showed a lot of good things on tape, but clearly not good enough, especially on the offensive side of the ball," Jervis said. "I'd say we have to start on us, then we'll focus on CU intermittently.

"If we can't execute in practice, it's not going to work against CU, so we have to work on us and know and have the confidence that we can do what we need to do before we worry about personnel. We need to get us right and then everything will fall into place. We have enough talent to do it."

When the schedule was released, the bye week seemed odd. CSU head coach Jay Norvell is viewing it much differently in the present.

He is seeing it now as a prime opportunity to advance for the team, work on the issues which arose in the loss to Washington State. The old adage is the most improvement comes between the first and second game, and the Rams have an extra week to make the jump.

"I don't recall having one this early, but I'm glad we do. I really am," Norvell said. "Sometimes things happen and it's a blessing. I just believe that's the case and we'll use it that way to help us prepare. Then we'll get ready for a long run. We'll play 11 straight weeks and get in a groove and play well. I think it comes at a good time, to be honest with you."

As a staff, they spent the offseason watching tape of the places where Colorado's staff was assembled. Now the Rams also have a week of game film on the Buffs, which Norvell has seen ad nauseum already.

After this week, they'll have one more game to watch, and again, Norvell said they'll go over it, too.

They've seen their own film, as well. While it was important to find what went wrong, they also had to highlight what went well. It came in spurts, and much of it came late, but those messages were just as important to pass on for Norvell, because they'll need those plays with greater regularity to hit what he thinks his squad really needs.

"I just think you have a team with a bunch of guys where you have to have a breakthrough. You've got to win a tough game like that against a good opponent," he said. "Guys have to make plays. One thing I told our kids after the game, you could see in spots how dynamic we can be as a team."

So, they'll work on themselves, then the next foe. There are cases where the two will work hand in hand.

Defensive lineman Cam Bariteau said there was one particular place for the defense where the two mixed, and that was being ready to go against an up-tempo offense.

"We just need to execute better and improve conditioning, for sure. We need to run to the ball and get setup, because they go tempo, so we need to lineup fast," he said. "Wazzu caught us off guard a couple of times, and we have to get better about that. We've talked about that, so that's going to be a point of emphasis, especially in practice, is lining up quick, getting a call and getting a hand in the dirt."

Those items are discussed across the board, in each and every position room and then as a team. The work will be very individualized at times, others specific to a group.

None of them are shying away from what's being asked. As players, they don't see another way, and they're taking the tasks personally.

"We know what we have to fix. There are a couple of points that everybody has to fix, every room," Bariteau said. "We went over it in the team meeting there are three things everybody needs to fix. We've just been working on it as a team; we know that's our emphasis for this week and next week."

Saturday, Norvell and his players talked about the disappointment they felt in their approach and performance in the first game. At some level, the feeling was there due to surprise.

Jervis said he felt it. The team had put in so much work for so long and had looked good at practice. When it didn't translate to the field, it caught them off guard.

What isn't lacking, he said, was confidence, which is very much in abundance in the locker room.

"We have full confidence in this team. We've been practicing together since February," Jervis said. "We know the talent we have, we know the depth we have. That showed when we put in some backups. We have confidence in this team. One loss isn't going to derail that. It's a long season. We have 11 games to go."

With a few extra days built in up front to get it all going.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results