Their shiny new stadium might be helping to bring the Colorado State Rams attention, but it’s their play under the brightest of spotlights that’s keeping it.
As the Rams aggressively build a compelling football product with sleek new uniform combinations and a stadium that once seemed to be a pipe dream as testament to the university’s commitment, it’s Mike Bobo’s team that’s making that investment worthwhile.
Their solid 5-2 record isn’t even indicative of their performance this season, given a controversial, penalty-ridden loss to the Colorado Buffaloes in the Rocky Mountain Showdown and a gritty performance in a road loss to Alabama that no team in the country would be expected to win. The Rams, who were in the mix for Big 12 expansion last season before that conference decided to table the notion, are making their case nevertheless by exposing nationwide television audiences to their increasingly visible program — and performing well when they get the chance.
After christening their stadium with a 58-27 walloping of the PAC-12’s Oregon State Beavers, they surprised the wiseguys by hanging tough with Alabama in an eventual 18-point loss and toppled Nevada in a 44-42 barn-burner on homecoming weekend. That makes them 2-1 on national television thus far, and they’re not done yet.
Favored over New Mexico in Friday night’s game, the Rams have a chance to cement back-to-back wins on back-to-back weekends in front of a prime-time, national audience on ESPN 2. They’ve become a staple on the CBS Sports Network, where they’ll play Mountain West conference rivals Air Force (Oct. 28), Wyoming (Nov. 4), Boise State (Nov. 11) and San Jose State (Nov. 18) to finish the season.
That’s a total of five games on CBS networks, and another pair on ESPN’s — six of which are prime-time games in front of the entire country. The Rams have a chance to become bowl-eligible on those nights alone, and with the opportunity to showcase star wide receiver and Biletnikoff-award candidate Michael Gallup, Bobo knows that the opportunity to impress potential recruits is enormous.
“Those kids don’t go to sleep,” Bobo joked when asked by The Denver Post if all the nighttime games concerned him. The Rams understand the opportunity they’ve fought for and they’ve responded with a TV-friendly, explosive offense that has given them complete control over their own destiny.
Perhaps the revolution will be televised, after all.
