Strike 1: The saying goes, “It’s not what happens to you that matters most, it’s how you handle it.” If that’s the case, the Colorado State Rams have a lot of stuff to handle, starting immediately.
Going into the first game of Jay Norvell’s third season in Fort Collins, most observers believed two things: First, the Rams were not going to go into Austin, Texas and actually defeat the fourth-ranked Longhorns. But secondly, this game couldn’t possibly turn out any worse than game one from Norvell’s first year, when the Rams traveled to Ann Arbor and got destroyed by the Michigan Wolverines 51-7.
Right and wrong.
This was worse.
Against a young CSU defense that has potential but limited experience, it wasn’t a shock that the Longhorns scored a bundle of points. But the Rams offense was supposed to be able to kinda sorta keep up. A little, anyway. With an experienced offensive line and a good number of returning skill position playmakers, this year’s version of the Rams is supposed to have a pretty dynamic offense. No one would have been too surprised or even disappointed with a 52-24 sort of outcome in Austin.
But 52-0 is a different story.
How do the Rams bounce back from that?
Time will tell of course. They won’t play another opponent the caliber of Texas the rest of the season. Nonetheless, the way the opener went makes the rest of the season look a little more difficult at this point, with maybe the exception of this week’s much needed home opener against Northern Colorado. Teams like New Mexico that looked like sure fire W’s before the season aren’t sure things after all.
Time will also tell if Norvell’s offense becomes what the veteran coach believes it can be. The season pretty much depends on how this veteran group in particular responds to a third straight season-opening tail kicking. Do they fold their collective tent and punt from mid-field (like Norvell chose to do on a makeable fourth down opportunity against Texas) or do they respond with some fight, like they did last season? Because they have that similar experience to fall back on.
A year ago, highly touted Washington State rolled into Fort Collins and flat out destroyed the Rams 50-24. The only bright spot that day was the emergence of freshman quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who entered the contest late and threw a pair of fourth quarter scoring passes to make the score look less like the mauling it actually was.
After taking a week off to lick their wounds, Fowler-Nicolosi and his offense rolled into Boulder and lit up the scoreboard against in-state rival Colorado. Even in that 43-35 2OT defeat, they showed they’d overcome any lingering effects from the Wazzu loss and were ready to compete with the bigger guys.
Can they learn from, and then shake off, what happened in Austin in the same fashion?
Fortunately for the Rams, they have that rebuilding UNC team coming to Canvas on Saturday and have a chance to significantly lessen their obscenely negative point differential before they host the Buffs, who will bring their quick strike passing attack to Canvas and are very capable of putting up 52 points of their own.
Don’t expect the CSU defense to keep the Rams in that game. It will be all about the O.
It will be critical moving into the meat of the schedule for the Rams to be able to control the clock and keep guys like Shedeur Sanders on the sidelines. CSU did show – and probably will again this week – a renewed emphasis on the run game. This time, the lone bright spot was young running back Justin Marshall, who was able to crack the 100-yard mark against the Longhorns. Looking ahead, the ability to run the ball might be the most important thing for this offense to be able to do consistently this season.
Rams fans had better hope their team learned that lesson – and several more – in Austin. They need something positive (aside from that nice $1.8 million payday) to bring home with them.