No team represents the chaotic nature of college football this season more than the Colorado State Rams.
Remember the old adage that, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships?”
For this season, Colorado State isn’t going to be winning any championships.
The Rams defense is, in a word, awful. The basic skill of tackling has yet to be mastered. They’re doing okay in the turnover category – CSU is currently ranked seventh in the country in turnover margin – but that’s about it. In more than one game this year, the other team’s punter didn’t even need to shower after the contest.
Last weekend, the (previously) offensively challenged San Diego State Aztecs dragged themselves into Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins and rolled up 565 yards of total offense, averaged better than eight yards per play, went 9-of-14 on third and fourth downs, allowed just one sack and punted twice.
They scored 49 points.
And they lost.
CSU, coming off four straight lopsided defeats in which they gave up a staggering 222 combined points, had become a national story when it was revealed that newly minted defensive coordinator Kenny McClendon was spending his nights over the past couple of weeks living in his office while trying to scheme up a way to fix the team’s woeful D.
The win over SDSU left CSU with the following team NCAA defensive rankings:
138th (last) in scoring defense.
138th in total defense.
136th in third down defense.
Yet now, after outscoring SDSU 56-49 to improve their record to 3-4, Jim Mora Jr.’s first Rams team still has a shot at playing in a bowl game. Really.
If they can find two more wins – and the schedule still includes a game at struggling Washington State along with a “flex” game that will likely be at Canvas Stadium against either San Diego State or Texas State – they could end up getting a postseason invite.
The offense (and some good stuff on special teams) would be the reason. Against the Aztecs, quarterback Hauss Hejny returned from a hamstring injury he suffered very early in the third game of the season against BYU. He was awesome. Again. The third-year signal-caller who transferred in from Oklahoma State has been pretty much unstoppable. In three full games (all wins) with Hejny under center, CSU would be 12th in the country in scoring offense at better than 36 points per, averaging more than 460 yards of total offense. The Rams’ offense was decent when he was out, but CSU still went 0-4 without their starting QB.
Fortunately, even when the porous CSU defense turns every game into a high-scoring shootout, Hejny and skill guys like running backs Mel Brown and Durell Robinson, plus receivers like Jackson Harper, Tommy Maher and Terrance Smith are ready for the challenge. If they can keep up the scoring binge, maybe they can keep the Rams in every game the rest of the way… including an upcoming date with Boise State?
If CSU can defeat Utah State (2-5) on the road this weekend, they’ll level their record at 4-4 and just need two more wins – regardless of the score – to qualify for a bowl game. The Aggies have been more competitive in their losses than the Rams have been, but they haven’t seen an offense like the Rams will be bringing in.
And what (non-playoff) bowl game wouldn’t welcome the high flying CSU offense to their postseason event?
After all, offense sells tickets.
Strike 3: Defenseless CSU could still make a bowl game Mile High Sports.
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