By Joseph Sanchez
Denver Post Staff Writer
Fort Collins – Two weeks ago, Minnesota ran the ball 59 times for 355 yards in trampling Colorado State 56-24.
Last year, Air Force ran for 373 yards on 70 carries in a 47-17 rout of the Rams.
The Gophers lead the nation in rushing, averaging 326.5 yards per game. The Falcons, always right up there, rank 11th, averaging 256.8 per game.The Rams, meanwhile, are allowing 187.7 yards per game, 93rd in the nation.
But is CSU coach Sonny Lubick worried about those numbers as he prepares his team for a Thursday night visit from the Falcons?
Not really.
“I’m very pleased with the defense,” Lubick said Tuesday. “Everybody worries about statistics and all that, but they’re playing well. Those front four guys have done a magnificent job.”
Jesse Nading, a 6-foot-5, 252-pound sophomore defensive end from ThunderRidge High School, and linebacker Jahmal Hall have been steady and strong.
“They’re a little undersized, but those guys are tackling (well),” Lubick said. “They will play hard.”
Against the Air Force’s triple-option attack, Lubick said nothing will be more important than sure tackling, especially on the Falcons’ first drive.
“You don’t want to let them get into their rhythm and get away from you,” Lubick said. “When they hold the ball like they want to do, that puts pressure on the defense, and it also puts pressure on the offense.
“Because the offense, in a normal game, will get 12 possessions. With these guys, you might get eight. So if you have have one penalty, one hold, one bad call, all of a sudden you’re down to three or four possessions where you’ve got a chance to score.
“Are we going to shut those guys down to 100 yards? Probably not. But we have to get our defense off the field, which we didn’t do last year.”
The way Hall sees it, Falcons punter Donny Heaton had better start warming up.
“The biggest difference I see (this season) is we come out flying to the ball,” Hall said. “We come out ready to play. We’ve just got to come out fast, stay fast and play hard. They had their way with us last year. We want to show them last year is past; this is a different year.”
The Falcons have been almost as dangerous throwing the ball as they are running it this season, but Lubick said he isn’t all that worried about that, either. He expects Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry to have his quarterback throw early, then stay with the run.
“Fisher always does that,” Lubick said. “He’s going to throw the first two series, he’s going to throw four times, then he’s not going to throw the rest of the game. But I was surprised. I did see a couple times this year where they had third-and-two and they threw the ball. So that shows they have confidence in their ability to throw the ball, and that does present a little bit more of a problem.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
