Fort Collins – On a normal Monday, Colorado State’s football team holds meetings, watches tape and might get outside to run for half an hour.
On this Monday, the Rams went outside in near-freezing rain for nearly two hours of normal practice. With a Thursday night game at Air Force, every minute of practice counts, especially for the once-a-year look at the Falcons’ triple option.
In past seasons the scheduling inconveniences during the week of a Thursday game were offset by national exposure on one of the ESPN channels. Even the past two Thursday night Mountain West games were on Versus, which reaches 70 million homes and is included on most basic cable or satellite packages.
The CSU-AFA game is on The Mtn. (Comcast 411) and available only to digital-tier subscribers in Colorado. The network also is available in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and parts of Idaho.
At one time CSU had so many Thursday games, coach Sonny Lubick became “Mr. Thursday Night.” The Rams drew national recognition as a result.
“We got lucky early and won a few on Thursdays,” Lubick said Monday. “We had some close games.”
Then other conferences moved into the Thursday slot and those coaches often called Lubick for advice on short-week schedule preparations.
He wasn’t entirely aware Thursday’s 6 p.m. kickoff at the Air Force Academy was only on The Mtn. Lubick has seen the network just once, when the Rams had a bye week and his daughter invited him over to watch another game.
“You play Thursday nights for money and TV,” Lubick said. “If there’s no benefit, I’d like to play on Saturdays.”
Injury update
Offensive tackle Josh Day and cornerback Joey Rucks sat out practice Monday after spraining ankles in the UNLV game.
Offensive line coach Darrell Funk said of Day: “I’m not planning on him playing, but if he could move at all, he’ll do it.”
Last week, Funk didn’t expect center Nick Allotta to play after spraining his knee in practice Wednesday. Allotta played. “Maybe Josh will surprise me like that,” Funk said.
Scout-team spotlight
The most important scout- team player every year is the one who impersonates the Air Force quarterback. Falcons veteran Shaun Carney is having his best season, making it even more difficult for opposing scout teams. True freshmen Sean McDougal and Nick Neuenfeldt, both running quarterbacks, handled the chore Monday. Lubick also might enlist freshman walk-on receiver Tyson Liggett, who was an option QB at Limon High School.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
