Fort Collins – The most recent time Colorado State lined up against a Mountain West opponent with as much offensive ability as the current BYU edition, Caleb Hanie was a freshman in his third start facing Utah in 2004.
After Hanie led three consecutive touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the Utes’ first-team offense went back on the field to finish off a 63-31 win.
“I’m not overwhelmed at all,” Hanie said about conference-leading BYU. “We’re a better team than we were two years ago.”
He was talking about the 4-7 disaster in 2004, the lowest point of Sonny Lubick’s 14-year tenure.
The Rams (4-4, 1-3 MWC) have been stuck at four wins for three weeks. No one outside the immediate CSU organization seems to be counting on the losing streak ending anytime soon. The Cougars (6-2, 4-0) are winning games by an average of 27 points.
“We have to look at it like every other game,” Hanie said. “If we won the two close games we should have won, we’d be 6-2 and there would be a different mind-set about BYU and everyone would be saying ‘They’re just as good as BYU.’ We’ve had things not go our way.”
While Hanie and the offense have recovered from a seven- quarter scoring drought, the defense has been prone to second-half letdowns.
CSU has disrupted redshirt freshman quarterbacks the past two weeks, but the Rams are up against a finished product in 25-year-old senior John Beck.
“He stands in there, stares the blitz right down and delivers a strike,” Lubick said.
Beck has thrown to 13 receivers, often dumping to running backs Curtis Brown and Fui Vakapuna.
“It’s not that we don’t have a deep threat,” Beck said. “Teams start dropping back, and I take what I can get with the underneath routes.”
Then there’s the Brown- Vakapuna run threat.
“The last two years they had a pretty good team that didn’t run the ball well until they met us,” Lubick said of the Cougars’ 274 yards last year.
But the Rams were as spirited at practice this week as they were after their last win a nearly a month ago.
“We definitely don’t believe it’s going to go down the toilet,” CSU linebacker Luke Adkins said. “It’s a big week and we have to play our best game to prove to everyone in the conference we’re contenders.”
At least CSU has most of its front four back with starting tackles Erik Sandie and Blake Smith. Defensive end Jesse Nading missed some practice with a lingering ankle injury but is expected to participate. Safety Mike Pagnotta returned to practice, although his mobility coming off a knee injury is in question.
“It’s our best challenge to date,” CSU defensive coordinator Steve Stanard said.
Hanie has a new tool in a shotgun with wide receivers Damon Morton or Johnny Walker alongside to take the occasional snap and run.
“It’s weird at first. It was a good deal,” Hanie said of the plan to open up the running game more.
Wide receiver Dustin Osborn said, “We’re not going to let three losses ruin our hopes for the rest of the season and ruin what we’ve already accomplished.”
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
GAME BREAKDOWN
Players to watch
BYU (6-2, 4-0): John Beck is a Unitas Award finalist and the best quarterback to come into Hughes Stadium since Utah’s Alex Smith two years ago. Beck has 20 TDs and three interceptions. RB Curtis Brown broke out for 147 yards against the Rams last season. LB Cameron Jenson has taken in five turnovers.
Colorado State (4-4, 1-3): LB Jeff Horinek has a big challenge against a BYU running game as potent as its passing attack. He’s maturing into the hub of the defense. RB Nnamdi Ohaeri will break one if he can get to the outside. This will be H-back Kory Sperry’s chance against the other premier tight end in the league, BYU’s Jonny Harline.
Key stat
BYU leads the nation in turnover margin at plus-1.5 a game and has 20 takeaways. CSU ranks 100th at minus-.075 with eight takeaways.
Key for BYU
The Rams’ defense is a cut above what BYU has played in recent weeks, but the Cougars have no shortage of weapons in a deep receiving corps along with two running backs who can run and catch. If the Cougars maintain their trend of first-half domination, it could get nasty.
Key for CSU
The Rams need to play four quarters for the first time since beating hapless UNLV on Oct. 7. The Cougars are accustomed to hefty first-half leads in MWC games, and CSU offense can’t overcome deficits of more than 10 points. BYU can dominate with either the run or pass, so CSU’s best hope is hanging on to the ball.
NATALIE MEISLER
