FORT COLLINS — For the last six minutes Saturday afternoon, it seemed destined that the only thing new Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild was going to earn was a nice pat on the back. For six nerve-trashing seconds, as Houston quarterback Case Keenum’s pass lofted toward receiver L.J Castile in the end zone with the final gun approaching, CSU’s new beginning appeared headed for a familiar ending.
This isn’t the old CSU, however. Hughes Stadium, one of the ugliest stadiums in the country, seemed like the place to be. Colorado State moved the ball against a quality opponent. The quarterback didn’t make mistakes. The defense made big plays.
So when safety Klint Kubiak leaped high and picked off the pass that saved CSU’s 28-25 win, you could hear another sound amid the biggest din 21,539 fans can create.
You heard Colorado State football take one big step forward.
“It’s huge,” Kubiak said. “The last two years, our teams might not have made that play. Nothing seemed to go our way when it came down to crunch time. But the attitude is different. We feel we can make that play. We feel we can win games even when the odds aren’t in our favor.”
It would be easy to throw a wet locker room towel over this game. Newspapers across the country won’t give it more than a paragraph or two, maybe even one line near the greyhound racing results.
This isn’t a real vintage Houston team. The Cougars are 1-3 and arrived as wandering evacuees, with Hurricane Ike chasing them to Dallas for the week before a stop home Thursday that was just long enough to do their wash. In falling behind 21-0 in the second quarter, they played like they were still reaching for their alarm clocks.
But this is also a Houston defense that returned seven starters, including nearly its entire front line, from an 8-5 bowl team. Keenum came in leading the nation in total offense, and the Cougars’ first-year coach and the offensive coordinator came from some pretty good offenses at Oklahoma and Texas Tech, respectively.
The last time I was here in November, CSU slogged out a painful 42-34 win over Football Championship Division member Georgia Southern before a few passersby and girlfriends. Beating Houston to go 2-1 makes CSU football matter again.
“I like our plan,” Fairchild said. “I know we’re going to be good at some point. I can see very clearly that we’re going to get back to being one of the elite teams. But it’s going to take time.”
The ground work is in place. Gartrell Johnson is becoming a bulldog of a running back. Kyle Bell, his backup, is healthy. A former offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, Fairchild has also turned Billy Farris into a darn good first-year quarterback. He played almost flawlessly Saturday, hitting 24-of-33 for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He can make the strong sideline throw. He can throw deep. More importantly, he doesn’t panic.
Then again, not many NFL coaches have come to the college ranks and failed.
“(He’s helped) a ton,” Farris said. “He’s got great play calls. He does a really good job teaching me the offense and teaching me the reads, and then he just lets you play football, which is really cool. He let’s you be a kid and whip it around.”
Don’t underestimate the return of defensive coordinator Larry Kerr, whose five-year absence suspiciously coincided with CSU’s five-year tailspin. It was Kerr who had Kubiak moved over to help the cornerback on that final fateful play.
The biggest difference, however, is how Fairchild has changed a losing culture. Fort Fun was Fort Boredom. Players were lethargic. So were the fans. The only good thing about CSU football was that parking wasn’t a problem.
“Coach Fairchild came in here, worked our butts off so hard in the spring and in fall camp, he just brought us closer together,” Kubiak said. “We’re a closer team. The chemistry’s better. Overall, we just want to win. We’re sick and tired of getting our (rears) beat in.”
Football in Fort Collins isn’t boring anymore. CSU has a season again.
