FORT COLLINS — Before Colorado State can Defend the Fort, coach Steve Fairchild noted his Rams had better first “defend our reputation as a football team.”
He laughed a bit after saying it. But there was some truth to it.
Colorado State is looking to bounce back after consecutive losses to BYU and Idaho as well as a disconcerting trend of starting well but not finishing. Fairchild and his players insist if they can fix that, the wins will follow.
“We come out firing in the first half, and then we come out in the second half a little flat, and we just need to have that killer instinct,” quarterback Grant Stucker said. “Just need to have that time in the game when you know they’re on their heels and you can just drive them into the ground and not let up.”
Correcting a mind-set is difficult to drill, but the Rams had a good week of practices. Still, Stucker said, the Rams need to zero in on consistency on game day.
Colorado State lost a 20-7 lead in a 31-29 loss to Idaho last week. The Rams held a 17-6 lead over Weber State earlier this year and lost that as well, but rallied for a 24-23 win.
“It’s something that you’ve got to learn, something that you’ve got to go out and see it happen,” Stucker said. “It’s something that only happens on game day. Last week, we realized we didn’t have it, and we know exactly what we need to do to come out in the whole game with that killer instinct.”
What better opponent to right the ship than 3-1 Utah, whose only loss was to resurgent Oregon by a touchdown.
“We’re going to have to play well in every phase to have a chance, but I think we’re looking forward to this opportunity,” Fairchild said. “We talk about getting back to where we want to be, but the burden of proof is on us. Eventually, we have to go win a game like this.”
Fairchild said his team is ready to redeem itself.
“I think they are disappointed in the outcome in the last couple of games,” he said. “I hate to say that we weren’t playing well because there were a lot of good things going on, but we didn’t deserve to win either game. But we are improving. We’ve just got to keep working.
“I think we think we can, but one of these days we’ve got to know we can. We think we’re training hard, we think we’re playing hard, we think we can play with the BYU’s, but now we have to kind of know we can beat these teams. I hope it’s this year. You’ve just got to keep working until we do. But I know we have enough talent to do it.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
