FORT COLLINS — The final leg of Colorado State’s Mountain West triathlon is Saturday at No. 12 TCU. CSU is bogged down in a three-game losing streak, and the Rams have averaged 9.7 points in their last four meetings with the Horned Frogs.
Just don’t tell CSU coach Steve Fairchild to look ahead to the winnable, final five-game stretch after TCU.
“We can win every game,” Fairchild said Monday at his weekly media gathering. “Our intention is to win every game, and we will practice in that regard. And like I said, there is still a lot of good football out there for us.”
But he’s not in denial about unbeaten TCU’s defensive dominance, a better-than-credited offense and a seven-game win streak going back to the end of last season. The Rams played TCU within a touchdown last season, but TCU coach Gary Patterson saved quarterback Andy Dalton for a showdown with BYU five days later.
“TCU is well-coached and talented, and they are what we are trying to catch and emulate,” Fairchild said.
Coming off a loss at Idaho, CSU showed it could play with Utah last Saturday, leading 17-3 with five minutes left in the third quarter before the Utes scored 21 unanswered points to win 24-17.
But points will be more difficult against the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas. Led by 2008 consensus All-America defensive end Jerry Hughes, TCU tops the MWC in total defense and is seventh nationally at 249.2 yards a game. The defense has yielded 15.2 points a game.
In the have/have-not MWC, CSU’s schedule was front-loaded with No. 18 BYU, No. 24 Utah and TCU to start league play. After Saturday, the Rams meet three train wrecks in San Diego State on Oct. 24, at UNLV on Nov. 7 and at New Mexico at Nov. 21. Air Force is a tossup on Oct. 31. Wyoming is rapidly improving under first-year coach Dave Christensen, and anything can happen in the Bronze Boot rivalry to end the season on Nov. 27.
At 3-3, a bowl game is still within CSU’s reach, regardless of what happens Saturday.
Kicking opposites. CSU has struggled mightily in the kickoff coverage department for special-teams coach Larry Lewis. Utah had an average starting field position of its own 36 against CSU. TCU leads the MWC in kickoff returns (sixth nationally) at 28.8 yards.
Lewis said CSU’s woes are a combination of kickoffs lacking height and distance (a league-worst 58.8-yard average kickoff) and coverage mistakes (22.5-yard average return allowed).
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
