FORT COLLINS, COLO.—Even though Colorado State is in the midst of a four-game skid, Rams coach Steve Fairchild doesn’t believe it’s necessarily the byproduct of bad play.
Fairchild thinks it has more to do with the team hitting the brutal portion of its schedule.
The Rams (3-4, 0-3 Mountain West) faced No. 16 BYU, Idaho, No. 19 Utah and No. 10 TCU in four straight weeks. Those teams are a combined 23-3.
Now, CSU hosts San Diego State on Saturday, a team that’s dropped three of its last four.
Nice to have the grueling portion of the schedule in the rearview mirror?
“Our football team doesn’t have the attitude that we’ve played the three toughest teams and now it’s going to get easy because it’s certainly not,” Fairchild said. “These teams in the second half of our schedule are all capable of beating us. We have to get back to controlling what we can control and that’s our tempo at practice, our attitude and just the way we show up and go to work everyday.”
Fairchild isn’t pleased with the fact the Rams were outscored 141-75 over the four-game stretch, including 44-6 last weekend against the Horned Frogs.
“The major concern is are we moving forward? Are we getting better?” Fairchild said. “I think we are a better football team now than we were at the beginning of the year. I think we are a better football team than we were last year. But we still have a long ways to go.”
The Aztecs (2-4, 0-2) are coming off a close encounter with BYU last weekend, throwing a scare at the Cougars before falling 38-28.
Not that first-year coach Brady Hoke is putting much stock in coming close.
“We’re very disappointed,” Hoke said. “I think we had some opportunities that we’ve got to take advantage of and we didn’t do that.”
Colorado State will have its hands full trying to cover receiver Vincent Brown, who’s had at least 100 yards receiving in five of the six games this season.
“He’s a very talented player,” Fairchild said. “There’s no question that he’s going to play in the NFL. He’s got great ability and they are finding a way to get him the ball … This will be a good test for us.”
