FORT COLLINS — Just because the worst of the schedule is behind 1-5 Colorado State, that doesn’t automatically translate into better days ahead for the Rams.
CSU’s first six opponents are a combined 26-8, with three in the top 25. It’s not the toughest schedule in the Mountain West. UNLV, Saturday’s homecoming guest, has played four top 25 teams while accumulating the same record. Wyoming played three teams ranked in the top five the week they met the Cowboys.
Still, it could be a fresh start with only one ranked team, No. 11 Utah (Oct. 23), still ahead.
“This one game will not define our football program, but we’re looking for that game that kind of pushes us through some stuff,” Rams coach Steve Fairchild said Monday at his weekly news conference.
A fresh start, as Fairchild told his squad after the loss at Air Force, is “a way of looking at this season. I’d like our seniors to put the first part of the season behind them and say, ‘What can we do with what we have left?’ “
Kubiak a moot No. 2.
Klay Kubiak has quietly moved up to No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart, past redshirt freshman Nico Ranieri. Starter Pete Thomas has been on the field for every offensive play this season.
“A couple of games, we’ve given it some thought,” Fairchild said of spelling Thomas late. “But you can get only one guy ready at the quarterback spot. That’s just the way it is. We can’t go into this week and say we’re going to get two guys ready to play. . . . We’re still trying to develop Pete, but we have to work him though his lack of experience as quickly as we can.”
Suspension ends.
Fairchild announced freshman special-teams contributors Tony Drake and Charles Favors, suspended for team rules violations for the Air Force game, have been reinstated. Both will have to earn back their playing time.
The ninth freshman.
Wide receiver Bobby Borcky had his redshirt pulled Saturday, making him the ninth true freshman to play for the Rams this season. He was activated, in part, because his older brother, T.J. Borcky, is out with an ankle sprain.
The Rams won’t have the youngest team on Sonny Lubick Field on Saturday at Hughes Stadium. UNLV has played 14 true freshmen.
“There was no question we were going to need Bobby to play for us this year,” Fairchild said.
Homecoming week makeovers.
A website () redesign, a new Moby Arena scoreboard (Thursday) and a fuzzy mascot costume overhaul are part of this week’s homecoming festivities.
Natalie Meisler, The Denver Post
