Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild and the rushing stats from Saturday’s game at New Mexico don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye.
Those numbers — 92 yards on 28 carries, a 3.3 yards per carry average — suggest a running game that needs a significant work to become as effective as it needs to be.
The coach isn’t buying it.
“I didn’t mind the way we were running the ball,” Fairchild said after the game. “We missed a few holes and we put ourselves in some long yardage situations with some stuff. There were a couple of times they walked the linebacker up and we didn’t pick it up the right way. We’re still, with (fullback) Austin (Gillmore), relatively new in there.
“But I look at it a little different. I look at it are we flat-backing, are we physical, are backs hitting it in there and moving their legs? Because we’ll get a back to fit it right as the season goes on, but it you’re soft and high then you’re not running the ball well. We looked like we’ve got a chance to run the football.”
Offensively, the Rams know they have work to do overall.
Chris Nwoke and Raymond Carter assumed the lion’s share of the running duties and combined for 98 yards and a touchdown.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, playing hard, playing on all cylinders and just getting it going early,” Nwoke said.
In the air, quarterback Pete Thomas knows things have to change. New Mexico did a nice job of taking away deep routes and basically removed CSU’s wide receivers from the game. Of Thomas’s 22 completions, 16 went to fullbacks, running backs and tight end Crockett Gillmore.
The Rams had just 26 minutes of possession time, just 12 first downs, averaged a mere 5.0 yards per offensive play and were largely ineffective on third down (4-of-13).
“As an offense, we don’t want to punt, don’t want to kick field goals,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to change that.”
Asked what needs to change, Thomas was frank.
“Everything. Everything,” he said. “We’ve got to be crisper on our routes. I’ve got to be more accurate. We’ve got to get the run game going a little bit. We’ve got to get the backs seeing the holes right, the o-line making the checks right. Everything needs to improve and it starts with me and I know I will.”
One thing that did go right was Thomas’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Crockett Gillmore, which came on somewhat of a broken play. Coverage dictated that Thomas shouldn’t have even thrown the ball to the sophomore tight end, but he did anyway.
It worked out for a much-needed touchdown. But Gillmore knows there’s still work to be done.
“We have a lot of work to do all around, but definitely the running game,” Gillmore said. “We were letting one guy slip through every time to keep us from the big play. In this offense you want to run them and run them and run them into the ground all day. I felt like we did that at times, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
