FORT COLLINS — Personnel changes were the order of the day for Colorado State in Saturday’s loss at Texas-El Paso.
Moves such as sophomore running back Chris Nwoke getting the majority of the carries, center Weston Richburg finishing the game at tackle and kicker Ben DeLine being replaced after getting a kick blocked were not as final as they seemed at the time.
CSU coach Steve Fairchild said he’ll continue to explore lineup changes as the Rams try to stop a three-game losing streak Saturday at UNLV.
“Yeah, we’re looking at all those things,” Fairchild said. “What happened Saturday night, we felt like that gave us the best chance to be successful.”
Most of the changes were made out of necessity.
DeLine came into the game injured, coaches revealed this week. DeLine said it was his knee that was injured. His first field-goal attempt at UTEP was blocked, and he was replaced by Chad VanderMolen from then on, although DeLine insisted at the time it wasn’t due to the injury. He’s expected to play this week but there is still a chance he may just kick the ball off, leaving VanderMolen the place-kicking duties.
“I think Chad’s performed very well ever since he’s been here,” CSU special-teams coordinator Larry Lewis said. “Truthfully, I think he deserved an opportunity, really.”
Richburg was needed at tackle when the offensive line started breaking down. CSU started two redshirt freshman tackles Saturday, and in the face of constant pressure and multiple sacks, coaches shuffled the line around.
“We’ll go with the same type of deal (this week), mix things around,” said offensive coordinator Pat Meyer.
Richburg is expected to take some reps at tackle during practice this week.
As for the Nwoke/Raymond Carter split at running back, Fairchild said he’ll continue to play that situation “by feel.”
Nwoke and Carter had previously split carries by series. But against UTEP, Nwoke carried the ball 23 times to Carter’s nine.
“I thought Chris did some nice things,” Fairchild said. “But I thought Raymond did some nice things when we put him in there too. We are kind of settling into a two-man rotation, so it is not that important to me who starts. I just like to see who is in the groove.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
