FORT COLLINS — There was extra incentive for Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson to try to shake off the effects of a bruised shoulder this week and play Saturday against Tulsa at Hughes Stadium.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t wait to wear orange on , as CSU’s “orange out” commemorates the school’s Aggie traditions.
Rather, Grayson wanted to erase the sting of — or, more specifically, his struggles as the Rams fell to 0-2 and hit bottom in what turned out to be a turnaround season for the program.
At Tulsa a year ago, Grayson was 12-of-29 passing for a meager 108 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was miserable for days after that. The backbreaker for the Rams turned out to be a 45-yard run to the CSU 20 by Tulsa’s Trey Watts with 19 seconds left, setting up the winning field goal.
“You never want to go into a game for personal reasons and I know that,” Grayson said Tuesday, the Rams’ final day of player availability this week. “But obviously this was probably the worst game of my career last year. So there’s a little bit inside of me that I want to play no matter what.
“If I don’t think I can perform in a way that’s going to help the team, if I’m going to be out there hurting the team, I don’t want to be out there. I think Nick (Stevens) could do as good a job as anyone, so I don’t want to do that. I honestly feel like I’ll be able to play.”
Grayson suffered the shoulder bruise when driven to the turf in CSU’s 24-21 victory at Boston College. As the week progressed, he made more throws under the watch of trainer Terry DeZeeuw and with a “pitch count” in force. At his last session with the media this week, after practice Wednesday, coach Jim McElwain continued to say he expected Grayson to play.
McElwain, a former college quarterback himself, at Eastern Washington, understood the potential catharsis involved.
“I don’t blame him that he couldn’t eat or sleep,” McElwain said in a joking manner of the Tulsa game a year ago. “I didn’t eat or sleep either after that disaster. … I really like his approach. He’s started to learn from past experiences, ‘This is what I need to do to move forward.’ He’s done that. I think he’s circled this one on his calendar for a while.”
McElwain conceded that he had bad days as a player too.
“More than I care to say,” he said with a laugh. “It’s interesting, when you play that spot, that spot can be awful lonely at times.”
Tulsa is 1-3 after beating Tulane 38-31 in double overtime in an American Athletic Conference matchup, then losing to Oklahoma (52-7), Florida Atlantic (50-21) and Texas State (37-34, triple OT).
“These guys have command of the passing game, and you can tell that by their statistics, and this will be a great challenge to see how our secondary responds,” McElwain said.
Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship said of the Rams: “This is a team with a lot of confidence, playing very well right now. We’ll be going into Fort Collins to try to upset that trend a little bit.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
When the Rams run
The Golden Hurricane has allowed an average of 218 yards rushing per game, and the Rams’ 1-2 punch of Dee Hart and Treyous Jarrells has been productive in all but the Boise State game.
Edge: Rams
When the Golden Hurricane runs
Sophomore tailback James Flanders is coming off a 112-yard game in a loss to Texas State, but the Tulsa ground game otherwise has been unremarkable. The Rams did a good job of containing Boston College’s potent ground game, including Tyler Murphy’s improvisation. Edge: Rams
When the Rams pass
This comes down to whether Garrett Grayson (bruised shoulder) plays. He’s expected to, but you know that coach Jim McElwain would be thrilled to get far enough ahead to give backup Nick Stevens some playing time.
Edge: Rams
When the Golden Hurricane passes
Dane Evans has thrown for 1,145 yards and eight touchdowns, and the Rams’ secondary remains one of their vulnerabilities.
Edge: Golden Hurricane
Special teams
Jared Roberts is 3-for-4 on field goals for the Rams. His Tulsa counterpart, Carl Salazar, spent a year at the Air Force Academy and a semester at Oklahoma before joining the Golden Hurricane. His 34-yarder on the final play of the game gave Tulsa a 30-27 win over CSU last season. He is 21-for-26 on field goals for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa’s punt coverage hasn’t been good, and this might be the game when Hart breaks one for CSU. Edge: Rams
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
