FORT COLLINS — There were too many big plays on the day, and that didn’t sit well.
Colorado State coach Mike Bobo wasn’t pleased with what he saw out of his defense in that regard Thursday, but the rest of it he liked. There were stops on third down, and the unit was able to turn away the offense in the red zone and on fourth-down, goal-line plays.
He’s told the group repeatedly, things won’t be perfect, but stops like that can become the difference in winning or losing.
“That’s maturity. That’s not losing confidence,” Bobo said. “That’s realizing I’ve got to line up and play the next play. That’s a sign of maturity. We’ll know more Saturday.”
Until the CSU defense starts providing positive results in a consistent manner, that side of the ball will remain under the microscope. They know it, they welcome it and they’re ready to prove things are different.
Much of their confidence is based on the growing pains they experienced last year and how they’ve learned from them. When the 2016 season began, the Rams had eight new starters on defense that were not ready to face Colorado.
Now, Evan Colorito has 13 starts he’d never had before. So does Jake Schlager, and Josh Watson, Jakob Buys and Tre Thomas know what it’s like to go through a full season with a host of struggles and some tastes of success.
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