After giving up an average of 41 points per game in its four nonconference losses, the Colorado State defense has made huge strides in its first two Mountain West contests.
Two games into conference play, the Rams are second in the league in points allowed, having given up an average of 15.5 points per game — 14 in a win over Nevada and 17 in last weekend’s loss to Utah State.
“Our defense has been outstanding in both games,” CSU head coach Jay Norvell said. “We have really good defensive players. The guys that we brought in, along with the young guys, have really accepted their roles. They are listening to the coaching, and they are stepping up and making plays. I think we can be the top defense in the conference if we continue to improve and get better.”
The sudden resurgence started in the Nevada game when the Rams opened the scoring with two defensive touchdowns, one on an interception return and another on a fumble return.
Even though the defense gave up 358 yards, the 14 points the Rams allowed were the fewest they have all season. CSU had eight tackles for loss in the game — four by Mohamed Kamara and two by Troy Golden. The Rams also had two sacks and six quarterback hurries in that game.
Kamara, who has 9.5 tackles for loss and four sacks this season, leads the team in both of those categories.
CSU carried over that defensive momentum to Saturday’s home game against Utah State. The Aggies were able to gain almost 400 yards against the Rams, but the defense limited them to just two touchdowns and a field goal.
Cam’Ron Carter had an interception for the Rams, giving them one in each of their last five games. The interception was caused by Kamara getting into the backfield. It was one of four quarterback hurries he had in the game.
There are defensive standouts all over the field for the Rams. Defensive back Jack Howell leads the team with 61 tackles and three interceptions. Dequan Jackson, Carter and CJ Onyechi all have more than 30 tackles on the season.
“We are starting to execute,” Howell said following the loss to Utah State. “We are starting to get off the field on third down. We’ve got to continue to be able to do that. There were some critical moments where we needed to show up and we just didn’t quite get it done so, we just have to be better in that sense.”
As a team, the Rams have 34 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, five interceptions and seven forced fumbles.
Defensive back Chigozie Anusiem, who has 21 tackles and four pass breakups himself, said just more repetition of the system that defensive coordinator Freddie Banks has put in is finally showing up on the field.
“Honestly, itap just execution,” Anusiem said. “The system has been the same from Week 1 to now. Games and repetition in games obviously helped us mature fast as a group, but also just execution and having guys that want to play Colorado State football.”
The Rams will look to continue their improvement on defense Saturday when they host Hawaii.
Freshman quarterback Clay Millen was back on the practice field Monday after having missed the last two and a half games with a shoulder injury. He is expected to start Saturday.
“I was excited to get Clay Millen back on the field,” Norvell said. “He’s been banged up the last couple of weeks, had not practiced. He was back on the field today, and I told our guys really the one area of our football team we need to be more detailed and more productive is our passing game. If we can add productive passing play with what we’re doing on defense and what we’re doing on special teams and with what we’re doing in the running game, I think we can be a much more complete football team. Getting him back is a big plus for us.”
