SAN ANTONIO — Never take an early lead for granted.
Colorado State football couldn’t have asked for a more explosive set of plays to start its week four matchup against UTSA. Mel Brown took the opening kick 94 yards to the end zone, UTSA’s initial offensive drive resulted in a missed field goal and K’saan Farrar‘s very first throw of the game was a 74-yard missile to Terrence Smith Jr.
Within one minute and 44 seconds, CSU was up 14-0 and held all the momentum. Despite the Rams’ advantage, the Roadrunners responded. Head coach Jim Mora watched as his defense crumbled under UTSA’s unremmitting counterattack — allowing 35 unanswered points before CSU was able to score again.
Facing an uphill battle the rest of the way, CSU put together scoring drives that brought the game back within striking distance. The steep score differential, however, proved to be too big of an obstacle to overcome, resulting in a 59-45 loss Saturday.
New defense, similar mistakes
CSU’s offense gave the defense plenty of room to work with thanks to the early 14-0 lead, but Tyson Summers‘ defensive unit fell into complacency.
The Rams allowed 300 yards of offense in the first quarter and change of play, repeating the same errors drive and drive again. By the end of the first quarter, the Roadrunners were up 21-14, and carried the momentum through the first half, extending their lead to 14 by halftime.
Summers’ defense was anchored by Oumar Diomande — the leading tackler at the half — but the defense as a whole struggled across multiple facets. The defensive line could not break through to UTSA quarterback Owen McCown, the secondary allowed multiple big plays and the Roadrunners faced no resistance.
Tackling inconsistencies continue to haunt the Rams
In order to stop an explosive offense, tackling is priority number one; the Rams struggled with just that Saturday in the Alamodome.
UTSA constantly found extra yards after contact, even with multiple Ram defenders with arms around ball carriers. Many Roadrunner touchdowns came as a result of tackling mistakes and simply being unable to take down the man with the ball.
The ineffective tackling has been glaring throughout the early part of the season, constantly allowing chunk plays that result from missed tackles. BYU ran for 332 yards, Southern Utah was able to keep its game close as a result of the Rams’ poor tackling and UTSA capitalized on every CSU mistake.
Penalties finally become an issue
After a clean start to the season, the Rams became complacent Saturday, racking up 11 penalties over the course of the game.
Entering the matchup, CSU’s 3.3 penalties per game tied them for third least in the nation, but that success came crashing down in San Antonio. In the first quarter, the Rams had a offensive drive in which they committed three false starts, two of them took place back-to-back.
This drive became the catalyst for a subsequent avalanche of penalties.
UTSA was able to construct its scoring drives simply off of the Rams’ blunders, and the Roadrunners achieved their season-high of 59 points from that.
Farrar steps up
Hauss Hejny, starting quarterback of the first three games, was out Saturday with a hamstring injury. Farrar got the start — the second of his career — and turned in an impressive offensive performance.
Farrar was 29-of-46 for 344 yards, which included two touchdowns and one interception. Farrar showcased his deep-ball ability, read the Roadrunners’ defense well throughout all four quarters and kept the Rams alive until the very end despite a first half 21-point deficit.
There is no official timeline for Hejny’s return to play, giving Farrar the potential for more starts in the coming weeks and opportunities to solidify himself as a trustworthy quarterback.
CSU now takes a 2-2 record back to Canvas Stadium with clear changes to be made before its homecoming matchup against Oregon State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Reach Devin Imsirpasic and Cerys Hembury at sports@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegianSpts.
