New week, same defense. The Colorado State football defense continued to struggle in the same areas that have haunted the Rams all season during their 64-38 loss to No. 20 Boise State.
As the season progressed, the same glaring issues continued to rear their ugly heads for the CSU defense. Their matchup against BSU was no different.
On the first four offensive possessions of the game for the Broncos, CSU surrendered touchdowns on all of them. The first defensive stop for the Rams came with 1:53 left on the clock in the second quarter.
BSU scored touchdowns on all but three drives. The Rams forced a punt on one drive, and the other two drives were when quarterback Max Cutforth took a knee to run out the clock heading into halftime, and quarterback Cash Herrera kneeled out the clock at the end of the game.
”I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never been involved with something that’s like this,” head coach Jim Mora said. “It’s disappointing.”
On almost every BSU scoring play, there were numerous missed or broken tackles that turned small gains into big scores. Tackling has been a continuous issue for CSU all season long, but the message in the locker room continues to remain the same.
”There’s no turning back,” defensive lineman Robby Harrison said. “You step in this building, you’re with us, and if you’re not with us, be free to go. That’s really the overall message these next few weeks.”
The inability to stop the run turned out to be the Rams’ Achilles’ heel once again, with Heisman-contending running back Dylan Riley slicing through the defense. Riley finished his night with 300 all-purpose yards and three scores. Riley’s performance fell just one yard shy of the BSU single-game record for all-purpose yards held by Doug Martin.
In spite of the defensive issues, Mora remains confident in his players and staff to right the ship.
”It seems so simple in practice, and it seems so simple in a meeting room,” Mora said. “When the lights come on, and you’re playing an opponent that’s gonna go at warp speed, and has really good players and is one of the top ranked teams in the country, you know, things change. You just have to have the resolve to continue to try to really emphasize the right things.”
CSU’s loss marks the second time this year that the team has given up over 60 points, and the fifth time the defense has surrendered over 50 points. In spite of this fact, Mora isn’t planning on making any big adjustments to the team’s game plan.
”I will tell you this: Our players continue to work hard, they continue to have a great attitude, they come to work every day with great mindset, energy (and) enthusiasm,” Mora said. “They have good practices, and then we go out on the field and it has not translated well, but we’re not going to abandon what we’re doing.”
While old struggles continued to show, new ones also began to poke through.
Penalties set the Rams back offensively a number of times, wiping out a handful of big plays. Throughout the season, CSU has been one of the more disciplined teams in the league penalty-wise, but tonight strayed away from that. CSU committed eight penalties that set them back 70 yards on the night.
”These are disciplined players,” Mora said. “Tonight we had some penalties but we’ve proven to be a pretty disciplined team in terms of that.”
Quarterback Hauss Hejny had another solid performance through the air despite completing just 56% of his passes. Hejny threw for 253 yards and two scores.
”Hauss is electric,” wide receiver Tommy Maher said. “I love Hauss. He’s just one-of-one. I’ll leave it at that.”
The CSU run game also turned in another quality performance, even though Durell Robinson was out and Mel Brown’s usage was incredibly limited due to injuries.
Hejny ran the ball well, finishing with nine carries for 69 yards and a score, finishing as the team’s leading rusher. The committee of running backs who stepped in for Brown and Robinson also had impressive nights.
Oliver Lundberg carried the ball nine times for 36 yards and a score, Damian Moore Jr. had five carries for 50 yards including a 27-yard run on his first career carry, Jayden Fox carried the ball once for 21 yards and Malichi Greaves rounded off the night with five carries for 22 yards. Cedric Ross also got involved with a 65-yard reception that led to a CSU score a few plays later.
“It’s really hard to just play one guy,” M0ra said. “It’s almost impossible … There’s certain plays that are designed for certain players because everyone has a different skill set, and so you try to put people in the position to do what they do best.”
BSU’s victory marks their first win in Fort Collins since 2017, and improves their record to 8-1 on the season. In the all-time series, the Broncos have now won 14 of the 15 meetings between the two teams, with CSU’s only victory coming back in 2023.
Mora and the Rams will look to bounce back in their next matchup against Washington State in Pullman on Nov. 14. In the meantime, Mora’s team will get back to work on improving the defense and is confident in the group of players in the locker room in spite of the struggles.
”I feel bad for our student body and for our fans,” Mora said. “Once again, we’ve got a good group of kids. There’s no finger pointing. There is nobody that is blaming anyone else … These guys, they’re teammates, they spend the majority of their days together and they care about each other beyond just football. They encourage each other, you know, and they hold each other accountable and they compete against each other and that’s how you get better.”
Reach Jack Randels at sports@collegian.com or on social media @jackrandelsmedia.
