It was Groundhog Day for Colorado State University Saturday as the Rams continued to relive the same gameday over again every week.
The CSU football team barely got started against the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Rams’ rush defense wore down with the secondary giving up big gains and with the offense struggling to get anything going. Starting at halfway through the second quarter, Nevada was sailing with a clear horizon and no defense in their way.
“That’s on me as the head coach, I did not get the guys ready to fight,” Coach Mike Bobo told the Coloradoan. “I did a poor job of game-planning tonight.”
The first quarter started with turnovers and penalties holding back the offense while the defense gave up easy gains through the air. Nevada scored first on a 20-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ty Gangi to freshman wide receiver Romeo Doubs. This came after junior quarterback Colin Hill threw an interception on the Rams’ first drive.
Hill’s game started out in strong fashion with four straight completions, but beginning with the interception, the offense went downhill quickly. The Ram’s offense had five penalties in the first quarter alone, four of them on the offensive line.
At one point, spanning the first and second quarters, Gangi completed eight straight passes, including a 41-yard touchdown for the second score of the game.
Hill and the running game struggled throughout the first half as the Rams failed to get even a hundred yards of total offense. The running game averaged just 2.4 yards per rush in the half while Hill only threw for 39. Hill was under fire on most of his dropbacks and the run blocking wasn’t much better.
After limiting the run for most of the half, the Rams gave up their third score of the game on a 48-yard run. Then on the next drive, the Rams gave up another big pass to Doubs for a 36-yard touchdown.
The Rams would go into the half down 28-0, having given up 250 passing yards and three touchdowns to Gangi and the Wolfpack.
The third quarter didn’t start any better for the Rams as the Wolfpack scored on the first three drives with huge gains coming on the ground and through the air. The Wolfpack ultimately scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions to go up 49-0 midway through the third quarter.
The biggest difference in this loss versus CSU’s other losses was that the door seemed to slam shut on the Rams early, and there was never really any threat of a comeback.
Junior wide receiver Preston Williams caught an eight-yard pass from Hill and finally got the Rams on the board with 8:42 remaining in the game after senior fullback Adam Prentice put together one of the Rams’ most effective rushing stretches. On the next drive, the Rams made quick work again to get up field with a nice string of passes, but stalled on the Nevada seven and settled for the field goal.
It may have saved face, but was definitely too little too late for the Rams, and Nevada ran out the clock on the next drive. The Rams will get another chance to try and improve next week against a stout Utah State University team and find the fight they’re still looking for.
“We’re going to figure out who wants to fight, that’s coaches and players,” Bobo told the Coloradoan. “That’s who we’re going to play with.”
Mack Beaulieu can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @Mack_Covers.
