Disappointment was a theme in the locker room after Colorado State football lost to Washington State Saturday. The mood rolled over to Monday as the Rams looked to their bye week.
It’s an uncharacteristic two-week bye for the Rams, something that head coach Jay Norvell said he can’t recall ever having so early in the season in the span of his coaching career.
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“I definitely think it’s something different but a blessing at this time, as we were able to just come together as a team in these two weeks,” tight end Dallin Holker said. “And like Jack (Howell) was saying, get ready for the rival game.”
A blessing is also the term Norvell also used to describe the bye week.
A lot went wrong for the Rams, and Norvell said that he shoulders the blame for the rough start to the season.
“I want to take responsibility for what happened this weekend,” Norvell said. “We had some real issues a year ago where we made a lot of negative things happen, and we really wanted to go into this season not beating ourselves, and I probably got to take the brunt of that responsibility.”
Despite what the team felt after the game, they’re keeping their heads up and looking for ways they can improve themselves during this week of work.
One of the areas of concern for the Rams moving forward are the big plays through the air that have seemed to haunt the secondary. While the Rams defense showed poise and grit in the red zone, it was too easy for the Cougars to drive the field up to the point.
“I’m definitely proud of the defense for stepping up,” defensive back Jack Howell said. “I know that I let up a big slant that got down to the (red zone) and then chased him down (and) tackled him. And then we stood up for downs and got them off the field, but it’s a lack of execution really.”
There was a lot of anticipation for this game from fans and the team alike. Having two weeks to sit and reflect can be challenging. Despite that, Norvell said he isn’t discouraged.
“I feel better about the group of guys that we have and what we can accomplish, and so we’re going to use this bye week to get better,” Norvell said.
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One thing the Rams will do over the next couple of weeks to prepare for their game against Colorado is adjust practice times.
Though normally in the mornings, practices will now take place at night. Norvell said this will allow the players to adjust to the later game against the Buffaloes.
Norvell said that this week gives them a chance to look at a few things and to adjust in practice what might have gone wrong in their week one loss.
“That’s the beauty of having a bye week,” Norvell said. “Bye week is always an opportunity to go back and refine our football and to also look at a couple of schemes that we think can help us against our next opponent.”
The team didn’t take the loss lightly and are looking to attack the bye week and do whatever it takes to improve their football and give them the best chance in their games.
CU looked like one of the most electric offenses in their win over Texas Christian. Going into a hostile environment will make it a tall task for the Rams to come out victorious.
Despite the mountain left to climb, the players are ready to work hard and give it their all.
“Watching the film, there’s some good and some bad — we’re close, we’re right there,” Holker said. “We’ll be good. We’ll regroup this week and keep going over film and definitely learn from it.”
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
