A lot of eyes are on Colorado State football as they gear up for their final three-game stretch of the season.
Six wins is the goal for the team, but despite that elephant in the room, coach Jay Norvell said the team is focused on taking each game one at a time.
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“Everybody’s going to look at our schedule and say if we do this, then we can do that,” Norvell said. “And really none of that matters to us. To us, we’re in a one-game playoff where we get an opportunity to play a very, very good San Diego State team.”
Offense
The Rams offense struggled mightily against Wyoming in the Border War. The offense led by redshirt freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi has been very up and down. On one hand, Fowler-Nicolosi leads all Football Bowl Subdivision freshmen in touchdown passes; on the other hand, he also leads them all in interceptions.
“Brayden, he’s young, and especially me and Jacob (Gardner) being older, being able to play a lot of games, we know that there’s going to be valleys when you’re going through a season,” CSU offensive lineman Oliver Jervis said. “And just making sure he has the confidence to know that we trust him, we love him and that we’ve seen what he can do.”
While Fowler-Nicolosi has had his ups and downs, he has a good chance to bounce back this week against San Diego State.
The Aztecs have had a rough season, capped off by a 32-24 overtime loss against Utah State. SDSU sits 1-4 in Mountain West play.
SDSU has struggled this season, but sophomore linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu has seen a breakout campaign. Notching four sacks in his past two weeks and 10.5 tackles-for-loss on the season, he has been a game-wrecker for the Aztecs.
“It’s not a matter of just planning for an individual; it’s just planning for their entire defense,” Jervis said. “We have to just be prepared like they’re going to give us their best effort. We see how disruptive they are, so we just have to trust each other as an offensive line.”
Watch: The third-quarter offense
The Rams offense has struggled coming out of the half this season. While they’re projected to win this week according to ESPN, having a good third quarter will go a long way to making that prediction a reality.
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“We haven’t played well in the third quarter (the) last two weeks,” Norvell said. “We responded in the fourth this last week, but in the third, we did not.”
Defense
The Rams run defense will once again be tested against SDSU.
The Aztecs are looking to run, and quarterback Jalen Mayden leads their rushing game. The Rams struggled last week against Wyoming QB Andrew Peasley, who had 49 yards on the ground.
Although Peasley torched the Rams on the ground, cornerback Dom Jones intercepted Peasley, which was just Peasley’s fourth interception of the season.
“When we’re not playing the way that we’re capable of playing, it really comes down to fundamentals and taking on blocks and shedding blocks — playing with leverage and tackling clean,” Norvell said.
Mayden, on the other hand, has been turnover-prone, throwing seven interceptions to just nine touchdowns. The Rams will once again look to create turnovers, something they have been extremely successful at this season.
While it’s been a tough 0-3 stretch for the Rams, they will be back home on Saturday. The Rams are 2-2 at home, and their defense has had its moments in front of the fans in Canvas Stadium.
“It’s definitely really nice to be able to play at home in front of our fans (and) really put on a show,” defensive lineman Matt Thomas said. “It’s exciting, but like coach (Freddie) Banks said today, we’re just looking at San Diego State — this is our playoff game right here.”
Watch: The linebackers
Once again, linebackers Chase Wilson and Justin Sanchez will be under fire taking on a lethal SDSU running game. Both Wilson and Sanchez buckled down and had good games against Wyoming and will be asked to do that once again this weekend.
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
