For CSU, next year’s success starts against New Mexico
By Kyle Clark on November 21, 2009 · Comment · 
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Colorado State lines up against New Mexico on Nov. 15, 2008, in at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins. (CSU photo)
The players of Colorado State are bruised, battered and beaten.
Physically the pain continues from constant injuries that have flipped the depth chart on its head. Today, only two seniors will start on defense for the Rams. Mentally, they’ve got to be hurting from the seven straight losses, after starting a promising 3-0. Those losses include falling short to teams they “should” have beaten — Idaho, San Diego State and UNLV.
But after a week off to regroup, it’s hard to tell that’s the situation in Fort Collins. This week, players had just as much fire, and fun, on the practice field. Speaking with the team, you got more of a sense of focused optimism than despair or a lost cause.
This can be attributed to the demeanor of coach Steve Fairchild. With bowl-eligibility now gone, the coach has given his squad a new set of goals: The stronger they finish, the better off next year’s team will be.
“Like I told our football team, every team has a legacy and a stamp on a season. A lot of these guys were a part of that season last year that stopped the losing-season streak and got this thing going back in the right direction. I think the mark we can leave this year is just not to transfer over a losing streak, so it’s something next year’s team has to deal with,” Fairchild said.
Senior players like quarterback Grant Stucker and offensive lineman Shelly Smith have bought in. While they admit there is still as much motivation to play for their seniors, who only have two games left, they also feel a sense of responsibility to the younger guys.
RAms wide receiver Dion Morton goes up for a catch against the Lobos. (CSU photo)
Perhaps the biggest motivator today lies within the opponent the Rams will face. CSU will play New Mexico, a team yet to see its first win. Breaking the Rams’ losing streak may be objective No. 1, but right behind is “let’s not be remembered as the ‘1′ of a 1-10 New Mexico record.”
Three keys to finding a “W”:
STOPPING PORTERIE
CSU has faced a few dual-threat quarterbacks, notably last game when it faced a pair of running signal-callers at UNLV. It hasn’t gone up against one who throws as well as Donnavan Porterie, however.
“He is mobile, and he does some nice things that way; he can create plays when things break down, which is a real benefit for their offense,” Fairchild said, “but I thought he threw the ball extremely well, particularly in this last game. We haven’t been defending the pass very well, so he will be a challenge for us.”
Porterie has had only one game this season in which he threw for lower than a 50 percent completion ratio; last week he completed 63 percent of his passes against BYU for 272 yards. If it were not for three missed Lobos field goals, BYU might have lost the 24-19 meeting.
FOR THE THIRD TIME
It’s hard to move an offense when you can’t convert on third down. It’s even harder to win when you can’t stop the other team in that same situation. Colorado State needs to fix both.
The Rams rank dead last in the country stopping defenses on third down. How many times have we heard from Fairchild after a game that the defense wore down because it was on the field too long? It’s on those younger guys, some who have been waiting most of the year for serious playing time, to step it up.
It’s also on the offense, which needs to limit its turnovers and three-and-out drives to give the defense a rest. The only way Fairchild is going to be happy losing the time of possession battle is if the offense comes off the field as the result of scoring.
USE THE EXPERIENCE
Stucker said the week off really helped because he’s been practicing against the same kind of defense New Mexico runs.
“They’re pretty similar to our defense, so seeing that look over and over the past 11 weeks has been pretty beneficial,” Stucker said, “but we’ve got to be able to respect any scheme they’re going to run against us.”
This is one of the few chances Stucker has to leave his mark on the program. As the most experienced quarterback, he should know where the holes are going to be, where the receivers can stretch the field and have the timing of plays down to the millisecond. Otherwise, Fairchild has threatened to take the starter out again, with T.J. Borcky and Jon Eastman being the other options.
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