FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State football's loss at No. 5 Iowa 11 days ago was no doubt a missed opportunity.
“Just knowing we were right there, we should have beaten that team,” said CSU TE and Fort Morgan native Trey McBride. “That’s what hurts the most, is knowing how close we really are. It brings confidence, it brings energy.”
The Rams may feel refreshed coming off their bye week, although head coach Steve Addazio is not sure how the time off will affect his team.
“We needed to get the bye week, but I’m scared to death of the bye week. I felt like we were in a groove. Let’s see how we come out of it. Do we come out of it stronger? Better? The same? Worse? I don’t know we’ll see.”
Excluding last year’s COVID-19 season, the Rams have won four consecutive games coming off bye weeks. Their next test is against the reigning Mountain West conference champs, the San Jose State Spartans, who are 3-2 so far this season.
Despite how CSU’s season has gone so far, there is still confidence in the air in Fort Collins the team can make a run in conference play.
“Every game, everyone is screaming on the sidelines, ‘believe, believe, believe.’ We all have that mindset and thought process,” said quarterback Todd Centeio.
“They won the conference last year so they probably have some confidence. At the end of the day, it’s still us versus us. If we go out there and do what we’re supposed to do, I don’t feel like any team can play with us. It showed in little spurts in every game we played this year.”
The Rams have struggled in the second half of games this season, especially at the start of the third quarter. In their three losses, the Rams have failed to score points in the third quarter, something that’s going to have to change.
“I think we’re gonna come out firing against San Jose,” said McBride. “We fully expect to win every single game this year and yeah I expect to compete for a conference championship.”