Setting the Stage: Utah State

Colorado State (1-3, 1-3 MW) vs. Utah State (1-5, 1-5)
Canvas Stadium, Fort Collins, Colo.
Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.

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Watch | Listen | CSU Stats | USU Stats

Rams Home to Close Out Scheduled 2020 Slate

Looking Forward and Back

The entire season has been a drive down Lombard Street.

Do we play? When to start? When to finish? How do we best keep players, coaches and support staff safe and healthy?

Who can play? Who wants to play? So many twists and turns, but Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio finds value in it all, even if it doesn't mean he agrees with the way it was all handled 100 percent.

Hindsight being 20/20 (not 2020), things would have been different.

Addazio wanted to start on time. And as it played out, earlier would be been a better time to get going and give teams a better chance to play a full schedule, because about the time the Mountain West began play, spikes were starting to resurface.

"I've enjoyed every minute, to be honest," Addazio said. "I was miserable with the prospect of us not playing, so I'm thrilled that we're playing, and I want to play as long and as many as we can. That's why we do what we do. We certainly don't do it to lift weights."

The Rams did some of that, but even though three games were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. The offseason and season alike were both filled with starts and stops, and for a first-year coaching staff, building a program and develop fundamentals and a culture were a tough ask.

Even still, cornerback Marshaun Cameron walks away feeling it was his best in terms of his personal development.

"Out of my four or five years in college, this is the best time I've developed, the most I've developed, in these three months in my whole college career," the cornerback said. "Everything, to like the details, technique, knowing the situation and knowing how to finish. It's the coaching staff as a whole. Everybody harps on fundamentals, the details, the little things. You can see we're getting better in every single unit of the game."

The one thing the season has been is amusing for Addazio, especially certain decisions and national conversations. Trying to make this all make sense and find absolutes is funny to him.

"I'm amused maybe by the fact how much validity goes into who is what and where in the country and amused by rules being changed and things going to help people," he said. "I don't even know how you pick a national champion. I don't even know what that means. A lot of that is luck of the draw – who you played, who you didn't play. Did you play the best teams, did you play the lesser teams? That's amusing to me. To draw too many conclusions is amusing to me."

Much to Consider

There are 18 seniors and grad transfers on the roster, but you may want to hold off on waving goodbye to them as they cross your television screen on Saturday.

With the NCAA taking on the role of Oprah, every athlete has been granted an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic. That waiver did not come with a blank check for athletic departments to fill out an amount to cover scholarship costs. Or an allowance of extra scholarships.

It's a box that will take some time to unpack, and Addazio isn't anywhere near the point of starting to pull back the packing tape.

For the players, there is a lot to consider, and most of them have not taken a deep dive into the waters.

"At this point right now, I'm only focused on football and playing the season out," senior defensive lineman Manny Jones said. "I mean, I know it's there, there's possibilities all over the place, but right now, I'm just focused on playing the next game."

Jones admitted there are curiosity conversations in the locker room, but the final data hasn't been collected. Players will seek output on what is best for them moving forward, and the coaches will most definitely play the role of guidance counselor.

Even Addazio said this is not the time for those talks. They aren't casual conversations. They can be life changing.

Jones knows that, too. There is no, "hey, we can all come back," because those are very personal decisions.

"We always have little locker room talks here and there, just wondering, because it's something that could possibly happen," he said. "I feel like we all have those little talks, but it's nothing that would deter us from focusing on the next game, the next practice."

Colorado State will sign a class next week, one built almost entirely virtually. Then Addazio and his staff will work on the 2021 class, and that will most definitely start virtually. And some of them have not played this year at all. If a vaccine works its way into place, he's hoping summer camps might be the first real time to meet and get to know that class.

"How do you get on the next class?" Addazio asked. "When's the last time you watched football on the kid, when he was a sophomore? How do you do that?"

For the Record

The 2020 closer also marks the beginning of the program.

On Dec. 12, 1898, with F.O. Congdon taking the lead, students formed the first football team in school history. If you're getting a cake, you'll need 128 candles.

This will also be the latest date for the Rams to have a scheduled regular-season game since 1925, when the team played at Hawaii. In addition, the day marks the latest date on the calendar for a football game at Canvas Stadium, which opened in 2017.

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