Colorado State University Athletics
Rams Look to Link Together Positives on Offense
12/8/2020 2:48:00 PM | Football
Aim on Saturday is to extend the successes
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The final numbers have never looked great.
Break them down in certain spots, and Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio can find aspects of the offense he considers downright encouraging. That makes Saturday's goal against Utah State rather simple: Put it all together.
Addazio doesn't think the offense is behind, nor do they lack an identity. They know what they want to do, now all that's left is to do it for four quarters.
"Like last week, Marcus McElroy ran the ball really well. We blocked at certain times; on his touchdowns we blocked really well," tight end Trey McBride said. "There's a lot of spurts that look really good and the offense can look really good – the same with the defense. I think this week, if we can just jell together and get it going in the right direction, we can be successful. I think that's what's going to happen this week."
What the Rams haven't done this year is hit 400 yards of total offense in a game. They haven't rushed for 150 yards in a game. Last week, against a strong San Diego State rush defense, they did average 4.1 yards per carry in the true running attack (sack-adjusted total).
Step by step, making the focus this week simple for Addazio.
"We want to hit our explosives, we want to be able to run the football and we want to improve on third and medium," he said, noting the pieces are there.
Over the weekend, he broke down the numbers, specifically. He was searching for answers, to see if the scheme was wrong, or was it the play call was good, the design right and the execution missed. In that regard, he found they should have completed more passes. It would have produced more yardage, and most likely have improved their performance on third down, especially third-and-manageable.
The film shows him signs. The offense needs to turn those into fireworks.
"Our backs, if you watch them, they ran really physically and really hard, and you saw the beginnings of what a run game should really look like," he said. "I think what frustrated me Saturday, aside from special teams errors, on offense was our third-and-medium. It just wasn't good enough, and that's something we have to get done."
McElroy averaged 5.0 yards per carry and broke off the longest rush by a CSU player this year, 37 yards. That needs to be a starting point for improvement, according to center Cam Reddy.
To do so, they don't celebrate the small victories, they move forward by polishing what worked, correct what didn't. For the game to work, Reddy said, the communication has to be there, which is on him. And for that to be in place, that starts in practice.
"I think we did some good things, and I think there's plenty of stuff to build on," he said. "When you're going week to week, you don't have time to pat yourself on the back for some of the good things, you just focus on what can we build on, what can we improve and that's what we've been doing."
Utah State has surrendered nearly 225 yards per game on the ground, yielded almost 500 yards of total offense to opponents. But for where Colorado State has been, the Rams can't just expect they can tap into those numbers as expectations.
No, they're going to have to make it happen, which starts with extending the periods where they've had some success. Not just put drives together, but successive drives. That, and the ultimate goal, which is team success in the final game the Rams are guaranteed this season.
"We did some good things. I think overall you just focus on the outcome, as a full team, as every stage of the game, I think all of us could have done some more things and we could have won that game," Reddy said. "That's kind of what you focus on at the end, then you look at the film and you improve."
Break them down in certain spots, and Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio can find aspects of the offense he considers downright encouraging. That makes Saturday's goal against Utah State rather simple: Put it all together.
Addazio doesn't think the offense is behind, nor do they lack an identity. They know what they want to do, now all that's left is to do it for four quarters.
"Like last week, Marcus McElroy ran the ball really well. We blocked at certain times; on his touchdowns we blocked really well," tight end Trey McBride said. "There's a lot of spurts that look really good and the offense can look really good – the same with the defense. I think this week, if we can just jell together and get it going in the right direction, we can be successful. I think that's what's going to happen this week."
What the Rams haven't done this year is hit 400 yards of total offense in a game. They haven't rushed for 150 yards in a game. Last week, against a strong San Diego State rush defense, they did average 4.1 yards per carry in the true running attack (sack-adjusted total).
Step by step, making the focus this week simple for Addazio.
"We want to hit our explosives, we want to be able to run the football and we want to improve on third and medium," he said, noting the pieces are there.
Over the weekend, he broke down the numbers, specifically. He was searching for answers, to see if the scheme was wrong, or was it the play call was good, the design right and the execution missed. In that regard, he found they should have completed more passes. It would have produced more yardage, and most likely have improved their performance on third down, especially third-and-manageable.
The film shows him signs. The offense needs to turn those into fireworks.
"Our backs, if you watch them, they ran really physically and really hard, and you saw the beginnings of what a run game should really look like," he said. "I think what frustrated me Saturday, aside from special teams errors, on offense was our third-and-medium. It just wasn't good enough, and that's something we have to get done."
McElroy averaged 5.0 yards per carry and broke off the longest rush by a CSU player this year, 37 yards. That needs to be a starting point for improvement, according to center Cam Reddy.
To do so, they don't celebrate the small victories, they move forward by polishing what worked, correct what didn't. For the game to work, Reddy said, the communication has to be there, which is on him. And for that to be in place, that starts in practice.
"I think we did some good things, and I think there's plenty of stuff to build on," he said. "When you're going week to week, you don't have time to pat yourself on the back for some of the good things, you just focus on what can we build on, what can we improve and that's what we've been doing."
Utah State has surrendered nearly 225 yards per game on the ground, yielded almost 500 yards of total offense to opponents. But for where Colorado State has been, the Rams can't just expect they can tap into those numbers as expectations.
No, they're going to have to make it happen, which starts with extending the periods where they've had some success. Not just put drives together, but successive drives. That, and the ultimate goal, which is team success in the final game the Rams are guaranteed this season.
"We did some good things. I think overall you just focus on the outcome, as a full team, as every stage of the game, I think all of us could have done some more things and we could have won that game," Reddy said. "That's kind of what you focus on at the end, then you look at the film and you improve."
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