AIR FORCE GROUND GAME TRAMPLES COLORADO STATE
AIR FORCE ACADEMY» The simple things are so important.
For a defense facing an option attack, it’s stop the fullback.
For a kicker, make your point-after attempts.
For an offense as a whole, protect the ball, and at all costs in the red zone.
On Thanksgiving Day at Falcon Stadium, Colorado State whiffed across the board, dropping a 27-19 decision to Air Force to finish the season at 3-9, 2-6 in Mountain West play. The Rams end the season on a five-game losing streak.
“Pretty much a microcosm of our whole season,” CSU head coach Mike Bobo said. “Too many mistakes. Turnovers, we lost the turnover battle, and we didn’t execute well enough to win.”
Wyatt Bryan missed two extra points in the game, after the first and last touchdowns the Rams scored on the day. The first he slid to the right, the second was so low, the Falcons (5-7, 3-5) couldn’t help but block their third kick of the season. It was also the third PAT miss of the season for the program’s career scoring leader.
Colorado State’s offense was moribund to start the game, but came to life at the end of the first half on a pair of Preston Williams’ touchdown receptions, both from Collin Hill, the second of them com-
ing with just 26 seconds remaining in the first half on a 58-yard catch down the sideline.
His last scoring catch came off a throw from K.J. CartaSamuels, who entered the game in the fourth quarter after Hill threw an interception in the red zone and left the game with a concussion. It was Carta-Samuel’s first action since starting against Boise State five games earlier.
Williams had 12 catches for 248 yards in the game, the fourth best yardage total in a game for a Ram, the 12 grabs tied for third.
Hill threw for 284 yards in the game, Carta-Samuels 89, both throwing an interception.
“I mean, it’s just small, little details compounded over time,” Carta-Samuels said. “They make the total difference in the end. It was a rough last two weeks, but we competed these last two weeks, for sure.”
Defensively, stopping an option fullback doesn’t guarantee success, but allowing a schoolrecord 260 yards on 34 carries to one most definitely hurts.
Cole Fagan became just the second Falcon fullback to surpass 200 yards in a game, and the first time was back in 1988. He had one big run of 56 yards, but gashed through the middle of the Rams’ defense all day long, scoring the first touchdown of the game.
His running led an Air Force attack that gained 393 yards in the game and controlled the flow of the game with more than 38 minutes of possession.
“It’s frustrating man,” CSU defensive tackle Livingston Paogofie said. “The way our season went, and we game-planned this ever since our bye week. It’s a little frustrating for them to put up that much yardage on us.”
Colorado State was first in position to take the lead in the third quarter, coming off a fourth-and-goal stop at the 1, keeping Air Force quarterback D.J. Hammond III out of the end zone. The Rams drove all the way down to the AFA 15, most of it covered by a 47-yard pass to Bisi Johnson. Hill, rolling to his right, tried to fight a ball into a double-covered Williams at the goal line, with Jeremy Fejedelen intercepting it at the 2.
Hill was pulled at that point with a concussion, which Bobo said he suffered the first play of the drive, a sneak to get off the goal line. On the sideline, Bobo said the sophomore didn’t remember the drive or if the Rams scored or not.
“It was definitely brutal,” Bobo said of the turnover. “We get a great fourth-down stop by the defense and it looks like we’ve got a chance to go 99 yards for a touchdown, or at least attempt at a field goal … We just forced the ball.”
The Falcons’ responded with an 18-play, 76-yard drive the culminated in a 39-yard field goal and a 20-13 lead.
Then Williams scored, and Bryan missed the conversion. Air Force replied with an 11-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 4-yard run from Kaden Remsburg for the final margin.
Behind Carta-Samuels, the Rams drove down the field, but he was intercepted by Kyle Floyd at the AFA 3 with 1:54 remaining.
Just another mistake, another misstep in a season full of them.
“Nothing’s really automatic. It’s the routine that you do on a daily basis, and we’ve been inconsistent all year,” Bobo said. “We haven’t been a consistent football team, and inconsistency bit us again today.”