Friday the new Monday as game week begins

fort collins» Friday was Monday for the Colorado State football team.

Welcome to game week during the bowl season, where college coaches and players try to find normalcy where they can, and getting back to regular preparation after a practice here and there was a welcome end to finals week and the beginning of the installation of Idaho for the Potato Bowl on Dec. 22 in Boise.

“Bowl games are weird,” said Rams wide receiver Bisi Johnson. “The last few practices have been chill, but we come in (Friday) and put some scouting reports in and all that, and (Friday) actually felt like a real Monday. I was exhausted, everybody else was exhausted.”

Normal is what you make it. In two practices earlier this week, the Rams devoted about 15 minutes toward scout work of the Vandals, but no more. The game plan was thrown in full force Friday, and while it wasn’t the best day of work the Rams have had, the first focused look at an opponent usually isn’t anyway.

“To be honest, it was a little rusty,” CSU coach Mike Bobo said. “At times it was good, at times it wasn’t. We’ve got to make sure we treat it like a Monday. When we get an install, you go home, we study it and come back ready to have a good Tuesday, because Tuesday is really a good work day.

“Like I just told them, the most important practice of the year is (Saturday).”

With meetings before and after, it will be a long weekend day anyway. Still, it felt right to the players to get back to a schedule they’re used to operating under, even if the days are thrown off a tad.

“It will feel normal until we get a flight mid-game week,” quarterback Nick Stevens said with a grin. “It’s nice to get back into having heavy game planning going, as weird as it sounds, and getting some good scout work.”

The Rams said the time off felt good for their bodies, but what Bobo is most focused on is having their heads in the right place. Wide receivers coach Alvis Whitted talked to his group about not taking things for granted, which he felt took place last year.

The ability to practice like champions, as Bobo has praised his team for the last half of the season, has to get back in short order if the Rams are to finish the season with a victory.