By: Mike Brohard
Colorado State (1-1, 1-1 MW) at Boise State (2-1, 2-0)
Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho
Thursday, Nov. 12, 6 p.m.
Getting with the Program
When a player transfers, he just doesn't join a team and a bunch of players in the locker room. No, they inherit the traditions and history of the program, and Scott Patchan has had plenty of homework recently.
"I think it's extremely important. You learn, first day, Coach (Steve) Addazio tries to teach everybody the fight song," Patchan said. "You've got to learn these traditions, and you learn them on the fly, too, especially being a guy transferring in.
"For example, last week, I heard stories from Toby McBride and all the older guys here about losing the Boot, and how they stomp around every time they won. That kind of lit a fire under all the guys that have been here already on the team, and also tried to shed light on the importance of winning that game and bringing the Boot back here and how much it means to the team. This week, never beating Boise, again, it brings up another week of importance and what this team needs to do and how we need to prepare for the game to make sure we come out on top this week."
Colorado State enters Thursday's contest having never beaten Boise State in nine tries, all the meetings in Mountain West play.
Having exorcised some demons with Wyoming, Colorado State would like to repeat the task this week. They haven't shied away from the truth, either.
"It's already been talked about a lot. Coach Addazio has addressed it a lot," quarterback Patrick O'Brien said. "We've come very close to winning, but I think we're one of two in the Mountain West who has never beaten them. We're looking to change that. It's another thing. We haven't beat Wyoming in five years. We changed that. We've never beaten Boise State, we're hoping to change that. It's just going to continue the process."
Boise State has had some issues keeping quarterbacks healthy this season, but Addazio isn't getting distracted by who plays the position. Regardless, it's still Boise State and a major hurdle the Rams have to clear.
Now's as good a time as any to take on the task head on.
"We're playing a great football team, and a team that we've never beaten and we know that," Addazio said Monday. "We've had a great week of preparation. We've had three really tough practices already, and we still have more preparation to go. We have a big, big challenge ahead of us. We're looking forward to the challenge."
Looking to Explode
So far this season, Colorado State has produced 17 explosive plays, 13 of them on offense. Eight have come in the passing game, five via the run. Offensive coordinator Joey Lynch looks at the numbers as a start, but he wants to see them happen with more regularity moving forward.
"I'm excited about where we're headed," Lynch said. "We hit some explosive plays that are really important, but we need more. In today's football, it's about taking care of the football and creating explosive plays. Those two stats really determine who wins football games.
"I think we've done a good job taking care of the football, and we have to keep finding ways to be more explosive. It was great having Dante Wright back, and of course Trey McBride had another explosive day at the tight end position."
The 42-yard pass in the first quarter to Wright stands as the Rams' longest play from scrimmage this season. McBride has a four explosive plays to his credit, three of them resulting in scoring connections from O'Brien. The longest run from scrimmage is by quarterback Todd Centeio, and Lynch would like to see more production from the running back spot, saying he thinks it is close.
"We have to maintain our balance, but we're always looking forward to creating more explosive plays," Lynch said.
For the Record
Can the win in the Border War be a factor this week?
Since the Sonny Lubick era, Colorado State is 12-3 the week after beating Wyoming. It's also a Thursday night game – the third in a row for the Rams – a day where they hold a 23-28-1 record. The Rams will host UNLV the following Saturday, then play their fourth Thursday date of the year on Thanksgiving Day at Air Force.
In three of the past four meetings between the teams, the outcome has been decided by a touchdown or less, including the 59-52 overtime loss in 2017, the game the State Pride uniforms were first worn.
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