Colorado State football mailbag: What can Rams take forward from Rocky Mountain Showdown?

In many ways the Colorado State football team is just now entering the important portion of its 2023 schedule.

The Washington State and Colorado games surely brought big prestige, eyeballs and chances for program-altering wins. It's tough for those cheering for the program to see those slip, especially the close loss to Colorado.

But the Rams are still aiming for a bounceback season and a bowl bid is possible, based on the performance against Colorado. To get there, the Rams have to win challenging games against comparable opponents such as this week at Middle Tennessee.

To discuss everything from last weekend and looking ahead, here is a mailbag with questions from readers.

Saturday’s game was the most streamed college football game of all time and had record numbers for that time slot. How can CSU capitalize on those eyeballs? (@Flickerbock)

There seems to be almost a complete tide shift in this program after the RMS. How can the team sustain this momentum? (@J0shFr3d)

Win.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one. CSU had extra eyeballs on it because of the crazy wave of “Coach Prime” mania, but the Rams kept those eyes through the night and into early Sunday morning because of how they played.

There will be some new people checking in on CSU because of that game. That can carry forward if the team starts winning.

BFN looked great. Was he seeing things he could take advantage of that were being missed in previous games, or did CSU do things differently schematically to create the offense? (@DeuceCO)

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was put in as QB1 because of his ability to attack downfield and that’s what he did. There were many throws against CU that he put in tight spots where it’s easy to see how Clay Millen may have gone with a safer route.

The game plan, no doubt, was a good one and took advantage of CU’s holes, but BFN made the necessary throws to open up the offense.

What changes from the RMS will be effective not just against MTSU but for the rest of the year? What things do we need to change besides penalties? (@CliquesBurner)

Most important is the offensive attack. Tory Horton, Louis Brown, Justus Ross-Simmons and Dallin Holker need to be getting the ball in space. Keep feeding that machine and do it consistently.

Clean up the penalties and bad turnovers. The pick-six and Fowler-Nicolosi’s second interception into heavy coverage were poor-decision throws. Holker’s fumble in the red zone was very costly. Those mistakes allowed CU to have a chance late in the game.

Was CU’s defensive front bad or was CSU’s OL that much better this week? (@Flickerbock)

Their zone blocking and running get better and better. Don’t abandon it too quick. It’s there. Were cut blocks called in CU game a true cut or were they accidental high-low hits? (@dan111549)

I don’t think CU’s front was very good, but the offensive line does continue to improve for the Rams. The rushing numbers vs. CU weren’t amazing (34 carries for 105 yards for Kobe Johnson and Avery Morrow combined) but there were some timely and powerful runs. It’s coming together. Plus, the pass protection was good once again.

There were some funky calls on the blocks that had CSU perplexed. You don’t go from no illegal block calls to a ton in one week without the involvement of some curious calls.

Rams are playing with passion, aggression, and confidence. Now, can Rams play that way again, but with discipline? Can they cut out the penalties, turnovers, and mistakes that cost them a program-defining, signature upset on national TV? (@GoCSURams)

The number of penalties against CU was huge, although CSU considered several of them questionable (or worse). The Horton blindside block that wiped out Fowler-Nicolosi’s TD run in the second OT was an awful call. The holding to wipe off a long pass was poor. CSU disagreed with some of the illegal block calls, too.

They need to avoid the bad, emotional reaction penalties from the CU game, but I think that will come with the fever pitch of that game now gone.

The defense played great for a long while on Saturday, but during the last few minutes they seemed to revert back to that soft zone that was exploited by WSU. What changed during that critical stage of the game? And how do the Rams overcome that in the future? (@Flickerbock)

CSU is best when getting pressure with four rushers up front. I can understand why some were calling for blitzes on that drive to get the ball out of Shedeur Sanders’ hands, but he could have picked CSU apart then.

I get playing somewhat soft to not get beat high when a team has 98 yards to go, but clearly too many gaps were left. At the same time, the front four seemed to be losing steam on getting pressure. That's a bad combo against a QB like Sanders.

Moving forward: CSU won’t have to play a QB that good the rest of the season! Coverage simply must be tighter on pass-catchers. You can allow the catch in some of those situations, but get it tackled inbounds quickly.

Update on Mo Kamara’s knee? How does MTSU look this year? Key matchups? (@mayerander)

Kamara is OK health-wise. He will miss the first half of the MTSU game due to the targeting ejection at the end of the CU game.

MTSU is a consistently solid Group of 5 squad that is almost annually a bowl team. The Blue Raiders played a tight game at Missouri a couple weeks ago and should have a good offense.

QB Nicholas Vattiato is a career (11 games) 68% passer and CSU will need to use its strong DL to disrupt him.

Middle Tennessee has been vulnerable against the run, allowing more than 200 yards on the ground last week in a blowout win over Murray State. The Rams could have a breakout game and I look for Kobe Johnson to have a chance and an explosive run.

Same gameplan as against CU (w/less penalties)? Or does the MT matchup warrant a different approach? (@rstash)

It's a different team and style, so there will be some tweaks, but the core ideals are the same. The offense must continue to be aggressive and find playmakers in space. The defense needs the front four to create havoc and help make turnovers.

I expect to see CSU try to replicate a lot of what happened in Boulder, just a bit cleaner.

Before the season started you had the Rams at 6-6 and a trip to the Duke City for a bowl game. Based on the first two games has that changed? (@aarongharris)

After seeing how the offense should operate, new prediction in win total going forward? (@ericmaxwell28)

I didn’t want to change after the worst-than-expected game against Washington State and I'm not changing now!

Before the season I predicted a 6-6 regular season for CSU and I’m sticking with it.

The next few weeks are big. CSU, in my opinion, must go at least 2-1 in the at Middle Tennessee, home vs. Utah Tech and at Utah State stretch to make a bowl.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State football mailbag: What can Rams take from Rocky Mountain Showdown?