Philadelphia, PA (Best E Casino) - 2007 SEASON IN REVIEW: The dean of all Mountain West Conference coaches as he entered his 15th season with the Colorado State Rams, Sonny Lubick didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm as he once did with the program. Perhaps it was because he knew the squad was going to struggle mightily in 2007, winning just three of 12 outings and going a paltry 2-6 in conference play.
As has been the case in recent years, the Rams opened the campaign against in- state rival Colorado and nearly pulled off the upset before bowing in a 31-28 decision. The loss turned out to be the first of six in a row to open the slate and it wasn't until CSU defeated UNLV, a team that has won a total of six games the last three years, by a score of 48-23 in the middle of October that the team finally had something to be positive about. Unfortunately, right after that the setbacks again piled up, with losses to Utah, BYU and New Mexico in conference. At 1-9, CSU aimed to save what little pride it had left by slipping by Georgia Southern (42-34) and then defeating Wyoming (36-28) in the season finale. By that time, Lubick had had enough and was ready to move on to something else with the university, giving up his post as the lead man in the football program.
With the departure of Lubick, the Rams now find themselves under the direction of Steve Fairchild, a former juco All-American who himself earned all- conference honors when he played for CSU in 1980. With Fairchild now in place in Fort Collins, the MWC has three head coaches leading the way at their alma maters. Fairchild has his hands full as he tries to groom a new quarterback, but that might be the least of his worries after having one of the weakest special teams in the MWC and a defense that ranked 107th in the country against the run a year ago with 207.2 ypg allowed.
2008 ANALYSIS:
OFFENSE: Fairchild will likely bring some of the knowledge he learned when he plotted against NFL defenses the last few years to his offense in Fort Collins, but the turnaround may take some time, especially with a new quarterback getting his feet wet at the college level. Last year, Caleb Hanie led the MWC in passing efficiency, but judging by the team's record that doesn't seem to mean all that much. Taking the place of Hanie could be any number of players, but heading into the season it appeared that senior signal- caller Billy Farris had his foot furthest in the door. However, Fairchild refused to hand the job over to Farris outright and made it clear that every QB on the roster had a chance to fight for the starting spot, and that included incoming freshman Alex Kelly. Don't be surprised to see redshirt freshmen T.J. Borcky or even Klay Kubiak, the son of Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, shake things up along the way either.
"We're going to be inexperienced at quarterback," coach Fairchild admits. "Regardless of how we are at quarterback, when you put a new guy there there's going to be some growing pains and a little bit of a learning curve."
Finding someone to throw the ball is one huge issue, another is finding players to show up on the other end of those planned passes, with the top three receivers from a year ago now gone. "Our receiving corps is a work in progress, we lost quite a few players with a lot of catches to graduation last year," Fairchild also noted. Although he has been hesitant to push him back into action too fast, Fairchild knows he has at least one experienced receiver in tight end Kory Sperry, even though he is coming back from an ACL injury that limited him to just two games a season ago. Dion Morton, who had 20 catches in nine games in 2007, figures to have one side of the field to himself, while junior Rashaun Greer will have to compete with a pair of juco transfers in Ryan Gardner and Jyrone Hickman.
Returning as many as four linemen who saw significant time last season, the Rams may well rest their hopes on the running tandem of Gartrell Johnson and Kyle Bell. The pair combined for more than 1,600 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Workhorses in their own right, Johnson and Bell carried the ball 181 and 180 times, respectively, which left the rest of the unit with a combined 160 rushing attempts and less than 400 total yards.
DEFENSE: One would think that having to go up against the likes of Johnson and Bell in practice every week the run defense for the Rams would have had better luck than it did last year, yet somehow the squad managed to get run over time and time again. Getting into the backfield was far from a successful stunt for the CSU defense, a group that ranked seventh in the Mountain West with an average of just over five tackles for loss per contest. The only returning lineman for the Rams on the defensive front is senior end Tommie Hill and he'll have to do better than his 5.5 sacks from a season ago if the team has any prayer of keeping games respectable.
Hill and his mates will get their directives from assistant head coach Larry Kerr, who appears to be ready to plug Wade Landers in at the other end of the line. An honorable mention All-MWC pick a season ago, senior Jeff Horinek has started 26 straight games for the squad and led the team with 94 tackles in '07, the most by any Ram in four seasons. With Horinek barking out the calls for the defense from his middle linebacker position, he'll have help available from Ricky Brewer and Jake Pottorff, although a shoulder injury kept the latter from practicing in the spring and thus opened the door for more opportunities for Mychal Sisson.
Although he missed last season due to medical issues, Klint Kubiak is poised to return to the secondary for the Rams, while Mike Pagnotta should see his numbers rise considerably, even after finishing sixth on the team with 58 tackles in a mere eight of the unit's 12 games.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Kicker Jason Smith was one of the most reliable offensive weapons for the Rams a season ago when he converted 16 of his 20 field goal attempts and made good on all 33 PAT opportunities, which left him as the team's leading scorer. Fortunately, Fairchild has him back for another season, but when it comes to punting, the Rams have to find a replacement for Jimmie Kaylor who dropped more than one-third of his attempts inside the 20-yard line. Don't be surprised if Smith is asked to spend a little more time on the field and play the part of punter as well. With an average of close to 27 yards per kickoff return, assume that Dion Morton will again occupy that spot.
OUTLOOK: The Rams have one of the largest groups of returning starters in the MWC this season, yet that doesn't necessarily mean the squad is going to enjoy that much more success from a year ago. Breaking in a new quarterback will be a trial, as will learning a new system from a new coaching staff. Looking at CSU's schedule, there isn't much that appears promising, other than the first- ever meeting versus Sacramento State at home the second game of the season. In fact, of the remaining 11 opponents, Colorado State has a winning record against just two (New Mexico and Wyoming) and those matchups don't occur until the final two games of the season, which means it will be a long, hard grind for everyone involved.
