Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL Sports) After a shootout win against UNLV, the 17th ranked BYU (7-1, 3-1 MWC) Cougars go on the road to Fort Collins, Colo. to face Colorado St (4-4, 2-2 MWC).
The Rams are coming off a shootout win of their own against San Diego St., but CSU Coach Steve Fairchild knows his team can't do that against the Cougars.
He calls BYU a very talented team and says, "They don't really appear to have a weakness anywhere. You watch them and they play hard and they have good players. Offensively they are impressive."
He says most impressive is their commitment to the running game, "I've always admired the way they run the football," Fairchild says, "You think of BYU, you think of throwing it, but they certainly have a physical offensive line and some physical backs and they really try to beat you up running the football, which is admirable."
Despite BYU's recent struggles on defense Fairchild isn't convinced that's the real Cougar defense. He says, "They've got some players, particularly in that front seven" and said it's tough to play on the road, particularly against a team like TCU, on Thursday night. He also says UNLV is an underrated football team.
When asked if he plans to exploit the Cougars defensively like TCU and UNLV were able to do by spreading the field with 5-wide receiver sets, Fairchild admitted he wasn't sure if he has the personnel to make it possible.
"I'm not sure we have five receivers that can get on the field," Fairchild says. "We do what we do and hopefully we can keep improving and click somewhat in the passing game this Saturday."
"We've been inconsistent throwing the ball all year. We've had some times where we've gotten into a good rhythm and put up some pretty good numbers," Fairchild continued, "And then other games we lose sight of the detail and can't get on the same page with our guys on offense. We've been a pretty good offensive team when we've been able to click on the passing game."
But the key for Fairchild is balance, "If we can establish a run game that helps throwing it. Obviously, when you complete some passes that loosens up the safeties and helps your run game. "I think BYU is a little bit like that on offense. They're good when they get both aspects of their game going."
He admits the Rams will have their hands full against the Cougars, "We'll need our best game to be in the thing."
You can hear more from Coach Fairchild during pregame coverage on KSL Newsradio 102.7FM/1160AM beginning at 2 p.m. Kick-off is set for 4 p.m. from Fort Collins, Colo. You can listen to and watch Greg Wrubell call the game on KSL.com by clicking on the Radio tab and clicking chat below the Now Live picture in the upper right hand corner.
