The Colorado State Rams have their best opportunity of the year to end their streak of 11 losses dating back to one year ago. Miami(OH) will be looking to get their first win against an FBS team since they beat Toledo last Halloween. The Red Hawks are fresh off a win against Eastern Michigan 28-21. This game has been dubbed the "pillow fight of the week" and that seems about right the way these teams have played in their last 14 games. One team will might be able to kick start some momentum with a win, or just get a rare win for their program.
Catch more about these awful teams after the jump...
QB Zac Dysert struggled against Eastern Michigan completing 16 of 25 passes for 164 yards and one touchdown and interception. Running back Tomas Merriweather did not struggle as he ran for 105 yards and three touchdowns. The game with E Michigan was close the whole way and came down to the final minutes. Dysert has already thrown five interceptions. The Rams will have to keep an eye on Armand Robinson who has 18 catches and 200 yards so far this year.
Last week the Rams faced off against future conference foe Nevada and it was the opposite from the Red Hawks and Eagles game. It was over quick and no running back for the Rams played all that well again. It was another game where freshman Pete Thomas had to throw to much, 36 attempts, but this time it was because the team was down early. The Rams had four running backs with average carries over four yards, that just totaled 78 yards though as they abandoned the run. With the sacks out of the equation the Rams ran for 89 yards and a 4.68 average carry. This is big as the Rams were stuffed on the run the first week. This may translate in to converting some 3rd downs. The Rams are a poor 19.23% on converting 3rd downs this season.
On defense the Red Hawks shouldn't stiffle the Rams to much. Don't take the Florida game for a changed defense, they had snap and option issues. Miami(OH) wasn't scaring the center into bad snaps. The Red Hawks did grab three interceptions last week so Thomas will have to keep making good reads. The linebackers for Miami(OH) seem to be a strength has their top three lead the team in tackles with 36 combined. Stopping the possibly resurgent run game and making Thomas throw short will be the best strategy for the Red Hawks.
The Rams defense needs to create some turnovers. They have just one interception so far and no fumbles recovered. The defense hasn't had many if any big hits to gain momentum and have tackled very poorly with 22 missed tackles last week against Nevada. For what was suppose to be the strength of the team they have been disappointing. The Rams have had issues stopping the run up front as other teams have used the Rams small size against them. Its up to the linebackers to step up and block the running lanes.
This game is being shown on ESPN3.com which will be an interesting viewing experience. This game will be a toss up as the Rams have not played well at all on offense and traveling to play for the third week this year. The Red Hawks got a win at home last weekend and look to get a streak going against the Rams. Colorado State can win this game, but they could have won about 6 games last year instead of 3 so we will see how this game goes...