CSU hopes to salvage season heading into AFA game

Colorado State’s quick turnaround under second-year coach Steve Fairchild has hit a speed bump in recent weeks.

After winning their last three games of the 2008 season to finish 7-6 and starting the 2009 campaign 3-0, the Rams have lost five straight.

“We’re disappointed with our play,” the straight-shooting Fairchild said Tuesday.

The Rams have been hurt by some key injuries, but they’ve also run up against a difficult section of their schedule. In the past five weeks they’ve faced the Mountain West Conference’s “Big Three” of BYU, No. 8 TCU and No. 19 Utah along with an Idaho team that is 6-2.

“We don’t make the schedule, we just play it, and we have played some good football teams,” Fairchild said. “But we’ve been in a lot of the games, we’ve had some games that were there to win and we just didn’t make enough plays.”

Indeed, the Rams led Idaho, 20-7, led Utah 17-3 and had a 21-7 lead over San Diego State last week before falling 42-28.

“We’re really inconsistent,” Fairchild said. “And when we get into these lulls where there’s a few plays to make and we don’t do it — we just don’t break on the ball or don’t catch a ball or whatever — they’ve been at times during a game where it’s had a pretty big impact and we end up losing. So I think we’ll play our way out of it, and I think we’ll keep improving here. But certainly we need a win desperately.”