Cole Pemberton News

Facing a long off-season after a disappointing 3-9 2009 campaign, the CSU Rams football team could use some good news.

Senior Klint Kubiak runs down the field during the celebration honoring the football team's seniors before the Border Wars game on Friday at Hughes Stadium.

Eighteen of the 21 freshmen who signed with CSU's football program last February sat out this season as redshirts and will have four years of eligibility remaining when they begin playing next fall.

A chance to have a winning record and bowl berth are on the line. Not for CSU's football team.

They've endured a 13-game losing streak over two seasons, a coaching change and, regardless of what happens Friday against Wyoming, a disappointing finish to a season that began with a win at the University of Colorado and CSU's first 3-0 start in 15 years.

Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild made that perfectly clear during his weekly press conference on Monday.

Football teams always use bye weeks to get a bit healthy, and apparently coaches are no different.

Nick Oppenneer helps stop a run during the game against San Diego State Oct. 24. In 2007, the Rams lost six games in a row to begin the season and 13 total spanning from the end of 2006.

After another sub-par performance from the passing game Saturday, head coach Steve Fairchild is left scratching his head at trying to fix the ailing aerial attack.

Praise and acclaim find Jerry Hughes in the same manner he tracks down opposing quarterbacks.

Leonard Mason ran for more yards Saturday than TCU's defense has given up to any team other than Air Force since the middle of the 2007 season.

Before the season started, Nevada football coach Chris Ault talked about making his defense more "vanilla," a reference to a more simplistic approach following last season's difficulties stopping the pass with a young and inexperienced secondary.

The applied pressure is nothing new. However, the added attention definitely goes against the grain.