Byline: Angel Hernandez Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Colorado State football coach Sonny Lubick deserves a break this week.
He would love to tell his players to relax and recuperate for the home stretch of their Western Athletic Conference regular season.
Lubick will indeed be able to do that in one week, just after the Rams meet Fresno State on Saturday (noon, Hughes Stadium, alternate cable television channels) and before CSU must travel to San Diego State on Nov. 22 for its regular-season finale.
The problem is the Rams could use that time off now instead for waiting later for that bye week.
``I wish it were,'' Lubick said. ``We've got to regroup this week and get everybody healthy . . . That's all we can do.''
Just as CSU (7-2, 5-1) faces its most crucial game yet in seeking the WAC's Pacific Division title, the Rams must crawl out of their most critical injury crisis of the season.
Lubick is awaiting the verdict on the knee of hobbled guard Anthony Cesario - a 6-foot-6, 300-pound starter viewed as the heart of the offensive line along with center Mike Newell, who strained a medial collateral ligament in Saturday's 45-19 victory at Nevada-Las Vegas.
Cesario's injury follows another knee injury to CSU wide receiver Geoff Turner in a practice prior to the Oct. 26 Tulsa game. And both of those mishaps preceded several other aches suffered on the artifical turf at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium. Cesario's usual counterpart at the weak-side guard position, Steve Dundee, pulled his left hamstring in the game. Geoff Turner's usual counterpart, senior wide receiver Paul Turner, strained his left patellar tendon. And Fort Collins-bred freshman cornerback Andy Engelstad suffered a concussion.
Dundee, Cesario and Geoff Turner are listed as questionable for the Fresno State game. Engelstad and Paul Turner are probable.
``We've got to get Geoff back because he is such a threat,'' Lubick said. ``I hope we get Anthony back. We're pretty banged up at this present time.''
The casualty list harked back to CSU's medical struggles in 1996 games on artificial turf, where games at Hawaii and Oregon essentially deprived the Rams of three starters for most of the year (Dundee, former tight end Justin Shull, tackle Adam Wallace) and a game at Nebraska cost Geoff Turner much of his effectiveness after he suffered a separated shoulder.
It's not quite what CSU needed before facing Fresno State (5-4, 4-1) in a game that won't necessarily clinch the Pacific title but comes close to knocking out its closest competitor in the division.
``They'll be tough. They're still in the thick of it,'' Lubick said.
Lubick still took some consolation in how the Rams survived the adversity on Saturday, rolling up 291 rushing yards behind an improvised and remolded offensive line.
``Losing Anthony Cesario early in the game, that hurt us a little bit,'' Lubick said.
Such work aided CSU into notching its first five-game winning streak since starting the 1994 season with a 7-0 record.The Rams broke running back Kevin McDougal for his fourth 100-yard game of his season and career. The Rams have a 5-1 record this season when a running back gains at least 100 yards in a game.
However, the Rams defense didn't slack up in its contributions. CSU free safety Myron Terry's first-quarter interception return for a touchdown - one of a career-high two picks in the game - marked the fourth time in the past five games that a Rams defender has scored. And CSU has now taken away 22 turnovers during its five-game winning streak while handing over the ball a mere four times.
``I think we are a pretty darn good football team when we can do that,'' Lubick said.
