Colorado State was all set to open its new stadium against Abilene Christian. No offense to Abilene Christian, but.... it’s Abilene Christian. (Okay, I realize there’s no way for Abilene Christian to take anything but offense to that statement, but, still.)
With the Rams’ long-awaited new home set to open, Colorado State announced Monday it had moved its Sept. 23 home date with Oregon State to Aug. 26, thereby making the Beavers the first visitors to the new, yet-to-be-named stadium.
The move also solves a more pressing issue for Mike Bobo and his club: their unfortunate lack of a bye week. As it was originally written, Colorado State’s schedule called for the Rams to play a dozen straight weeks, starting Sept. 1 against Colorado in Denver and cruising right through their Nov. 18 regular-season finale opposite San Jose State.
“It was myself and Coach (Will) Friend and (director of operations Tom) Ehlers and Joe on the schedule when it came out. We were looking at it and comparing everybody’s schedule,” Bobo told the Fort Collins Reporter-Herald. “At first, it was, well, it is what it is and accept the challenge. Then it was, let’s make a call and see if they’re interested.”
The bye comes at a crucial point for Colorado State, giving them a week break in between a Sept. 16 visit to Alabama and a Sept. 30 visit to Hawaii.
“The ultimate goal is you want to win every game you play, but you want to put yourself in position to play for the conference championship and win, and we looked for avenues and got with Joe and were able to move the Oregon State game to Week Zero,” Bobo said. “We thought it made sense for us, and luckily it made sense for them. It’s still going to be challenging, playing two Pac 12 teams back-to-back, but I think the break before we start a challenging conference schedule will be good for our football team.”
The Aug. 26 visit will be Oregon State’s first ever trip to Fort Collins. The Rams and Beavers have split their two previous meetings, both in Corvallis, a 25-14 Oregon State win in 1962 and a 17-8 Colorado State win in 1975.