Centeio Makes His Case
Quarterback Todd Centeio heard the knocks against him. He couldn't throw well. He wasn't accurate.
After Friday night's loss, he at least silenced some of the criticism after completing 29-of42 passes for 304 yards. It wasn't perfect, and there were some big misses deep early, but Trey McBride is a believer.
"Todd's an unbelievable player. I have full confidence in him," McBride said. "He's the guy we need, he's the guy who's leading our football team, and I have 100 percent confidence in him. He's the guy. I love playing for him.
"He's a true, born leader, football player, tough, hard-nosed kid. I love playing for him. One game isn't the end of the world. He had a couple of bad throws, but ultimately he threw for over 300 yards. A guy can't throw, that's what everybody was saying last year, and he threw for 300 yards in the first game."
Centeio had a chance to get Colorado State on the board first when Dante Wright split the defense down the center, but the throw sailed long. A bit later, Wright was open again, but Centeio's throw went more to the middle than to the left, where the wideout was heading.
"I was real pleased with the way Toddy played and the way he threw it," head coach Steve Addazio said. "His command of the offense. When teams play a heavy, loaded front like that, you've got to hit those shots early and get them out of it. We hit some, but we didn't hit that early one that was there for the taking."
Centeio threw one scoring pass, connecting with running back David Bailey for an 11-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
McBride was Centeio's primary target all night, with 14 passes heading his way, turning 13 of them into a career-best for receptions. He finished with 116 yards, the third 100-yard game of his career. Overall, 10 different Rams finished the game with catches.
Special Coverage
Nothing fires up a punter more than uncorking an impressive launch, then watching as his coverage unit keeps the ball from going into the end zone.
Ryan Stonehouse, the NCAA career leader in average, improved his career numbers on his four attempts, averaging 55.0 yards. Most impressive was his final three all covered 50 yards or more, and all three pinned South Dakota State inside the two. Two of them pinned the Jackrabbits inside the 5.
The first time Stonehouse pinned SDSU on the 4, it was his longsnapper, Ross Reiter, who ran down the field and first kept it from crossing the goal line. And Reiter is the first one to tell you he's not the fastest guy on the team.
"It just gets you jacked up," Stonehouse said. "Ross is busting down and making a play, Thomas Pannunzio made a hell of a play. I thought the ball spots were kinda questionable, but guys were showing we're an elite punt team, and we're going to continue showing that."
The second inside the 5 came when Pannunzio hustled down and hit the return square right after he fielded the ball. CSU averaged 53.5 in net punting.
All of it was a good sign to Stonehouse, who said during camp the unit would have a much better performance this season.
"I think from the punt standpoint, I think we did fantastic," he said. "I think it just shows what I was talking about in preseason, how much guys care and we've got the guys on punt team that are so bought in to what we're doing. You could tell that about all the special teams. Guys are really buying in on special teams, and we've just got to get that to radiate to the team."
A Step Back
The most concerning part of the evening was the way South Dakota State ran the ball, averaging 7.1 yards per carry and rushing for 242 yards in the game. It was a reversal from the improvement the defense showed a year ago, allowing just 108.5 yards per game on the ground.
It was the opposite of what Addazio expected to see.
"I sat up here and told you we have one of the best front sevens in the league," Addazio said. "Now I've got to sit here and look you in the eye and say we gave up 7 yards a rush. That's got to get fixed. That's on me. That can't happen. That's not going to happen."
It wasn't just the run game that stung at times, as South Dakota State also converted some long third downs, which was a bugaboo from 2020.
Defensive end Scott Patchan was stunned himself, about it all. But he also remembered the lapses in the season opener with Fresno State a year prior, as well as the immediate improvements. That's the only route he sees they can take.
"We got punched in the mouth as a team," he said. You've got to go ahead and correct everything and move forward. I think we can."
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What We Saw: Centeio Silences Some Critics - CSURams.com
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