What if Arkansas is the only team Colorado State beats all year?

Colorado State lost to the FCS Illinois State Redbirds on Saturday, 35-19. The Rams fell to 1-4 on the season with the loss, and we can now ask a question that’s not unfair based on their first five games of the season:

Saturday was bad. After scoring the first touchdown and missing the extra point, Colorado State never sniffed a lead again. They went into the half down 14-6, and were quickly down 21-6 during the third quarter.

Illinois State running back James Robinson carried the Redbirds with 184 yards on 22 carries for two touchdowns. They didn’t turn the ball over, whereas Colorado State threw a pair of picks — one from K.J. Carta-Samuels, and one from Collin Hill.

Illinois State is one of the better FCS teams coming into the game ranked No. 16, but an FCS loss is an FCS loss.

Despite a 43-34 final score in Week 0 against Hawaii, Colorado State pretty much got run over by the Rainbow Warriors, who were up 37-7 in the third quarter of that game.

Things didn’t get better in a 45-13 loss to Colorado, either. The Buffs’ Steven Montez completed all but three of his 25 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. That’s hard to beat, but it also doesn’t help when the Rams had just 284 yards.

[They beat Arkansas after scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter. Good win!]

In a trip to Gainesville, Colorado State was almost equal to Florida in total yards (310 vs. 341) but had three fumbles, and allowed two punt returns for touchdowns. It’s one of those games where you hear how All Three Phases Of The Game matter, and Florida was immensely better on special teams.

And then there was Saturday’s loss to the Illinois State Redbirds.

Well, if there’s a winnable game left, it’s next week against San Jose State, who has yet to win this season. As this post is being written, ESPN’s FPI matchup predictor has SJSU as a 51.8 percent favorite to win. They have road losses to Oregon (35-22) and Washington State, and their home opener against UC Davis.

So yeah, this post could be worthless in a week. Or it could live on throughout the season!

The rest of their schedule, minus next week’s thriller against SJSU:

That’s not a grueling schedule, but they’ve struggled hard this season. A Not Close FCS Loss on top of getting stomped by FBS teams doesn’t make any of those a guaranteed win.

The Rams went 4-0 after going 2-2 in their first four games last season. Maybe the middle of the year is in their wheelhouse?