FORT COLLINS — In comparing opponents, last Saturday’s 65-13 win over Savannah State was more of an introduction to the college football season for Colorado State. This Saturday, Minnesota (1:30 p.m.) will most definitely be an examination of the Rams’ truer standing.

“You’re always looking for a test, to get tested and strained and put through some adversity,” CSU head coach Mike Bobo said at his Monday press conference. “I talked about it last week, I hoped we had some adversity in that ball game. We really didn’t have any when they snap the ball over the head twice and (we) go up seven and score 14-0. We haven’t had that adversity in a a game and get tested. We’re going to get tested this week. It’s going to be a fight.”

Minnesota comes to Fort Collins off a loss, but it was a tight one (23-17) with No. 2 TCU in Minneapolis. The past two seasons, the Gophers’ defense has limited the Horned Frogs and Heisman Trophy candidate Trevone Boykin at quarterback to 53 points combined.

Physically and mentally, the Gophers will be everything Savannah State was not.

The Rams did learn some things from the opening week, and most of them were good. Tackle Sam Carlson said the Rams have a better idea of what they are good at, but they also know they’ll have to perform at a much higher level to beat Minnesota, a bowl team from a season ago.

“We learned kind of where our strengths and weaknesses are,” Carlson said. “We have a lot of things we have to get better at; we learned that definitely.

“We learned a lot about ourselves on Saturday. The film that we watch is also the film that Minnesota watches. We have to take what we did wrong in that film and correct for this week, that way there’s not chinks in our armor.”

Much of it, Bobo said, came down to the new systems leading to communication lapses, as well as alignment and assignment mistakes. Those were easier to overcome against Savannah State, an opponent where CSU’s physical superiority helped cover some of those mistakes.

As the game wore on, some of those issues started to take care of themselves.

“I think personally, the first half was still getting used to things,” linebacker Kevin Davis said. “By the second half, everything was good.”

Bobo counted on his team playing hard and with effort, and that part, he said, the Rams nailed down. But as a team, when you are having your way, sudden change off a turnover doesn’t seem so dire. A three-and-out isn’t that tough to overcome.

Nobody expects those feelings to be the same when those situations arise this week, and Bobo still needs to see how his Colorado State team responds.

“Anytime you play, there’s tests,” he said. “How fast can we play, the communication, the talking between linebacker to the front, from safety to linebacker. That’s part of a test. Taking steps forward is going to give confidence that we’re going to be able to communicate in the next game. It’s going to give us confidence that we played hard and see what happens when you run to the ball; good things happen. All of that’s good.

“Now, what we’re going to have to get in our kids minds this week is it truly is going to be a fight. If we’re not ready for a 60-minute fight, 60 minutes of giving everything we’ve got every snap — ’cause there’s going to be some good things that happen and some bad things that happen in this game. We’re going to be tested in that sense, I would think, this week.”

Cartwright update — Sixth-year senior tight end Kivon Cartwright returned from injury and had three catches for 56 yards, his re-introduction coming on a 9-yard scoring pass. But on the last, he was taken down awkwardly and didn’t return.

Bobo, who is not talking about injuries, did say there was “definitely no major stuff,” with Cartwright.

“We’re optimistic about Kivon. I’ll know more later in the week, and y’all probably be able to see when you see if he’s out there running around,” Bobo said.

Sing along — As Bobo found out, there’s a lot of singing involved with victories, more than he expected. There’s the fight song with the crowd, then the alma mater. Then the fight song again later with the team, which he didn’t know about.

“I thought it was awesome. My whole life I’ve seen these other universities that sing the fight song with the band and get everybody involved in the pride of the university,” Bobo said. “We didn’t do that at the University of Georgia. I’ve always wanted to do that. I enjoyed it. I’ve got a few of the words down. I’ve got to do better. I definitely don’t know the alma mater, but I’ve got the swaying back and forth down.”

Bobo said when he was finished talking in the locker room, Carlson bailed him out because Bobo didn’t know the team sang the fight song in the locker room, too.

“CSU’s been singing that in the locker room after victories as long as I can remember, and I just wanted to make sure we kept that going,” Carlson said. “His mind’s going a bunch of different ways after a game anyway, so I was like, ‘hey, we’ve got to sing the fight song.'”

Enjoying the moment — Bobo naturally heard from people from Georgia after the game, but it took him a day or so to get back to some personal text messages. Part of it was the crowd that greeted him when he finally got home at 8 p.m. Saturday.

“There might have been 40 people in the house,” Bobo said. “Cousins, uncles, aunts … It was good that we got a win so I could smile. Got to play a little cornhole in the backyard with the family, and I think we were watching some of the Alabama–Wisconsin and got to enjoy the family.”

Tidbits — Bobo announced team captains for the Minnesota game will be Carlson, Jake Schlager, Martavius Foster and Joe Kawulok. … The last time a Power 5 school came to Fort Collins was 2007 when Cal visited. The Bears were ranked No. 10 at the time … A win would mark a fourth straight season with a win over a Power 5 team.

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard