CSU arrives in Boise Colorado State’s football team arrived in Boise on Sunday, and as the Rams found out, sudden change isn’t reserved just for the field. “We had a couple of hiccups today, but we were able to get to the practice site, we were able to go out and do a little bit of practice,” CSU head coach Mike Bobo said. “A little more walk-through than I wanted to do, but I thought that it was important that we got there today, got in the locker rooms, saw how the transition would work. We weren’t going to be long today, but at least we got something in, so tomorrow’s practice should run smooth.” The original plan had to be changed when the team was running behind travel wise and getting equipment unpacked. Then again, the Rams are a veteran bowl team, making their fourth straight bowl appearance, and they handled it like a team that knows a travel itinerary doesn’t always play out correctly minute by minute. An improvement from last year, the entire roster made the trip, whereas last year two players we left behind for academic reasons, with one, Kevin Pierre-Louis, able to join the team in time for the Arizona Bowl. And just to make sure, Bobo once again laid out his expectations for the trip. “I’m really proud of how we finished the season,” Bobo said. “This bowl game is a reward to have a good time and spend it with your fellow teammates, but at the same time, we’re here to finish the season strong, and that’s what I expect of them.” Good showing — The team dove into game preparation in full on Friday, a practice Bobo felt was kind of rough. He was impressed with the next day, and even the light walk-through on Sunday. “I thought we had a really good practice Saturday. It was like a Tuesday,” he said. “It was a good work day in full pads. I thought the guys competed well, and they had a better look from the scout team. (Idaho) can do some different stuff defensively, a lot of stuff, so it’s a challenge for our guys to get lined up and do it correctly. Our offensive scout team is able to simulate a little bit better to the defense.” With Monday’s practice set up for a Wednesday, the Rams will return to Boise State’s indoor facility and do a lot of good-on-good and situational work, like normal. Bobo said the facility gave the team plenty of room to work, even kick, and nobody was in each other’s way. Plenty to do — Colorado State’s players were able to spend time in the gift suite at the team hotel, and the welcome dinner was later in the evening. After practice Monday, both teams will compete in a bowl competition in town, an event that helps raise money for local charities.

BOISE, Idaho — One always hopes.

Marty English certainly did, but even the Colorado State defensive coordinator expressed patience at the beginning of the season. He knew at that point it was going to take time. How much, no one was really sure, but the hope — there’s that word again — is it happens sooner rather than later.

As a unit, the Rams defense sees what it has been doing lately and thinks it could have been there all along. Buck linebacker Evan Colorito said as much this week, but then thought again.

“OK, let me rephrase it. I think we thought we should have been doing it all year, but I think the thing is we were young, we had a lot of inexperience,” the junior said. “I mean, I didn’t really have that much experience coming into the season and I think skill wise, and just the way we played during camp, we knew were all capable. The games is what we needed under our belt.”

So true, with only two defensive starters returning, senior linebacker Kevin Davis and senior cornerback Tyree Simmons. Both have been solid this season, Davis with his team-leading 101 tackles, Simmons tied for the team lead with six pass breakups. They not only provided their play, but leadership and guidance as the rest of the group caught on.

The Colorado game was an eye-opener, and English said at the time he thought the defense was ready for more than it could provide. As the season played out, the Rams hit that point. Colorito wasn’t the only one getting the hang of being a starter and playing an entire game. Jake Schlager had to do it. So did Josh Watson, Braylin Scott, Tre Thomas, Jakob Buys and Darnell Thompson.

The list was extensive.

So were the lessons.

“It has paid off tremendously down the stretch,” Schlager said. “We’re not going to make any excuses for how we played at the beginning of the year, but just that added experience, the added opportunity we’ve gotten throughout the course of the year has definitely helped at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing how that transition into next year, seeing this group next year and continue to get better each and every day. It’s exciting, and I’m just looking forward to growing.”

So the overall numbers are not all that pretty, allowing 404.1 yards of total offense and 213.1 yards on the ground per game — but in the final five games of the regular season, they were improved.

The Rams didn’t allow a team to pass for 191 yards (the season average for an opponent) or more in the final five games. Four times the yardage total has come up shy of average, three times the rushing total, with option teams Air Force and New Mexico the only two to beat it.

The Air Force game was not good, but the next week against the Lobos’ option, the Rams improved by leaps and bounds. A week later, the Rams held Donnel Pumphrey — San Diego State’s back who became the NCAA career leader in rushing — to his season worst numbers for yardage (53), yards per carry (2.9) and his shortest long run in a game (11).

What had been unlikely early became possible late.

“I wouldn’t say it wasn’t possible. You always have hope that sometimes things are going to click a little bit faster than they did,” CSU head coach Mike Bobo said. “They didn’t, and you had to go through growing pains and the growing pains were tough. But what encourages me is that there was improvement each week with them and how they approached it. They didn’t get down, they still believed in their coaches, and the coaches believed in them and were able to show improvement. I think that’s the sign of a good football team when you can constantly improve even when things are not going your way, even when you have a bad game.

“We did not play the way we wanted against Air Force and were embarrassed. But those guys came back, they didn’t point fingers and they answered the challenge the next week against New Mexico. Really a huge game for us, closing out Hughes, a lot of pressure against a very good team, and those guys rose to the pressure.”

Down the stretch, the group posted the first shutout for the program since 1997 — a streak of 255 games — when it blanked Fresno State. The group is stingier about allowing explosive scoring plays and explosive plays in general.

More importantly, they head into Thursday’s Potato Bowl against Idaho (5 p.m.; ESPN) a confident group.

“I think we’re just happy about it. We know we should have been doing that stuff all season, and it’s just nice to kind of get that milestone in our defensive mindset,” Colorito said. “We’ve always had that in the back of our minds that we can get that done, and kind of being able to do it was really pleasing for all of us.”

Now, the goal is to do it one more time against an offense that throws the ball pretty well and spreads the wealth, a team that is hot itself, with six wins in the final seven games.

One more test, one more chance to build off a series of performances that have turned potential into promise. And raised expectations.

“Now the expectations and the standards rise when you have that kind of performance, and the expectations of the play that we need to play defensively, we’ve been able to do it,” Bobo said. “We’re going to expect that week in, week out from now on.”

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