FORT COLLINS — Colorado State may be dealing with some consistency issues, and the Rams could all year considering the changes taking place.

But they have picked one area as a place to start, and oddly enough, it generally is one of the toughest to master — on both sides of the ball.

But come third down, CSU has shined this year, ranking in the top 20 nationally in terms of converting (the offense is 19th at 48.4 percent) and getting off the field (the defense sits 17th at 27.1 percent). They are only one of four schools to be in the top 20 in both, joining North Carolina State, Cincinnati and Northwestern.

Colorado State coach Mike Bobo quipped that maybe the Rams are just getting lucky on offense. The defense, however, feels it has everything to do with an attitude they’ve developed under new coordinator Tyson Summers.

The Rams are not only good defensively at preventing opponents from continuing drives, they’re pretty adept at not letting them start in the first place. The Rams are averaging 6.5 three-and-outs per game, and at one point against Minnesota, had six straight. In 58 opposition drives, CSU has recorded 26 three-and-outs.

“I think it’s just that mindset of getting off the field on third down,” defensive end SteveO Michel said. “If it’s third-and-long, or whatever third down it is, it’s like this is the last play to get off and get our offense a chance to go score.”

It’s a far cry from a season ago when the defense allowed teams to convert 47 percent of the time. Naturally, it was talked about at great length and targeted for improvement, but that wasn’t the end of the communication chain.

“It’s a big deal to us this year,” linebacker Kiel Robinson said. “It’s just us really using our communication out there. Once we have that down, we all know what our assignments are. The key is being physical, too. We’re just having fun out there.

“From spring to now, our communication has gotten so much better, because we know our defense in and out. (Coach Summers) preaches abut communication, and that’s the No. 1 thing he wants us to do and we took it in.”

For an offense running a new system with a young quarterback, hitting on third down has been a neat trick. The up-tempo style Bobo wants only works if the offense can find a rhythm, and that only happens when the chains keep moving.

To this point, Bobo has factored Stevens’ youth into the equation, and the results are computing just fine.

“We’ll keep planning like we’re going to plan each and every week and try to get something that makes sense for the quarterback, whether it’s run game and getting us in the right look or pass game that’s not too confusing, to where I’m going here, going there,” Bobo said. “Maybe we’ve been just trying to keep it a little bit simple and that’s been easier for him. But we have been successful, which has been good.”

On the Rams’ first scoring drive last week, the team converted three third downs, all of them 6 yards or longer. Bobo did note they missed three short ones of 3 yards or less in the game, so that’s a trend he’d like to reverse.

Consider the fact that in 2014 with an experienced quarterback in a familiar system, CSU converted 48 percent on third down. Stevens said he’s not exactly sure what he’d attribute the success to, but leans toward having a good plan heading into games. For him, it’s definitely a point of success the offense can build on, but noted it works well for the team in two ways.

Not only does the offense have confidence it can keep a drive going, but it has a way of discouraging a defense throughout a game.

“I think that’s going to be really good for us on offense,” Stevens said. “At the same time, you have that third-and-8, third-and-9 and you convert, the defense is like, we had them, they were going to punt and now they’ve got a first down. I think that does a lot for us, but also kind of gets them on their heels and we were supposed to be off the field this past down and now they’ve got another first down driving.”

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