The bye week could not have come at a better time for Colorado State, serving as the dividing line between the nonconference portion and the Mountain West slate of the schedule.

The Rams went 1-3 in the first month of the season that started with a shocking loss to the Football Championship Subdivision runner-up and ended with a road win against Toledo and two close losses to Vanderbilt of the SEC and No. 5 Iowa.

Over the past three games, defense has proven to be the Rams’ strength. Linebacker Dequan Jackson is fifth in the Mountain West Conference with 35 tackles while fellow linebacker Mohamed Kamara is tied for second with 3.5 sacks and redshirt senior defensive lineman Scott Patchan is 10th with 2.5.

The first interception of the season for CSU came from defensive back Robert Floyd, a true freshman walk-on, who intercepted Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras in the red zone and returned it 62 yards. His first career pick set up redshirt junior tight end Garry Williams’ first career touchdown.

Running the ball and stopping the run has been the hallmark of coach Steve Addazio’s program. The Rams outrushed Vanderbilt 207-104, Toledo 209-21 and Iowa 95-54.

“You can’t stop the run better than that,” he said after Saturday’s game.

A big key to the Rams’ rushing attack has been senior running back David Bailey, who transferred from Boston College. After rushing for 132 yards on 30 carries against Toledo, Bailey exited last week’s game with a leg injury after his first carry.

“That’s a huge hit for us to take,” Addazio said. “David is a big-time player, and that hurts.”

If the bye week isn’t enough time for Bailey to return to the field, the ground game will likely be split between junior A’Jon Vivens, who led the Rams with 45 yards on 17 carries against Iowa, and senior quarterback Todd Centeio. Centeio has the second-most rushing attempts (48) and yards (166), which makes him a threat who can throw or run.

When Centeio is not handing the ball off or running it, he’s usually throwing it to senior tight end Trey McBride, whose 36 receptions are second in the MWC and his 398 yards are sixth best.

There’s a difference between being the primary receiving target and largely the only target. Part of that is wide receiver Dante Wright missing the last two games due to injury. Even with that, the junior is still second to McBride as the only other Ram with double-digit receptions.

After the week of rest, the Rams host defending MWC champion San Jose State on homecoming.

“We have all the keys, all the pieces. We’re coached hard, everyone’s buying in,” McBride said. “I fully believe all the goals we still have are still in front of us going into conference play.”