On last week’s game recap, I wrote that after a lackluster start for the new CSU Air Raid offense, the Rams would need to bounce back in a big way against Northern Colorado, who have a very soft pass defense, and were coming off of a near-loss to Division II Chadron State.
In their home opener against the Bears, in their annual Ag Day, the Rams did not follow this advice in any way, shape, or form.
As 34.5-point favorites, the Rams completely embarrassed themselves for 59 minutes, escaping with a narrow
21-17 win thanks to a last-minute touchdown, a nullified game-winning TD, and a failed Hail Mary by the Bears at the buzzer. This was nearly an unfathomable loss for the Rams, and any confidence built up by CSU last week against Washington has completely evaporated. The Rams need to provide some answers, fast.
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
6:37 – Kia’i Keone 1 yd TD run (Jacob Willig PAT)
Northern Colorado 7 – Colorado State 0
2nd Quarter
7:12 – Jacob Willig 23 yd FG
Northern Colorado 10 – Colorado State 0
3rd Quarter
13:23 – Lloyd Avant 2 yd TD run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Northern Colorado 10 – Colorado State 7
7:14 – Aliou-Rocco Traore 1 yd TD run (Jacob Willig PAT)
Northern Colorado 17 – Colorado State 7
1:25 – Lloyd Avant 6 yd TD run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Northern Colorado 17 – Colorado State 14
4th Quarter
0:44 – Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi 13 yd TD run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
Northern Colorado 17 – Colorado State 21
Final: Northern Colorado 17 – Colorado State 21
The Good
I was going to go with my previous system of discussing the offense and defense separately, but I realized that it would be better to simply discuss the good, bad, and ugly from the clash between the Rams and the Bears.
First, the good. This will be a short section.
The Rams’ run game, both offensively and defensively, was about the only consistent thing CSU had on this day. They averaged 5.0 yards per carry on 46 attempts, for a total of 230 yards and all three of their touchdowns. All six players that ran the ball for the Rams ended up tallying at least 20 yards. Two of those TDs were courtesy of Tulsa transfer Lloyd Avant, who had a career day as the Rams’ leading rusher, with 11 carries for 68 yards and those aforementioned two TDs. Washington game star Jalen Dupree got the starting nod this week, and tallied 13 carries for 58 yards, with one fantastic hurdle in the 3rd quarter being just about the only offensive highlight for CSU.
Defensively, the Rams swarmed UNC’s line, holding the Bears to an abysmal 1.9 yards per carry. Through the air, QB Eric Gibson Jr. threw no touchdowns while throwing two interceptions, one on the game-ending endzone shot and another that didn’t count on a free play.
On special teams, punt returner Tommy Maher deserves some praise for averaging 12 yards per return with a long of 29, and punter Bryan Hansen averaged a legitimately impressive 57 yards per punt with a long of 58.
But that’s the thing here. Despite the praise I gave all of these players, they all come with some sort of a caveat. As for the players and units I have not mentioned yet, don’t worry, I will get to them next.
The Bad
The Air Raid is officially a disaster. As I mentioned previously, the Bears entered this game having given up over 200 yards through the air to a D-II school. So how embarrassing is it for CSU, an FBS team, to get outdone through the air by that D-II school against the same defense.
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi went 13-25 for 132 yards with 0 TDs and 1 INT, being outdone in every category by his counterpart on the UNC sideline, as Gibson Jr. went 17-28 for 160 yards with the same TD/INT ratio, only with Gibson Jr.’s pick being on a do-or-die Hail Mary as time expired.
Combine this performance with one pass by NAU transfer wideout Tay Lanier and you get a pitiful 141 yards on 26 passing attempts, the fewest allowed by Northern Colorado in a game against any opponent of any level since Sept. 17, 2022, when they allowed 82 yards passing to Lamar.
This goes to show just how dire the Rams’ receiving situation is right now. The only CSU receivers to crack the 20-yard mark were Armani Winfield (49) and Jordan Ross (25), both of whom were part of the Rams last season. Not one of CSU’s transfer portal additions caught a pass in this game. Even TE Jaxxon Warren, who lit up the charts last week in Seattle, only caught one pass for 16 yards.
As the name implies, the “Air Raid” system is supposed to run through the air, which makes it all the more humiliating that Colorado State had to resort to using their rushing attack to narrowly beat a very bad FCS team at home. Even that rushing attack came with its massive problems.
Avant, while scoring two touchdowns, also coughed up the ball on a crucial second-half drive.
The Rams’ run defense, while they looked good on paper, also surrendered both of Northern Colorado’s touchdowns, while allowing Gibson Jr., UNC’s backup QB making his first career start, to have all day to throw, with not one Rams player recording a sack. And it’s not like it was a day where sacks were off-limits, since the Bears recorded one on the game’s second series, which resulted in a fumble by Fowler-Nicolosi and a subsequent UNC touchdown.
Finally, Maher fumbled on back-to-back returns in the second quarter. The first set up a UNC field goal on a drive that covered six yards, and the second, on his longest return of 29 yards, gave the ball right back to the Bears at the UNC 25-yard line, ending a prime scoring opportunity.
As you could probably tell, the Rams had a massive problem with turning the ball over in this game, as their 5 total turnovers—4 fumbles and 1 interception—were the first time they have had that many in a game since Oct. 7, 2023, in a 44-24 loss at Utah State. The Rams’ 5 turnovers were converted by the Bears into 10 of their points.
For the cherry on top, senior kicker Isaiah Hankins missed his one field goal attempt from 46 yards, meaning that two games in, he still has yet to make his first successful field goal of 2025.
None of this, however, is the worst part of this game for the Rams. The worst part is just how much of a mismatch this truly should have been.
The Ugly
Nearly losing to an FCS team at home is embarrassing, but it happens. Just this week, this same fate befell two fellow Mountain West programs: Nevada, who eked out a win against Sacramento State thanks to bad clock management and atrocious officiating, and New Mexico, who clawed back from a fourth-quarter deficit to take down a feisty Idaho State team, just two weeks after the Tigers came oh-so-close to upsetting UNLV.
Heck, in Jay Norvell’s first season in Fort Collins, the Rams were shellacked 41-10 by that same Sac State team that nearly beat Nevada this week. So, it may come as a surprise to many that I consider this game, one where CSU actually won, to be significantly worse than any of those games I just mentioned, entirely due to the quality of each opponent.
Nevada beat Sac State, who entered the game ranked #16 in the FCS Coaches Poll. New Mexico and UNLV escaped Idaho State, who, while unranked in both matchups, reinforced both performances by nearly taking down two separate FCS teams, proving that they are a good team in their own right. And 2022 Sac State was #7 in the FCS rankings when they smacked CSU, and went on to finish the season 12-1, with a #4 final ranking in the polls.
Northern Colorado, on the other hand, is one of the worst FCS teams in the country. Now, this is not to insult the Bears, or take away from their accomplishments, as they should be commended for their grit and determination in this game. However, there are several reasons why they should have never been able to get any FBS game to this point, least of all this one.
Entering this game, the UNC Bears had lost 28 of their last 31 games, dating back to 2022. Since moving up to the FCS level in 2004, the Bears have had more seasons with 2 or fewer wins (7) than winning seasons (2), the last of which coming in 2016 with a 6-5 record.
The Bears have never beaten an FBS opponent in school history. The closest they came to this glory was in 2014, when they lost a narrow 13-12 slugfest to a hapless UNLV squad that finished the season 2-11. UNC usually doesn’t keep these games close, either, as that loss to UNLV was their only FBS game where the Bears finished within one score of victory. This includes three previous trips to Fort Collins, where the Bears lost by an average of 22 points.
Even this doesn’t tell the whole story here. Believe it or not, the Rams and Bears are pseudo-rivals, which makes sense given the two schools are about a half hour apart. This series had been played 19 times dating back to 1899. UNC was 1-18 against CSU in those matchups, with their one and only win coming in the series’ very first game in 1899.
Had the Rams not had good fortune with the Bears’ initial game-winning TD pass being called incomplete, this would have been the Rams’ first loss to the Bears in 126 years, which would have ranked among the most embarrassing losses in program history. However, fortunately for CSU fans, their team did end up pulling through, though it was as ugly as ugly can be.
In my season preview for the Rams, I wrote about this game in my “worst-case scenario” segment, where I said the following:
“With concerns growing, the Rams struggle to beat their in-state FCS rivals, Northern Colorado…the receiving core is still visibly out of sync with their QB, who is now growing visibly frustrated with his offense’s impotence. The Rams win a tight game, 24-17, thanks to the defense gelling slightly better, but precisely no one leaves Canvas feeling good about themselves.”
Needless to say, that prophecy came true. Had Hankins made his field goal attempt, I would have been right on the money down to the score. Something needs to change with the Rams, and they need to make these changes fast. Otherwise, this could truly be the beginning of the end for the Jay Norvell era in Fort Collins.
Coming Up
The Rams, just in the nick of time, get to stay home this week to hopefully figure things out. They’ll have their bye week to do so before hosting their next opponent, the UTSA Roadrunners.
UTSA enters this game an unfortunate 0-2, off of an 18-point road loss to #19 Texas A&M, and a 7-point home loss in a shootout versus in-state rival and future CSU conference-mate Texas State. The Roadrunners will be hungry to jump-start a season with a lot of potential that hasn’t quite gone to plan so far. They will also look to end their road-game curse, as UTSA has not won a true road game (they won the Myrtle Beach Bowl in Conway against Coastal Carolina last year) since Nov. 4, 2023.
Kickoff is currently TBD, set for Saturday, Sept. 20.
