Is it possible to feel both better and worse about the future of a team after a loss? If it is, that would be an accurate summary of my feelings about the Rams’ battle against UTSA.
In a largely unexpected defensive slugfest, the Rams (1-2) fell at home to UTSA (2-2), 17-16, after a failed 2-point conversion attempt that followed an offsides call against UTSA on the Rams’ game-tying extra point with 29 seconds to play.
On the Roadrunners’ side, UTSA won their first true road game since 2023, getting
back to .500 after a season-opening slate that included two competitive losses to Texas A&M and Texas State. For the Rams, their defense performed much better than expected (aside from against one player on two plays), whereas their offense is both horribly dysfunctional, while simultaneously providing hope for the future.
Scoring Summary
2nd Quarter
10:42 – Robert Henry Jr. 76-yd TD run (Michael Petro PAT)
UTSA 7 – Colorado State 0
7:04 – Isaiah Hankins 23-yd FG
UTSA 7 – Colorado State 3
0:48 – Michael Petro 40-yd FG
UTSA 10 – Colorado State 3
4th Quarter
6:19 – Tahj Bullock 10-yd TD run (Isaiah Hankins PAT)
UTSA 10 – Colorado State 10
4:49 – Robert Henry Jr. 74-yard pass from Owen McCown (Michael Petro PAT)
UTSA 17 – Colorado State 10
0:29 – Rocky Beers 4-yard pass from Jackson Brousseau (Lloyd Avant 2-pt pass from Tahj Bullock incomplete, try NO GOOD)
UTSA 17 – Colorado State 16
Final: UTSA 17 – Colorado State 16
Defense
Let’s start off by discussing the defense this week, as Tyson Summers’ unit deserves some recognition for their performance in this game.
Against a typically potent UTSA offense that had averaged 36 PPG this season, the Rams held the Roadrunners to 345 yards and just 17 points. Quarterback Owen McCown couldn’t get much going through the air, as he went 14/27 for 173 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs, one each from Ayden Hector and Lamondre Joe.
While the Rams had no sacks, they had 5 tackles for loss and 7 pass breakups. Owen Long again led the team in tackles with 14, both the aforementioned Joe and safety Jake Jarmolowich had 5 solo tackles each. Only three UTSA receivers and two UTSA rushers had double-digit yards. CSU’s defense allowed an average of 6.2 yards per pass and 5.4 yards per run, which looks good until you realize just how much better it should have been.
The key matchup for CSU’s defense this weekend was in stopping the nation’s leading rusher, Robert Henry, Jr. An initial scan of the box score will lead you to believe that the Rams failed miserably in this regard. Henry was both the Roadrunners’ leading rusher and receiver, totaling 25 touches for 220 yards and 2 TDs. This initially looks terrible until you realize that 150 of those yards and both TDs came from two plays.
The first was a pistol run on a 3rd and 3 in the 2nd quarter, where Henry burst right up the middle and scampered all the way for a 76-yard TD. The second was a short screen pass on a 3rd and 9, where the slightest overplay from JaQues Evans left Henry free to race past two additional blocks downfield for a 74-yard TD pass that also accounted for the vast majority of McCown’s yardage on the night.
If not for those two plays, this game would have been much different for the Rams. However, two big plays in a sea of defensive excellence should not result in a loss if the offense is producing consistently. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Offense
After a season of speculation, this game has made one fact perfectly clear: Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi’s time as the starting quarterback of the Rams is over.
Over the course of the bye week, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jackson Brousseau split first-team snaps with Fowler-Nicolosi, making it clear as day that the Rams were considering a switch at the game’s most important position.
The Rams’ offense was stuck in neutral for three quarters of this game with Fowler-Nicolosi under center. BFN went 14/25 for 176 yards with no TDs or INTs, which at first glance doesn’t seem too bad, since he set season highs for completion percentage, yards per attempt, and QBR.
However, taking out his two wide-open big plays of 47 and 33 yards, to Armani Winfield and Jalen Dupree, respectfully, leaves his stat line at 12/23 for 96 yards, a dismal 4.2 yards per attempt. Besides, those two completions came on drives that yielded a combined 3 points, which was the Rams’ total entering the 4th quarter.
After a 6-play, 25-yard drive to start the 4th quarter, the Rams had 220 total offensive yards on 54 plays (4.1 YPP), a field goal, a turnover on downs, and a staggering eight punts (for what it’s worth, the Rams averaged 45.1 yards per punt on the night).
Visibly frustrated by the Rams’ offensive output, Jay Norvell made the change to the backup, Brousseau, who led the Rams on the final two drives of the game. The young guy held his own, completing 10 of his 12 passes for 76 yards, with the Rams averaging 6.5 YPP on those two drives. CSU scored touchdowns on each of their final two drives, the latter of which being a nice pass from Brousseau to FIU transfer tight end Rocky Beers for a presumably game-tying touchdown with 29 seconds left (more on that in a bit).
Beers was a top target in this game, as he took over the starting role from the injured Jaxxon Warren, with 4 receptions for 38 yards and the game’s lone TD catch. Six CSU receivers had double-digit yards, led by Armani Winfield’s 6-for-93 and Tommy Maher’s 4-for-42.
On the ground, Lloyd Avant again led the way for the Rams, with his 10-for-96 line far eclipsing Jalen Dupree’s 12-for-49 on the night. Third-string QB Tahj Bullock was again used as a gadget-option QB throughout the game, capping off the Brousseau’s first drive with a 10-yard scamper into the endzone. However, Bullock’s most impactful moment came on the game’s deciding play.
After Brousseau’s toss to Beers pulled the Rams within 1 with 29 seconds to go, Isaiah Hankins drilled the extra point to tie the game. However, UTSA CB Davin Martin was offsides on the play, giving the Rams the chance to accept the penalty and try what would likely be a game-winning 2-point conversion from the 1-yard line, an opportunity which Norvell would accept.
Presumably in order to not thrust Brousseau into a do-or-die situation, Norvell made the dubious decision to turn the ball over to the more seasoned Bullock, whose only passing attempts this season resulted in an incompletion and a disastrous, hilarious sack on a fake field goal.
This turned out in predictable fashion. Bullock took the snap and rolled right, staring down his intended receiver, Lloyd Avant, as he engaged UTSA safety Tyan Milton in the backfield. Avant disengaged from Milton, who kept his eyes on the fleet-footed Bullock to prevent the QB from running from the conversion.
There was a moment where Bullock seemed to see an opening to throw to Avant as he ran to the endzone, which would have resulted in a successful conversion. However, Bullock hesitated, pulling back the throw before committing on his second pump, which led Avant just slightly out of bounds, resulting in an incomplete pass. One failed onside kick later, and the Rams had fallen to 1-2.
Final Thoughts
Despite another loss to a team that hadn’t won a true road game in nearly two years, the Rams actually gave me a reason to feel hope for the rest of the season, something they absolutely did not do in their last game. There were far too many penalties (11-for-115), and the offense still looks like a largely dysfunctional mess, but said offense looked much better under the direction of Jackson Brousseau.
I don’t know if Brousseau starts permanently going forward, or what will happen to Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, but one thing is for sure: the Rams do not want to go back to where they were against Northern Colorado, and they do not appear to be afraid of making uncomfortable changes to avoid that fate.
Coming Up
The Rams get to stay in Fort Collins for another week before another home game against the Washington State Cougars (2-2). After a narrow win over FCS Idaho and a blowout win over fellow Mountain West team San Diego State, the Cougars’ defense has catastrophically imploded on itself, giving up 59 points in each of their last two games, both blowout losses, first on the road, 59-10, at North Texas (4-0), then at home, 59-24, in the annual Apple Cup against Washington (3-0), whom the Rams played in their season opener. As far as pseudo-power conference teams go, there isn’t a much more inviting defense for a young QB to take his first snaps as a starter against. We shall see how the Air Raid fares against a team reeling from one of the worst two-week defensive performances in history.
Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, at 5:30 p.m. MT. Broadcast coverage will be on CBS Sports Network.
