A welcome sight for sore eyes.
After waiting through the bye week to see what changed, there didn’t seem to be any new answers on Colorado State football’s offense. What was left of the student section following halftime began to boo and chant for a change from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi in the third quarter.
And they exactly got what they wanted.
In the end, it didn’t quite matter, as Tahj Bullock nearly completed a two-point conversion to Lloyd Avant in the back of the endzone. The Rams lost 17-16 to UTSA Saturday, knocking them down to 1-2 on the season.
Jackson Brousseau provides a spark in the fourth quarter
Head coach Jay Norvell finally implemented what most people have been calling for: Jackson Brousseau.
The former backup facilitated the offense to the only two touchdown drives of the night, and he completed a key fourth-down conversion with under three minutes to go. Had it not been for the change in signal caller, there might not have been a 50/50 final play.
Yet Brousseau didn’t have to do much on his first drive, just completing short; accurate; on-time passes to different receivers. But the result was the first sustained push down the field and the first touchdown for CSU.
It was exactly what the Rams needed.
No juice with Fowler-Nicolosi
It felt like nothing had changed compared to the shaky showing against Northern Colorado a couple weeks ago. To make matters worse, the ground game wasn’t as effective as it’s been in the past, and Norvell didn’t do much to instill confidence in his signal caller.
CSU went into halftime with 149 passing yards and 53 rushing yards. The Rams averaged 3.3 yards per carry on the ground, and got most of their production through the air on a 47-yard completion to Armani Winfield, who starting showing rapport with Fowler-Nicolosi.
UTSA’s defense is known for being leaky, though, so the offense was expected to score more than just three points in the first half.
Even though Jaxxon Warren and Jordan Ross missed the game due to injury, the Rams’ depth looked thinner than ever.
It felt like fans were just waiting for Brousseau to make an appearance.
Too many miscues in the first half, improvement overall
CSU ended the first half with seven penalties for 85 yards.
While those issues didn’t resurface in the same way after the break, CSU will have a hard time beating most opponents with numbers like that without making that change.
And after a bye week, the thought was that the Rams could use that early bye to tighten things up, but things almost looked worse than they had a couple weeks prior.
Interestingly, though, CSU committed zero turnovers, which was a comforting sight.
Defense keeps the game alive
Despite facing one of the best rushing teams in the country, the defense put on a commendable performance.
Generally containing the rushing edges well, UTSA gained most of its offensive production on splash plays. The Rams held Owen McCown to 173 passing yards, two interceptions, one touchdown and 52% passing completion.
But UTSA still excelled on the ground.
Aside from a 76-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter and 74-yard receiving touchdown in the fourth from Robert Henry Jr., the Roadrunners were mostly contained, and CSU managed to hold UTSA to just 10 points in three quarters, beating Texas A&M’s performance earlier in the season.
And that gift that kept on giving for CSU’s defense was Owen Long, who racked up the highest number of tackles with 14 total. Lemondre Joe played well with seven total tackles, one tackle for a loss, an athletic interception, broke up multiple passes and hit the quarterback once. Ayden Hector tacked on an interception, and Jake Jarmolowich saved a potential touchdown with a shoestring tackle.
The defense kept the Rams in the game, and without it, the game would have been a home blowout.
Other than a shanked punt in the third quarter, the special teams units — and the punt team specifically — gave the defense chances. Bryan Hansen pinned the Roadrunners on their own six and 16 respectively while averaging 47.2 yards per punt to go with a game-high 62-yard boot.
Hope despite a loss
Fans went from disappointment to rejuvenation, and there’s some hope left for a Rams squad with depth.
It’ll be on to the next against Washington State at 5:30 MST Sept. 27 in Canvas.
Read the full story here.
Reach Michael Hovey at sports@collegian.com or on social media @michaelfhovey.
