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Utah State defeats CSU after Rams give up early lead

Ben Fairly, Sports Reporter

October 8, 2023

Collegian | Cait Mckinzie

Colorado State University defensive lineman Mohamed Kamara (8) runs for the Utah Tech University quarterback Sept. 30. CSU won 41-20.

Colorado State football traveled to Logan, Utah, to take on Utah State in their first conference matchup, looking to increase their win streak to three. The Rams battled but eventually gave up a considerable lead to the Aggies, losing 44-24.

The Rams dominated all sides of the ball in the first quarter. They were forced to punt in their first drive, but the punt was muffed by Utah State and quickly recovered by Henry Blackburn on special teams. The offense took advantage of the Aggie mistake and got on the board first, settling for a field goal.

The defense was then able to force Utah State to take a punt on their first drive. The Aggies looked to punt downfield to an explosive threat in Tory Horton. Receiving the punt, Horton bobbed and weaved through the Utah State defense, finding a hole and taking the punt to the house for a touchdown. The Rams quickly had a 10-0 lead.

The Aggies’ following attempt to create momentum on offense was interrupted by an interception by TJ Crandall, setting up Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and the CSU offense in Aggie territory. The Rams pushed down the field, where Vann Schield eventually rushed for a 22-yard touchdown. CSU seemed to have been in business early, picking up a 17-0 lead.

The defense put the pressure on the Utah State QB, Cooper Legas, early in the first half. CSU racked up four sacks in the first quarter, including two from Mohamed Kamara, allowing him to pass third-place Mike Bell on the CSU all-time sack list with 26.

The eventful first quarter ended with the Aggies making a drive downfield, where they took a field goal to get their first points on the board. CSU led 17-3 at the end of the first. The Rams seemed to be in control, although that turned out to be untrue.

After the first quarter, the Rams found difficulty getting any sort of momentum on either side of the ball. The Aggies came back in the second quarter, putting up 17 unanswered points.

Fowler-Nicolosi threw two interceptions in the second quarter, both given to Utah State safety Ike Larsen. The second turnover eventually turned into a 24-yard Jalen Royals touchdown, which tied up the match 17-17.

Late in the second, Utah State threatened Ram territory. They found themselves lined up for a 41-yard field goal that they missed. The Rams went into halftime tied after giving up a 17-0 lead.

The second half started with an offensive clinic from Utah State. Legas quickly found a target in Terrell Vaughn for a 76-yard touchdown, giving them their first lead of the game. On their next drive, Legas kept the ball rolling for the Aggies connecting with Royals yet again for a 51-yard touchdown.

Deeper into the third quarter, Kamara recorded yet another sack, giving him three on the game. However, he was injured in the play and did not return for the rest of the game.

The Aggies completely took advantage of the Rams’ continuous mistakes, leading 31-17 over CSU going into the fourth.

The Rams started the fourth quarter on a positive note. Marshon Oxley recorded a sack, which also forced a fumble that Jack Howell recovered. However, CSU was unable to get anything going offensively. Fowler-Nicolosi had trouble finding his go-to targets in Horton and Dallin Holker.

Utah State then went on to score again on a 19-yard touchdown from Legas to Micah Davis, giving them a 20-point lead over the Rams late in the game.

CSU was able to get on the board in their next drive for the first time since the first quarter. After driving into the red zone, Kobe Johnson took a 10-yard gain for the Rams’ final points of the matchup.

CSU was unable to come back as Utah State kept the ball rolling on offense, accumulating a 48-yard rushing touchdown from Davon Booth to top off the scoring 44-24.

The Rams offense completely took a 180 from their last matchup against Utah Tech. Fowler-Nicolosi was only able to record 225 passing yards and no touchdowns, his first game this season without throwing for a touchdown. He also threw three interceptions.

CSU will look to bounce back next weekend against the Boise State Broncos 7:45 p.m. Oct. 14 in Canvas Stadium for their annual Homecoming game.

Reach Ben Fairly at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @benjaminfairly.

About the Contributor

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

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