On the night of morrow’s eve, with all of its stalwart heart, Colorado State football came out ready for a fast start.
In a 31-24 winning showing over San Jose State, CSU’s chances to go bowling only continued growing.
Ad
CSU opted to receive the ball after winning the toss. A decision that nine plays and 75 yards later would pay off with six, however, it left the Rams on their heels coming out of half.
The play immediately following an injury to Tory Horton, just 19 yards from pay dirt and a chance to put CSU up 14, running back Avery Morrow fumbled the football. SJSU defensive back DJ Harvey then picked the ball up and returned it for six, a sequence that killed all the momentum the Rams had gained.
“The fumble kind of took the wind out of everybody’s sails and I could feel it,” coach Jay Norvell said. “And I just reminded (Morrow) that we talked about this before the game. That we have to handle adversity and when it strikes, we have to be strong enough to push through.”
The end of a half signaled a new game, a clean slate for each team. The energy was stale inside Canvas Stadium, as the memories of prior week’s lack of execution flooded back to relevancy. The CSU defense — a unit that has had struggles — had an opportunity to rip that momentum back.
Right out of half, the defense forced two punts. Including on the opening drive out of half, in which CSU forced a three-and-out to help drag some of that momentum back in its favor, a couple of series that captain Jack Howell attributed to his quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi.
“Brayden was very vocal in the locker room and going around, he really stepped up tonight in leadership,” Howell said. “I’m not going to lie, I’ve been challenging him with that and he came up big all night long. Going across the sidelines, getting the team ready, getting them going.”
Fowler-Nicolosi rained in what was his best performance of the season. He threw for 269 yards, completing 22-of-30 passes for a score and an interception. He also added 35 yards and a score on the ground.
Fowler-Nicolosi did everything except for defense, punting once. He landed it inside the 20 and did confirm he would be donating another $20 to Paddy Turner’s 20-for-20 initiative.
On Oct. 7’s press conference, Norvell talked about conference play being an opportunity for a fresh start. In a season that many expected Fowler-Nicolosi and the team to make big leaps, those expectations have rang hollow. Fowler-Nicolosi said that the team looked at this game as a palette cleanser, and one he felt like was his best execution wise.
Ad
“I feel like I had the best communication that I’ve had all season with the receivers, my O-line, my running backs, just everything felt like it went a lot smoother than it had before,” Fowler-Nicolosi said. “It speaks volumes to what we were doing in practice and the coaches keeping us on top of it and our level of preparation definitely went up this week.”
For six weeks now, CSU has been looking for someone to step up opposite of Horton. Armani Winfield looks like he might be that guy. Finishing with a career-best six receptions for 108 yards and a score, the Baylor transfer has continued to look the part each week.
Winfield’s final reception of the game, ended up being the game winner. On a 62-yard reception, he streaked down the sidelines to put the Rams up 10 with 2:44 to go in the game. Something the Spartans proved unable to come back from.
“I saw the backers blitz, so I knew the shallow route was going to be — I was expecting to get the ball,” Winfield said. “But once I saw the green grass in front of me, my legs started running faster than they’ve ever ran before.”
One thing has stood steady for CSU through a turbulent season and that has been the offensive line play. Led by center Jacob Gardner, the Rams have dominated the trenches.
Four players averaged more than four yards per carry, with Morrow going for more than 100 yards in a third-consecutive game. This is a group, that Norvell said has been playing at the level of some of the best in the country
“I gave our whole offensive line a game ball,” Norvell said. “I can’t remember doing that twice in a season in my career.”
CSU in the wake of a win is now presented with an opportunity for new life.
The discourse surrounding the team hasn’t been positive, something Howell said the team has seen. While certainly they haven’t exactly played up to their potential, the reminder that the season is far from over will echo for at least another week.
“That just puts a chip on our shoulder,” Howell said. “This team’s fired up and we’re tired of everything. … We messed up last week, we made some mistakes and we want that game back bad. But it doesn’t matter, we want to know in conference play and we’re moving on; we’re getting better every single week and that’s our only goal. Just keep getting better, keep winning football games.”
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
Interested in more sports content? Sign up for Ram Report here for weekly CSU sports updates!
