After a long offseason full of anticipation, the wait was finally over. Unfortunately for the Rams, it didn’t quite turn out the way they anticipated. 

Colorado State football sought to start its 2025 campaign with a road upset win against a newly revamped Washington. Despite going into halftime tied 14-14, the Rams inability to stop the run led to their demise, losing its season opener 38-21 Saturday night. 

After tying the game up 21-21 off a 27-yard strike from quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi to tight end Jaxxon Warren, it was the high-powered Huskies offense that proved to be too much. They responded with a nine-play, 69-yard drive, ending with an acrobatic snag from UW wideout Denzel Boston and propelling the Huskies up 28-21. 

Trailing 28-21 with the end of the third quarter looming, a costly Fowler-Nicolosi interception sealed the deal for the Rams. The Huskies capitalized off of the late-game error, resulting in a field goal that gave UW a 10-point lead with 12:11 remaining in the fourth. 

The Rams were never able to truly recover, as they went on to turn the ball over on downs in back to back possessions. Between their late game inability to move the ball and another late game Washington touchdown, CSU’s fate was sealed. 

Saturday, it was Jonah Coleman’s world with everyone else was just living in it.

The senior racked up an impressive 177 yards and two touchdowns off 24 carries for the Huskies. Washington’s high-powered rushing offense ended the game with an astonishing 283 rushing yards against a rather inexperienced Rams defense. 

“Obviously, we’re frustrated,” linebacker Owen Long said after leading the team with 13 total tackles. “There’s plays we wished we had back and sequences we wished we had back. We also all got to see what it could be like.”  

UW’s relentless rushing attack proved to be too much, out gaining CSU entirely as the Huskies rushing entourage alone accumulated 283 yards — more than CSU’s combined total offense, tallying 265 yards on the night.  

“We can grow light years, defensively,” head coach Jay Norvell said. “They’re all learning together, I think we will improve because of the way we practice and the way this group prepares.”

Even with a disappointing outcome and way to start their season, Norvell continued to voice his trust and optimism in his team’s ability to bounce back from adversity. Norvell continued to speak on the apparent inexperience of his new look defense as they entered the season opener with only one returning starter from the year prior. 

While the defense showed its lack of experience, it was defensive back Lemondre Joe who caught the eyes of many, as he proved to be the bright spot in a struggling defense.

At the end of the night, Joe found himself leading the Rams in sacks with 1.5, accounting for half of the team’s total sacks. In a game where the defense struggled to find their true identity, Joe found major success, playing everywhere, ultimately finding himself as Saturday’s key disrupter. Next week, he’ll look to find similar success and continue to make a name for himself as one of the next key playmakers for a young Tyson Summers defense. 

“Overall, I’m not discouraged,” Norvell said. “We’ve got a lot of character in that locker room. These kids will look at the film, and they will learn from it and improve and get better, and that’s what we have to do now.”

Luckily for the Rams, they now shift their focus towards next week when CSU returns home to begin their three-game home stint and face in-state opponent Northern Colorado.

Saturday, it was Jedd Fisch’s Huskies that proved to be too much for the Norvell-led Rams. In a game that left many CSU fans discouraged, Long reassured Ram nation that he’s confident they’ll bounce back next week.

“If we’re going to look at this and take the good out of it, I think we’ve seen what we can be,” Long said. “When we do execute at a high level, this can be a special team. You feel it everyday when you’re in the locker room. … It’s going to be on us to get back to the drawing board and figure out how we can get that product out of ourselves more. But I promise you we will go do that and we are going to find ways to do that. We’ll fix the mistakes. It’s the cool thing about football — we’re right back at it, it’s a new opponent, games over with, so it’s a whole new slate for next week. “

Reach John Vu at sports@collegian.com or on social media @john_vu10.