After 3 weeks, Including a bye week, a close heartbreaker game at Folsom Field in Boulder, and Ram’s first win at Middle Tennessee State, the CSU Rams tallied their second win at home against the FCS Utah Tech Trailblazers in what was a close game for most of the matchup that was split up by two lightning delays.
The Rams came out strong with two great offensive drives led by Mountain West Freshman of the Week Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Tory Horton with two receiving touchdowns, a 21-yard and 76-yard strike, within the first 10 minutes of play.
However, this success for the Rams would not last long, as the Trailblazer’s offense lit
up the Rams’ defense in the first half, having 231 total yards of offense with 127 yards of rushing, 6-9 on 3rd downs, and 17 points put up before the half was over. The Rams looked lost on the opposite side of the ball, playing sloppy ball and allowing defensive penalties to help the Trailblazers move down the field. This momentum was also killed offensively for the Rams, as the two lightning delays sent fans packing the heat of the first two drives was lost, and a couple of bad turnovers by Fowler-Nicolosi led to easier scoring position for the Trailblazers. The half ended 21-17 with the first rushing touchdown of the season for the Rams scored by Fowler-Nicolosi.
After the half, the Rams came out as a much better team. The Trailblazer’s offensive efficiency was cut in half, as they had only 118 total yards in the second half, 1 for 7 on 3rd downs, and only 3 points in the second half. The defense looked much more composed and in line with what Rams fans have seen in the games against the Colorado and Middle Tennessee games, where the Rams dominated at the line and minimized big run and pass plays. The Ram’s offense also complemented this with three touchdowns of their own, including a Vann Schield rushing touchdown, and two passing touchdowns to Dallin Holker and Tory Horton to lead to the final score of 41-20.
Tory Horton had a standout performance of 10 receptions for 227 yards with three touchdowns, and notably 136 of those yards were gained after the catch. Fowler-Nicolosi also had a standout performance, with five total touchdowns, one rushing, and four passing, with 462 passing yards that earned him the nod for Freshman of the Week for the Mountain West as mentioned above.
In postgame, Coach Jay Norvell as well as Chase Wilson and Mo Kamara harped on the fact that the Rams still have yet to put together a full performance in a game and that there is a lot of work to do.
“I’m really proud of our effort,” said Norvell, “I know we have a long, long way to go, but we can certainly play much better than we played tonight.”
This sentiment was also shared by Wilson, who emphasized that he was very excited to see what the defense can do when a full game and full effort is played for 60 minutes. The defensive consistency was not there in the first half, with sloppy play and penalties allowing the Trailblazers to get big runs on the Rams and keep the game much closer than it should have been.
The Rams certainly will need to work to put that full game together as they head towards conference play. Utah Tech was a game to put together the puzzle pieces still remaining and work out the issues and consistency that we saw in the first four games of CSU football on both sides of the ball. The 41-20 performance showed good signs for the Rams both offensively and defensively from Fowler-Nicolosi and the receiver room who showed great production and the full embrace of the Air Raid offense, and the defensive pass and run control we saw at key moments of the game in the second half secured the win. Rams fans will hope to see consistent play from these groups for future games, as well as hopefully see the run attack make more of an impact with the return of injured players in Kobe Johnson and Avery Morrow.
The Rams will look to maintain their two game win streak with their first game of Mountain West play coming on Saturday at 6 p.m. against the Utah State Aggies in Logan, Utah.