The Colorado State Rams traded in the green and gold for the pumpkin and alfalfa for Ag Day as the Colorado State Aggies hosted their in-state opponent, the Northern Colorado Bears. It was a special Ag Day as Colorado State honored the legacy of Lt. Col. John Mosley by retiring his #14 jersey number with his name and number being placed immortally at Canvas Stadium alongside Greg Myers, Eddie Hanna and Thurman “Fum” McGraw. He’ll be the first CSU Ram to have his number honored and displayed in Canvas Stadium since Greg Myers’ #3 was honored in 2013.
Colorado State got hot early after forcing a 3-and-out for Northern Colorado, Tory Horton returned the ensuing punt 78 yards for a CSU touchdown. The last Ram wearing number 14 in football scoring a touchdown for the Aggies in their very first play was an almost storybook start for CSU. The Rams would get another opportunity with the ball on the offense’s first drive of the series going down to the UNC 2-yard line with a BFN pass to Vince Brown for 30 yards and a Justin Marshall run for 42 yards to get there. Still, the Bears came to play as the defense held on to force a Jordan Noyes field goal from 20 yards out.
The Bears weren’t done, as they were able to force a fumble that defensive lineman Sam Iongi-Amituanai recovered on a screen play. This led to a Bears touchdown with Peter Costelli throwing to Fisher Clements to make it a 10-7 game with Colorado State having the lead. The Rams would get another chance with the ball as the first quarter transitioned into the second with CSU having a 10-play drive capped off with a Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi touchdown off a perfect read option that had the defense faked out.
Colorado State would continue to stay in it with the help of Keegan Holles, making an impact in the first half leading the team in rushing with 88 yards and a touchdown of his own in the 2nd quarter for 4 yards during the 2-minute warning. CSU would go into halftime with a 24-7 lead. Coming out of the half, Northern Colorado was able to get a score on their first drive after stopping CSU on a 3-and-out to start the half. The Bears were able to drive down to midfield before a play-action pass from Peter Constelli to Brayden Munroe went for 50 yards leading to a UNC touchdown to cut the lead to 24-14. The Aggies were able to shake it off and responded quickly with Fowler-Nicolosi throwing a dime to Caleb Goodie for a 40-yard touchdown in a quick three-play drive that started with a 31-yard completion to Tory Horton, followed by a 9-yard run by Justin Marshall to set up the big play.
It would come at a cost with Tory Horton hobbling off gingerly with a lower leg injury after the completion which resulted in him making a trip toward the locker room and not returning for the rest of the game. The Rams kept pushing and towards the end after a long back and forth with the Bears in the second half, the game was sealed by a rushing touchdown from Avery Morrow in the last minute of the game to set the final score at 38 to 17. Head Coach Jay Norvell was happy with the fan turnout for such an incredible event, commemorated the band for the job they did and he was honored to be a part of commemorating Lt. Col. John Mosley’s legacy. However, he was still frustrated with how the team played because he knew they could do a lot better.
“I just want our guys to play up to their potential,” Coach Norvell stated. “We do it at times, we scratch the surface at times, but I was not happy for most of this game. But I’m very very proud of a lot of the efforts that we had tonight.” He went on to praise a lot of the young guys the Rams team had that made an impact in this game, including Caleb Goodie and Keegan Holles’ performances with both of them scoring touchdowns.
The defense also had some bright moments but was unable to create any turnovers or sack the quarterback in this game. When asked if there were concerns on that side of the ball as the season goes along with tougher opponents on the horizon Norvel stated, “No, I think we have to generate some pressure and I think we have to play tighter coverage. Those are things that we’ll continue to do and we got a bunch of guys on defense that are starting to learn how to play together. We gotta start putting screws to people and that’s the way it’s got to be.” Norvell went on to reaffirm that there wasn’t anything to be disappointed about and they’ll be watching the film to see where they can do better.
“I was not disappointed and I think, just like the offense, we could have played better on defense.”
Despite the win, Jay Norvell has made it clear that he is setting higher standards for his team. With the upcoming matchup of Colorado coming down to Fort Collins for the first time since 1996, those standards will be put to the ultimate test during the Rocky Mountain Showdown.