It has been 28 years since the Rocky Mountain Showdown was hosted north of Boulder. The atmosphere was electrified, and the intensity magnified by ten as the Rams now have the home-field advantage in their first Showdown at Canvas Stadium. It was hot, it was hectic, but the fans came out in full force even 90 minutes before the game kicked off with the student section already reaching about 90% full. With 40,099 fans in attendance (a new Canvas record), everyone in Fort Collins is ready for Coach Prime and the Buffaloes!
It’s extremely special to see this game here in Canvas, especially since the last time I was at a Showdown was in 2014 when CSU defeated CU at Sports Authority Field. This matchup felt different and had the same feeling going in. Last year, the Rocky Mountain Showdown buildup on campus felt like a haunted house had taken over Fort Collins, with students mulling for the weekend to be over with thinking the Rams were going to be embarrassed by Coach Prime and get blown out by 50. Instead, the Rams gave a fight to CU and went to two overtimes. That momentum has carried over into this matchup with Ram fans feeling confident and excited to finally have an advantage going in.
Colorado State and Colorado’s first possessions started off slow with both sides starting with a 3-and-out. In the Rams’ second drive, they were able to go down for a field goal and get the first lead of the game. Afterward, the Buffaloes had a drive of their own, setting up their own kicker, Alejandro Mata, for a 44-yard field goal that was no good. Once the game entered the second quarter however, it was almost as if Colorado State completely lost its identity and had no idea what team they were facing, because it certainly didn’t look like they were playing against the Buffs, it looked like they were in a rematch with Texas.
Cushion coverage and inconsistent offensive play calling led to CU taking the lead back from the Rams off of two touchdowns from Shedeur Sanders to LaJohntay Webster on both. The Rams were not the same Rams team we saw last week against Northern Colorado. The minor weaknesses that they showed were exposed big time as they went into halftime down 14-3.
Coming out of halftime, the Rams didn’t change from the sluggish and out-of-place Rams I saw in the second quarter, as BFN (Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi) threw an interception on their first drive of the half after forcing a punt on CU’s first drive, setting up the Buffs in the red zone. It was then the Travis Hunter show as he finally got into the endzone on a 2-yard reception set up by the interception. But he wasn’t done.
After a drive-by CSU that led to a fumble by Keegan Holles in the red zone recovered by CU and another drive-by CU that also led to a fumble forced by Buom Jock and recovered by Chase Wilson of the Rams, BFN forced another throw in Hunter’s direction as he got himself involved on defense getting an interception to close out the third quarter.
They picked up right where they left off with Shedeur Sanders throwing a beautiful ball to the corner of the endzone with Travis Hunter able to keep both feet in bounds and increase the lead to 28-3. He went off on offense and defense which isn’t a surprise at this point finishing the night with 13 receptions for 100 yards and 2 TDs as well as his interception. The Rams would find some life after a 62-yard run by Avery Morrow to set up the Rams for a 5-yard TD run by Justin Marshall. The 2-point conversion attempt would result in an incompletion, dropped by Jamari Person to make it a 28-9 game.
The score would not change as the Buffs continued to put the onslaught on the Rams until the last second of the game, crushing Colorado State 28-9 in a game where the fans showed up big, but the team itself fell flat. It was frustrating to watch, and the playcalling was beyond confusing. Against a Buffs team that had Pat Shurmur as their offensive play caller who was beyond predictable when he was coaching with the Denver Broncos, but just couldn’t be stopped with his star players Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. Hats off as well to Micah Welch who stepped up big time for the Buffs addressing the run game issues CU had prior to the game.
Coach Norvell after the game said it himself that the team simply did not play well enough, revealing that Tory Horton wasn’t 100% going into the game. He was also disappointed in the turnovers and the penalties in this game that saw Fowler-Nicolosi throw two interceptions and Keegan Holles fumbling in the red zone, as well as CSU picking up 10 penalties. Most of them cost the Rams a first down and gave free momentum to CU.
“We could’ve converted on a couple of those drives, you know we had a fumble down inside the 20 and the snap on the ground at the end of the game,” Coach Norvell stated in his press conference opener. “Those turnovers are killers. We weren’t good enough to consistently beat them man to man. We had some young guys that had to step up in a big situation and we just weren’t quite good enough yet.”
Coach Norvell stated that the Rams had to get back to work and the good thing about this loss is that there is a lot of season left to turn this team around to prepare better in order to play well against future opponents. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi also stopped by to answer questions for the media after Coach Norvell. He was also disappointed in his performance but was optimistic to learn from his mistakes and knows he is better than that. When asked about which turnover was the costliest in the game he stated, “it doesn’t make a difference, I need to limit them. Can’t have them. This will be a good game to go back and watch and learn from.”
This was a tough performance by CSU with both Coach Norvell and BFN understanding and appreciating that the fans deserved better with how they were able to show out for the game. Fans will have a hard time buying into that sentiment with history not being in Norvell’s favor, especially his rivalry record. Norvell is now 0-6 against CSU rivals with this loss being the most gut-wrenching with CU not being on the schedule until 2029, and with the announcement of CSU joining the PAC-12, there’s doubt around the future of the rivalry matchups against Air Force and Wyoming. The Rams will look to get back on track as they face UTEP next week as they debut their new State Pride uniforms.