Fort Air Raid? More like Fort Scared Raid.
Jay Norvell stalked the sidelines at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium with a 10-gallon tin foil hat. CSU’s third-year coach had a staffer in the third quarter following him around with a giant orange screen. You know, just in case Texas got any bright ideas about stealing signs with a 38-0 lead.
On the first drive of the second half, down 31, Norvell elected to punt from midfield on fourth-and-2. Right after calling a timeout.
Ordinarily, discretion is understandable, even forgivable, when you’re opening up the season as a 34-point underdog on the road. Roped into a “buy” matchup against a Texas team in Austin with College Football Playoff designs and SEC speed, you grasp the pigskin pragmatism. The notion of playing not to lose.
But with the exception of Rams tailback Justin Marshall (25 carries, 106 rushing yards) and the front seven on defense, why did it feel as if CSU, at times, played not to engage?
It wasn’t just the usual bruises from a 52-0 whupping. Or the punts. Or that quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi resembled 2023 Wyoming BFN — throwing off his back foot, throwing into triple coverage, throwing caution to the wind. Or that wideout Tory Horton, arguably the best offensive player in the Mountain West, touched the rock only five times.
It was the optics.
For a fan base that wants to see the affable Norvell succeed in Fort Fun, Saturday shook the faith. It’s fine to flush it and move on, but what happens when the toilet explodes?
Consider: In Week 1 of 2022, the Rams made their debut under Norvell in similar, no-win circumstances, facing a Michigan team in the Big House with all kinds of talent advantages against a roster that didn’t really have Norvell’s guys yet. CSU went to Ann Arbor and faced a 51-7 humbling. Everything’s new, right? Happens to the best of rebuilds.
But roll the clock ahead a bit. Two years later, roster overhauled, the kids all-in, the Rams rambled into No. 4 Texas — and lost by half a hundred.
Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns have the talent to make decent rosters look silly and slow. Context matters. There’s nobody near as good as Texas left on CSU’s dance card. In a critical, show-me season with big home games and a new athletic director, why tip your hand this early?
That said, where was the swagger? The tempo? The mojo? Whatever you think of CU, whenever Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter decide they’re going to take over a game, it’s theirs. The ‘Horns made Horton and BFN look like strangers.
Even the Rams’ rare riverboat-gambling moment felt more like an accident than design. On 4th-and-5 with 12:41 left until halftime, CSU punter Paddy Turner cradled the snap and took off — but not after bobbling it first. He had nowhere to go, and a 2-yard loss gave the hosts the ball back at the Rams’ 31-yard line. Four plays later, Texas kicked a 45-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
The CSU defense made ‘Horns QB Quinn Ewers work for it, but only for a quarter. Up 7-0, the future NFL signal-caller was driving the hosts toward a double-digit lead when a first-and-10 run at the Rams 22 got stuffed for a 3-yard loss. Two players later, the CSU rush forced the QB to step up in the pocket and into a crowd, where a deflected pass was tipped into the air and fell like a wounded bird into the waiting arms of Rams linebacker Chase Wilson at the CSU 17.
After 15 minutes, Texas had 154 yards to CSU’s 36, yet the Rams were only down a touchdown, hanging in there the way a meme kitten dangles from a meme tree.
Midway through the second quarter, the branch snapped.
Silver linings were slim pickings Saturday. But Norvell now has two massive, back-to-back in-state games at Canvas Stadium — vs. UNC on Sept. 7; the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Sanders and Hunter on Sept. 14 — with which to plead his case to the unconverted. To prove that Week 1, just like Week 1 against Wazzu last year, was an aberration and not a harbinger.
There’s gotta be a better way for CSU athletics to collect $1.8 million — Texas’ “guarantee” to the Rams for scheduling this mismatch — than getting their backsides handed to them for three hours on national television.
CSU — five years, two football coaches and an athletic director ago — didn’t make any secrets in May 2019, when this game was announced, that it was in it to bag a nice chunk of change. That a weekend in Austin would be a good time for all. Just so long as you didn’t look at the scoreboard.
“I think it’s great for us any time you play a storied program like the University of Texas,” then-coach Mike Bobo said in the first direct quote listed in CSU’s original announcement. “I think it’s great for the university, our fan base and our players. It’s an area we recruit, so anytime we can play a team like that I’m excited. If we want to get where we want to go, we can’t shy away from playing those teams.”
If Saturday was any indication, there’s miles left. And dangerous curves ahead.
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