Colorado State loses heartbreaker to UNLV — why you shouldn't lose faith in direction of program under Jay Norvell

Colorado State got the full Las Vegas experience in Saturday night’s 25-23 loss to UNLV. 

After establishing a 10-point halftime lead and looking like the Rams were in position for a big win, suddenly and dramatically, things took a turn for the worse for the Green & Gold in the third quarter.

What worked well early on for the Rams, like the rushing attack, stopped being consistently effective. And after holding the red-hot Rebels to just 3 points over the first 30 minutes of action, CSU’s double-digit lead quickly disappeared down the stretch, as UNLV was able to put together six total scoring drives over the final two quarters of play. 

As much of a struggle as things were for the Rams in the third quarter — they produced just four rushing yards and had a costly interception on a trick play gone wrong — CSU still had a chance to walk away with a win in the end. 

Trailing by 6 after not possessing the ball in the first half of the fourth quarter, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was able to mount an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Justus Ross-Simmons to put CSU up 20-19 with 3:49 to go. 

And even after allowing UNLV to then retake the lead with 1:27 left, because they only allowed a field goal, the Rams were able to put themselves in position for the upset with a 55-yard field goal from Jordan Noyes with just 44 seconds left. 

Unfortunately for the Ram Faithful, after going up 23-22, the CSU defense allowed the Rebels to go right down the field for their fifth field goal of the half. So despite taking the lead twice in the final four minutes of the game, the Rams ultimately were walked off with a 28-yard chip shot from Jose Pizano as time expired. 

The 25-23 loss is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s the third time this season that CSU has established a lead on the road before ultimately squandering it away. And much like the gut-wrenching finish in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, had the Rams simply been able to get one more stop, they very likely leave Saturday night as victors.  

This was not an instance of one side playing drastically better than the other. There really was not that much more that CSU needed to do in order to pick up a win in this one. But for a team that’s still in the stages of learning how to compete consistently, and finish, a couple of miscues proved to be fatal. 

Tight games like this come down to a small handful of plays. It really can be a drive or two that ends up being the deciding factor. When the game was on the line against Boise State, every single one of those key moments played out in favor of CSU. One week later though, it was a different story. 

If UNLV misses even one of those field goals, if CSU comes away with one of multiple opportunities for interceptions, etc, this game very well ends differently. Instead it ended up being a hard learning moment for a program desperately trying to prove that these are not the same old Rams. 

While the outcome may feel similar after watching CSU stumble into countless frustrating losses over the years, the truth is this team has shown great growth throughout the 2023 season. And while it has been a bit of a roller coaster experience from week to week, the ultimate goal of reaching the postseason is still very much on the table. 

With five weeks remaining, the Rams will be underdogs to Air Force and Wyoming, but they’ll likely be favorites in the final three contests of the year. If they win the games they are supposed to, at least on paper, CSU will be back in a bowl for the first time since 2017. 

This is not to say that the supporters should not be upset about the outcome this weekend. Losing winnable games is a trend that must stop if the Rams are ever going to be a real player in the Mountain West or beyond. But considering this team could legitimately be 5-2 right now, if not better, it’s also important to understand that this process takes time. 

You don’t just flip a switch and go from a losing program to a winning one. There are going to be gains along the way, but there are also going to be setbacks. 

Go back and look at the 2013 Rams. Everyone remembers that year for the New Mexico Bowl win and blowout victories over the Falcons and Cowboys. But in Week 2 they lost a 3-point game to a Tulsa squad that ended up finishing 3-9.

They also played tight games with a .500 FCS squad (Cal-Poly) and UTEP (2-10), before dropping an extremely frustrating game to San Jose State (6-6) at home. 

Even after they started to figure things out and establish some consistency, the 2013 Rams still lost to Boise State by 12 after going up 10-0 in the first quarter. And they were shut out 13-0 by Utah State in Logan in the second-to-last game of the season. 

Obviously that group really hit the ground running in 2014 and went on to have one of the most fun seasons we’ve had in Fort Collins this century. But people tend to look back on the period with rose-colored glasses and forget that getting to that point as a program was a multi-year process. 

CSU is closer to turning the corner than what we saw at any point during the previous two regimes. There is talent on this roster. And they’ve been in every single one of these games since making the switch to “BFN” under center. 

Don’t ignite your torches and grab the pitchforks, folks. This team is so close to figuring it out and competing the way we envisioned when Jay Norvell was hired. 

The Rams have five weeks to define this season. Let’s give them a chance to respond.