Colorado State's home woes continue with another rough showing on Ag Day

For the third time in five years, Colorado State (0-4) lost to an FCS opponent by double digits, as the Rams fell 41-10 to Sacramento State (3-0) on Saturday. 

The loss extends what is currently the longest winless streak in the FBS (10), and it continues what has been a brutal stretch of home performances from CSU over the last half decade. 

Since the start of the 2018 season, the Rams are just 6-15 in their own building (.286). Outside of 2020, when CSU played only one home game and beat Wyoming in it, the last time the Rams had a winning record in Fort Collins was the 2017 season when CSU went 4-2 in the first year of the on-campus stadium. 

Jay Norvell and his staff have only coached four games total, two at home, so obviously they are not responsible for the past failures of this program. But the reality of the situation is that they are tasked with turning this thing around, and unfortunately through the first four games of 2022, there just has not been a whole lot for Ram Nation to get excited about. 

Despite being a team that plays tempo and often snaps the ball in less than 15 seconds, Sacramento State finished with nearly 8 more minutes of total possession, which shows how their offense was on the field for what felt like the entire game. The Hornets recorded 25 first downs — 15 more than the Rams. They were extremely balanced in that process too, with a split of 235 yards through the air and 160 yards on the ground. 

Up until about halfway through the third quarter, while the Hornets were in the driver’s seat, CSU still had a shot to make things interesting. Unfortunately, after forcing Sacramento State to punt on their first possession of the second half though, veteran running back A’Jon Vivens fumbled on 4th and 1, giving the Hornets the ball in CSU territory. 

And from that point on, Sacramento State proceeded to control possession for about 18 of the final 23 minutes and also scored on three consecutive drives to bury the Rams in front of the ‘Orange Out’ crowd on Ag Day. 

On top of how the game played out, the Rams lost starting quarterback Clay Millen with an apparent upper body injury during the first half. The redshirt freshman has been an absolute warrior over the first month, but after taking a beating week in and week out, he took a hit that prevented him from being able to throw in this one. 

It’s unclear how serious his injury is right now, but the bye is definitely coming at a much needed time for the Rams. If the injury ends up not being all too serious, it gives Millen a chance to heal up and prepare for the return to Reno, NV. Conversely, the extra week could also be beneficial for true freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who played in relief of the injured starter in Week 4. 

Fowler-Nicolosi flashed his athleticism and escapability on a couple of plays, which is a large reason why it was him that played in the second half and not the No. 2 QB on paper, Giles Pooler. Associate HC Matt Mumme told DNVR a few days prior that they genuinely have been pleased with Pooler’s efforts, but with a struggling offensive line the coaches felt Brayden’s dual-threat possibilities made him a better candidate to step in if needed. 

While there were a couple of throws where Fowler-Nicolosi failed to set his feet and missed the receiver as a result, his arm talent certainly popped on more than one throw. In the second quarter he threw a 52-yard bomb to WR Tory Horton for CSU’s first touchdown scored in a first half this season.

Perhaps even more importantly than his athletic abilities though, what was encouraging was that he looked confident getting the team out of the huddle, getting lined up, and just being the leader of the offense. The team did not suffer a bunch of procedural mistakes or look out of sorts with him stepping in to run the show on Saturday. He also did a nice job of throwing the ball away and not taking negative plays or turning it over.

Horton finished with a team-high 137 receiving yards, as he was able to catch a couple of shot plays over the top of the Sacramento State secondary. Through the first month of the college football season, the junior ranks seventh in the FBS in receiving yards (427) and receiving touchdowns (5). 

On the other end, sophomore safety Jack Howell came up big once again with 12 total tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Only Bentlee Sanders (Nevada) currently has more interceptions in 2022 than Howell so far, so the young defensive back is truly producing at an elite rate. 

As much as they may try, the difficult thing for guys like Horton and Howell is that while they’ve racked up big plays in essentially every game so far, the state of the line has essentially handicapped what the offense is capable of doing and has really made it challenging to be competitive. Poor special teams play has not helped the cause either. Really, outside of a few individuals, all the units have left a lot to be desired at this stage of the season. 

Now a third of the way through the campaign, much of the optimism that the fans had over the summer has dissipated after watching the Rams get rocked for a month straight. The silver lining may be that the Mountain West slate actually looks easier than the non-conference schedule at this point though. So we’ll see if this group is capable of responding down the stretch. 

A couple of wins, particularly at home, would go a long way in helping the supporters feel like Norvell is righting the ship on the field and not just off of it. Or at the very least it would help give the fans a few more positive memories in a building that’s been the site of far too many horror shows since opening in 2017.