A way-too-early look at Colorado State's 2022 schedule

DENVER — Colorado State’s 2022 football schedule is officially here. 

We don’t know kickoff times yet and dates are technically subject to change based on TV assignments. What we do know, though, is the order of the 12 game schedule. And although we’re still way too far out to make any type of legitimate predictions, we can at least try to get a feel for what the season may end up looking like. 

So, with that in mind, let’s get into it. 

The non-conference dates were already known, starting with the 2022 season opener at Michigan on Sept. 3. The Wolverines will be a top 10 preseason team after making the CFB Playoff, so opening at the Big House will be a tough challenge for the Rams in Jay Norvell’s debut with the Green & Gold. That said, it’s a great way to get some national eyes on the program. And of course the paycheck doesn’t hurt the cause either. 

CSU’s home opener against Middle Tennessee is one week later on Sept. 10. The Blue Raiders went 7-6 in 2021 and capped off the year with a Bahamas Bowl victory over Toledo (31-24).  What stands out about them is after starting 2-4 over the first half of the season, MTSU went 5-2 over the back half of the campaign, so it could potentially be a tougher game than most will expect coming in. 

The Rams will travel to Washington State on Sept. 17 for their second power five matchup in the first three weeks of the year, before closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule at home against Sacramento State on Sept. 24. 

Washington State is coming off of a 7-6 year in which their head coach was fired halfway through. One would assume that not having to deal with the Nick Rolovich distractions will be beneficial. What’s interesting about this particular matchup, though, is that the Cougars hired Brian Ward to be their defensive coordinator this winter. His most recent gig was as the DC at Nevada under Norvell, so there is some familiarity with the staff. Nevada’s former standout linebacker Daiyan Henley transferred to ‘Wazzu’ as well, so there is familiarity on the field too.

Finally, it may not be the most daunting home schedule over the first month, the opponents definitely aren’t as intriguing as the road games against P5 schools. However, Sacramento State went 9-3 and finished first in a talented Big Sky Conference, so you can’t sleep on them. In total, 10 of CSU’s 12 opponents in 2022 are coming off of a season in which they qualified for the postseason.

Mountain West schedule

The Rams have a bye in Week 5, meaning their league slate will feature eight interrupted weeks of action. If CSU got to choose when their bye would be, I’d imagine they would have gone with a date closer to the halfway mark of the season. But no schedule is ever perfect for anyone. So I suppose the silver lining is that it’s at least a third of the way through the year. 

Kicking off the action in the Mountain West, CSU will open the league portion of the schedule at Nevada on Oct. 8, which seems far too intriguing to be a coincidence. It’s tough to project what the Wolf Pack will look like this fall but obviously the storylines are going to be incredible after all the drama this offseason. The atmosphere should be nice and hostile too. Even if UNR struggles in the first season under Ken Wilson, this matchup is early enough in the year that the Wolf Pack supporters will still show up, especially with the chance to vocalize their disdain for Norvell and the Rams. 

In some ways it’s probably beneficial for CSU to just get this game out of the way and not have it looming in the background. But there will be a lot more emotion between the two schools than there has ever been in the past. We’ll see how both teams respond and if either side loses focus in the heat of the moment. 

Following the trip to Reno, NV, the Rams then return home to face the reigning league champions on Oct. 15 (Utah State) and Hawai’i one week later, as Norvell will face off against Timmy Chang for the first time on Oct. 22. 

The Aggies may have a new starting quarterback after adding former Wyoming dual-threat Levi Williams via the transfer portal. But what I’m most interested to see is if they can remain as explosive of an offense after losing three receivers that all scored 10 or more touchdowns apiece. It should be noted that they picked up a couple of former P5 guys via the transfer portal but still, that’s a ton of production to replicate. 

Much like Nevada, it’s a crapshoot trying to forecast how good the Warriors will be in Year 1 under Chang. He seems like a terrific hire for them, that’s just a roster that was decimated by transfers. If I had to guess it feels like one of the more winnable league games in 2022. Honestly, who knows at this stage of the year though. 

The Rams play at Boise State on the 29th to close out the month of October and then at San Jose State to open up November. Neither of these teams quite lived up to expectations last season but both return a decent amount of experience. It could potentially be a challenging couple of road trips for CSU before coming home for the Border War on Nov. 12.

The Wyoming game needs no introduction but it will be a big test between two teams that will look much different than they did a season ago, as both lost and added a significant amount of transfers this winter. 

Sandwiched in between a pair of home games the Rams will face Air Force in Colorado Springs on the 19th. Again, it’s too early to make preseason projections but it wouldn’t be crazy to expect the Falcons to be one of the frontrunners for the league the 2022 league title.

On a side note, it seems like CSU almost always plays Wyoming and Air Force in consecutive weeks, which is tough considering how much emotion/energy gets spent in rivalry games. I guess the bright side is that at least the Rams don’t also have Boise State in concession this season.

In the final scheduled game of the season, the Rams close out against New Mexico at Canvas Stadium on Nov. 26. And while the winning streak is bound to end at some point, facing the Lobos in the finale feels like a chance to end the regular season on a high note, regardless of whether the Rams make a bowl game or not. CSU hasn’t lost to UNM in over a decade now, we’ll see if that impressive streak can extend to 12 games (13 years). 

2022 Schedule

Date                  Opponent

Sept. 3              at Michigan

Sept. 10            Middle Tennessee

Sept. 17            at Washington State

Sept. 24            Sacramento State

Oct. 1                BYE WEEK

Oct. 8                at Nevada*

Oct. 15              Utah State*

Oct. 22              Hawai‘i*

Oct. 29              at Boise State*

Nov. 5               at San Jose State*

Nov. 12             Wyoming*

Nov. 19             at Air Force*

Nov. 26             New Mexico*

* Mountain West game