Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is finding his footing in a different looking Colorado State offense this season

Colorado State is doing things a little differently on offense this season and it’s starting to pay off. 

Although the Rams do still use some Air Raid concepts in the passing game, CSU is not truly an Air Raid offense anymore. Instead, CSU has really leaned into the running game. And after a slow start, the Rams are starting to move the ball with consistency and establish real balance. 

After only producing 400 total yards of offense once over the first four games, the Rams have now done it in consecutive weeks and are coming off a season-high 455 yards in the win over San Jose State. They averaged a season-best 6.6 yards per play against the Spartans. They also set a new high water mark for first downs in a game with 24. 

“We’ve been playing a different style, we’ve been working some new schemes, and it’s taken some games for our kids to get used to it, but I really thought that we gelled on Saturday,” Jay Norvell said during his weekly press conference. 

“I thought we played with chemistry. I thought we played off each other. And we’re playing a team game where everybody has to contribute.”

Stylistically the biggest change has been having Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi operate under center fairly consistently, which was not something that he had ever really done in his career, nor had we seen much of it from any Rams quarterback in the Norvell era. 

Although the shift in style took some getting used to for ‘BFN’ and the passing offense definitely lacked a general rhythm over the first month or so, recently we’ve seen it start to click more.

“It was tough. I’m not going to lie to you, it was a hard transition because throughout my whole football career, I’ve never really been under center much,” Fowler-Nicolosi said. 

The redshirt sophomore explained that it’s been a whole new aspect of football for him, everything looks different from a pre-snap perspective, the timing changes, etc, but now that he’s gotten significant live reps under center, it’s starting to come together for him. 

“It looks a lot more jumbled than when you’re back 5 more yards,” he said. “So being able to see those things and getting the team into the right checks has been vital.”

Fowler-Nicolosi was solid against Oregon State with 263 passing yards and a couple of big-time touchdown passes in the double-overtime bout. He then backed it up against San Jose State with his best game of the season so far, completing a season-high 73.3 percent of his passes and throwing for 269 yards, which was also a season-high for him. 

While the raw stats may not blow people away — he still has not thrown for 300 yards in any game this season — what’s been more important is how he’s passed the eye test of late. He’s made good decisions with the football and gotten a lot of different players involved. And in the win over SJSU, we saw him also have success with his legs. 

The more the Rams can work in play-action concepts and some of the bootleg plays that give him space to operate with, the more CSU is going to be able to put opposing defenses in a bind. Everybody knew about his arm talent, this just adds another element to account for. 

BFN may not be a runner by nature, he’s more of a gunslinger. He does have the speed and athleticism to burn you if you don’t keep someone in front of him though. And while CSU does not need him to go for 100 yards or even 50 yards on the ground, if he can occasionally scramble for a first down here and there, or rush for a touchdown like he has now done in a pair of victories, it gives the offense a lot more options to work with. 

“The big thing is we’re really putting the defense in conflict and running the ball on the perimeter, and the nakeds, and the bootlegs and the things that go along with it — I think Brayden is starting to see the opportunities in that,” Norvell said. 

Norvell added that the team probably should have ran the ball on the play where BFN threw an interception late, but aside from the lone turnover, he thought his quarterback really saw the field well and played with composure. 

“That’s part of being a leader and field general,” Norvell said. “And you know, his job is to win games. We’d all love to see, you know, 300 yards every game, but his job is to lead the team and to win; and to protect the football.”

Losing Tory Horton for the season is obviously a big blow. The timing feels especially cruel with the Rams just starting to pick up steam offensively. As tough as it is to lose your No. 1 target though, the silver lining moving forward is that the chemistry between BFN and the rest of the receiving corps has started to flourish of late. 

Armani Winfield and Vince Brown both had their best games of the season on Saturday. They were targeted consistently and to their credit, those guys made the most of their opportunities. Now without Horton in the mix, the Rams will really need them to continue to step up and make plays. CSU will also need the younger players like Jamari Person, Caleb Goodie and Jordan Ross to play bigger roles. 

More than anything, CSU is going to need BFN to elevate the team in a major way. Players have credited him for being more of a vocal leader than he’s been in the past, which is great to hear. If the Rams are going to make it to the postseason without Horton though, we’re going to need to see him play the best football of his career. 

Saturday was an encouraging start. We’ll see where things go from here.