FORT COLLINS — The best way to join them? Beat them.
Cincinnati will host Notre Dame in 2021. UCF will host Auburn in the 2018 Peach Bowl. BYU will host Ole Miss in 2011, Nebraska in 2015, Wisconsin in 2018 and Tennessee in 2019.
CSU nearly took Deion last September, a missed opportunity that nearly every Rams fan I’ve met since then talks about like a prize fish that got away.
“There’s no doubt that Pat Hill brought glory to his Fresno State Bulldogs, just like Houston Nutt, Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen did at Boise State by beating the Power 5 giants back in the day,” former NFL quarterback and FOX Sports college football analyst Brock Huard told me Monday. “Neither team was afraid or scared to play anyone, anytime, anyplace. And that has to be the same hammer that Jay Norvell wields at CSU.”
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You need skins on the wall.
There are a number of reasons – some valid, some not – why the Bearcats, Knights and Cougars are currently in the Big 12 and CSU is not.
But one thing you should know: It doesn’t help that the Rams have lost 0-10 against Power 5 teams since 2004. When the blue bloods show up, CSU shows them their weaknesses.
To be fair, many of those games over the past two decades have been of the “guarantee” variety, with Alabama (twice), Michigan, Iowa, or USC handing the Rammies a big check before showing them their asses. New stadiums don’t pay for themselves, do they?
That brings us to Saturday, where CSU is 32.5 points behind fourth-place Texas in the season opener between the two schools – a duel that may be good for the record but is hell for the thigh muscles.
“When you play against the University of Texas, you’re going to see a lot of speed,” third-year coach Jay Norvell said Monday. “The quality of high school football there is obviously outstanding. And they basically have free reign. So they’re going to have speed. And we’re going to have to be smart about it.”
Thanks to TV, the transfer portal, TV, NIL, TV, the Supreme Court, and TV, college football is entering its biggest madhouse phase. I mean, have you seen the Big Ten’s new tiebreakers? Or the QR codes on Oklahoma State’s helmets? Or CU issuing statements distancing the Buffs from former employees who thought it might be cool to solicit money from the Saudis? Conference commissioners cash checks first and worry about consequences later.
Every dollar counts. Every look counts. To make the world want to see you, you better start by eliminating the big boys that the world wanted to watch from the start.
“Yeah, it’s great to see an upset (from Florida State) early in the season,” CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi said Monday. “And it’s just a reminder: anything can happen – at the end of the day, it’s just football.”
Although that might be a bit of a stretch on paper. Quinn Ewers is arguably the best NFL quarterback prospect in the 2025 draft not named Shedeur. Texas produces college football players the way Wisconsin produces cheese curds and Carolina produces combines. In the Lone Star State, even the leftovers look good. And the ‘Horns have the privilege of grabbing the absolute crème de la crème.
“They have a lot of home run hitters,” Norvell said. “We can’t give them a lot of hitting opportunities.”
Football translation: Play perfectly. Or damn close. Win the battle for possession, and you’ll make them sweat. Lose it or get careless, and you’ll be scraped off Sixth Street with a rusty spatula. Remember the 2022 opener in Ann Arbor? Michigan sacked quarterback Clay Millen seven times and suffered a 51-7 loss.
“I think we’re better prepared (than 2022),” Norvell replied. “I mean, our first year is really hard to compare to anything. I’ve never experienced anything like this in 40 years of college life. But I just think we have a dedicated cadre that wants to be at CSU and is excited about their role here. And so … it’s very different.”
Georgia Tech was an 11-point underdog heading into its clash with Florida State in Dublin last weekend. The Rams trailed by 36.5 points before Texas tailbacks CJ Baxter and Christian Clark were ruled out for the rest of the season.
“I think (the Rams) are also at a sweet spot where they haven’t reached those records yet and therefore can get Michigan, Texas and others to put them on the schedule and pay them a little money as well,” Huard said. “Lose, but win. Win-win. Win and really win. Not a bad place to be.”
The Canvas Stadium alone would not have done it. habit do it.
Someone at a network has to fall in love with CSU the way Homer Simpson loves doughnuts for the Rams to eat their way up the college football food chain, and there’s no faster way to win what’s left of the company’s heart than by driving up the ratings.
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