October 30th 2024.
Hey there, Fort Collins! Can you believe it? CSU's stuck in a pillow fight, and it's the mother of all pillow fights. But guess what? The Rams can totally win this fight, baby!
So listen up, FoCo faithful, I have three words for you: Embrace the ugly.
You know what CSU football coach Jay Norvell had to say about their current situation? He said, "I really don't care, to be honest with you, about scheme and all that stuff – it's about the results." And let's be real, with a three-game win streak going into Nevada on Saturday night, the results are pretty darn good.
Norvell also added, "So we're committed to playing a certain way...we're unapologetic about that and we're going to continue to do the things we feel like we need to do to win."
Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we? The Rams currently have a winning record on October 27 for the first time in seven years. And let's be honest, it feels more like 15 years. If we take out 2020, CSU has a 14-24 record over their last five October 27ths. Yikes. This is usually the point in the season where fans of a 3-5 team start squinting really hard, hoping to see six wins and a shot at the postseason. But not this year. The Rams just finished their first winning October since 2019, and their first October with four or more games since...you guessed it, 2017.
But let's not forget, this is CSU we're talking about. Even when things are going well in Fort Fun, they never seem to come easy. Norvell's Rams are a curious creature right now, a winning team that can sometimes be painful to watch even for the locals.
Here's a quick recap: CSU has scored 17 points or fewer three times this season, had to hang on for dear life against a 1-6 Air Force team, lost to a mediocre Oregon State team in double overtime, and got crushed by the only two ranked teams on their schedule by a combined score of 80-9. And let's not forget about young QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who seems to take one step forward and one step back.
But despite all of that, the past month has been Norvell's best coaching job since he arrived in FoCo before the 2022 season. And that's saying something.
Let's talk about the Rams' running game. They've been averaging 190 rushing yards in October while giving up just 165 on the ground and snatching three takeaways per game. It's almost like they're trying to replicate the middle portion of the Broncos' 2023 season, but with a happier ending.
But let's be real, it's not exactly what we were expecting. It may not always be easy on the eyes, but it's working. And that's all that matters. No apologies, no caveats, no asterisks. Just embrace the ugly.
Freshman wide receiver Armani Winfield has definitely bought into the scheme. He said, "Honestly, I think the guys in the scheme have bought in that, 'OK, if we want the downfield shots that we want, if we want the 1-on-1 matchups, we've got to block for the guys who are running.' Even in the receiver room, that was hard for us to understand at first. But now that we see, as Caleb Goodie's last touchdown was a play-action post over the top, it's all coming hand-in-hand. And I think the guys are seeing it now."
Let's not forget that while the football gods took away their best player, wideout Tory Horton, they also gave them the worst Air Force and Wyoming teams in a generation. And in yet another gift from above, CSU doesn't have to play Boise State or UNLV. The bottom four teams in the Mountain West have a combined record of 7-25, and the Rams get to face all four – with three of them still left on their schedule: Nevada on the road, and Wyoming and Utah State at home.
Some may say we have to squint to not see at least seven wins on the Rams' schedule. And if they win out, they could potentially make it to the Mountain West championship game.
As Winfield said, "A win is a win. It doesn't matter if it's ugly or pretty. All I know is, our team is going to find a way to win. And I feel like that's what matters at the end of the day."
So let's embrace the ugly, because at the end of the day, isn't winning all that matters?
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
[Generative AI is experimental.]
