LARAMIE, Wyo. — Reality check? CSU was already checked out.
Wyoming came to play Saturday night. The Rams came to pout. Or maybe plan, to a man, for life after Fort Collins.
If the 117th edition of the Border War was a boxing match, they’d have called it after three rounds. If it were a Broadway show, they’d have closed it at intermission.
If it was a harbinger, look out. Because it’s going to be a long, cold, brutal final four weeks in Fort Fun.
Wyoming 28, CSU 0. And that scoreline probably flatters the Rams, who looked flat from the jump.
It was the Cowboys’ largest margin of victory in a battle for the Bronze Boot since 2010 — a 44-0 Pokes win. That was also the last time CSU got blanked in the series.
If Fresno State was “complimentary” football, Saturday was three hours of derogatory gridiron purgatory, a litany of negative superlatives that stacked to the sky like a tower of poisoned LEGO blocks.
You can fake a lot of these things in this world. You can’t fake football when the administration fires the coach and sets fire to the rest of the season. You can’t fake giving a hoot in a rivalry game when you don’t.
That’s not a knock. It’s just human nature. Jay Norvell was given his walking papers last Sunday. CSU’s franchise QB, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, walked out right after him.
The pair dug a lot of the holes this program finds itself in right now, granted. But there isn’t enough talent — or brotherhood, or camaraderie or trust — left among the remaining pieces to climb out.
The lines between the NFL and the upper levels of the college game are getting blurrier by the day. But when everybody’s a free agent, that whole “checking out” thing becomes endemic.
You know how a pro locker room looks in December when the players inside it wake up with a 3-11 record?
That’s what CSU looked like Saturday. 50 guys. 50 taxis. 50 agendas.
In the old days, a college coach — even an interim one — rarely lost a locker room entirely. Too many guys would be too worried about keeping their scholarships, never mind their snaps.
That’s gone, baby.
Thanks to the transfer portal, most of these guys are gone, too. And they already know it.
The Rams (2-6, 1-3 Mountain West) have four games left. They might well be underdogs in all of them. If Saturday was any indication, they won’t be close in most.
“Yeah, we fired our head coach on Sunday,” interim coach Tyson Summers, a nice man on a doomed mission, said as he fielded postgame questions inside War Memorial Fieldhouse. “It’s a hard week.
“I mean, y’all are asking questions, and the obvious thing’s there. I’m not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but it’s challenging … I wish it were more competitive, like you said. And I do think in the second half, we played a lot better. And I’m gonna be as proud of that as I can be.”
If you’re not going to show up for the Boot, when are you ever going to show up?
If I’m Summers, here’s what I’ve got to say to reach this CSU roster and its communal wanderlust:
“You might not care about us. Or about putting something on tape for us, going forward. But you’re going to want to put something on tape for somebody, gentlemen. And I’m not playing guys who don’t want to put their best on tape.”
Or something along those lines.
“It’s challenging … it’s not easy,” Summers said. “I didn’t see anybody fussing. We’ve got disappointed guys, for sure. But you don’t see guys finger-pointing. You don’t see guys quitting.”
Not Owen Long, at any rate. Dude’s got tape good enough for anybody, Power 4 schools included. After three quarters, the CSU linebacker and California native had already piled up nine stops. He collected four on the first seven Wyoming snaps of the evening.
Whatever that guy wants on the revenue-sharing market, you give him.
Whatever running back Jalen Dupree wants, best listen. Same with speedy runners Javion Kinnard and Lloyd Avant. And Tanner Morley on the offensive line.
Among underclassmen, after that?
Don’t know.
Awfully short list.
Then again, that’s how a coach gets fired.
That and CSU’s QB room right now.
If there were ever a time to ride with redshirt freshman Darius Curry (9 of 16, 112 passing yards) behind center, though, this would be it. Because with Jackson Brosseau (10 for 18, three interceptions), we’ve already seen enough. And we’ve probably already seen his peak.
With 1:52 left in the first quarter, on first down from the CSU 44, Brousseau locked eyes on wideout Tommy Maher on an “out” route up the left boundary and never unlocked them, despite an open man spilling past the hash marks. Wyoming defensive back Desman Hearns followed Brousseau’s eyes, too, stepping in front of Maher and cradling the pick at the CSU 49.
The Rams threatened to make it interesting again with 3:22 left in the half, facing a third-and-7 at their own 43 while trying to dent a 14-0 Wyoming lead. Brousseau rolled right this time, only instead of setting himself, he heaved a prayer off his back foot.
The ball, no shock, air-mailed past everybody. Everybody in green, at any rate.
Only at the last instant, Pokes free safety and former Poudre High star Jones Thomas slid under the ball before it could hit the turf for Wyoming’s second pick of the first half.
As daggers go, it was as ironic as it was painful: Thomas is the grandson of CSU legend Earlie Thomas. A Rams legacy.
Same song. Different Hearns.
With six minutes left in the first half, CSU was averaging 5.6 yards per carry on eight totes. Yet they were down 14-0. Why? They’d managed all of two passing yards. Two.
At the half, Brousseau had completed four of eight throws. CSU had logged 62 offensive yards as a team. Wyoming had 228, and led 21-0.
Both rivals brought new play-callers to the Border War. But only one side really showed it.
While the Rams were shaking things up this past Sunday and Monday, Wyoming kept pace. After a 24-21 loss at Air Force, Cowboys coach Jay Sawvel demoted Jay Johnson from offensive coordinator to analyst.
Enter Jovon Bouknight. And exit huddles. Wyoming’s opening drive stalled at the Rams’ 37. The Cowboys’ second punch drew blood and never stopped. The Pokes marched 67 yards on 12 plays, capping the jaunt on QB Landon Sims’ keeper in the end zone with 2:43 to go in the quarter for a 6-0 lead. Which, as it turns out, was all the points they needed.
“We’ll get better and we will get there,” Summers said. “I promise.”
With that, he nodded to his wife and shook the hand of every writer in the news conference, alighting with team down and head high. Alas, when Summers signed up to try and right a 2-5 ship, nobody told him it was the Titanic.
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