FORT COLLINS — The best way to join ’em? Beat ’em.
Cincinnati has Notre Dame in 2021. UCF has Auburn in the 2018 Peach Bowl. BYU has Ole Miss in 2011, Nebraska in 2015, Wisconsin in 2018, Tennessee in 2019.
CSU has almost beating Deion last September. A missed opportunity that almost every Rams fan I’ve run into since talks about like the prize fish that got away.
“There is no question that Pat Hill put his Fresno State Bulldogs on the map, just like Houston Nutt, Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen did at Boise State, by slaying the Power 5 giants at that time,” former NFL quarterback and FOX Sports college football analyst Brock Huard told me Monday. “Neither program was scared or intimidated to play anyone, anytime, anywhere. And that has to be the same hammer that Jay Norvell swings at CSU.”
Want skin in the game?
You need pelts on the wall.
There are a bunch of reasons — some valid, some not — why the Bearcats, Knights and Cougars are in the Big 12 right now and CSU isn’t.
Know this, though: It doesn’t help that the Rams are 0-10 against ranked Power 5 teams since 2004. When the bluebloods show up, CSU shows them its belly.
Now, to be fair, a many of those games these last two decades were of the “guarantee” variety, where Alabama (twice), Michigan, Iowa or USC handed the Rammies a big, fat check before handing them their backsides. New stadiums don’t pay for themselves, right?
Which brings us to Saturday, where CSU is a 32.5-point underdog at No. 4 Texas in the season-opener for both schools — a tilt that looks good for the books but Hell on hamstrings.
“When you play the University of Texas, you’re going to see a lot of speed,” third-year coach Jay Norvell said Monday. “Obviously, the quality of high school football down there is outstanding. And they basically get their pick. And so they’re going to have speed. And we’ve got to be smart about how we handle that.”
Thanks to television, the transfer portal, television, NIL, television, the Supreme Court and television, college football is entering its peak madhouse phase. I mean, have you seen the Big Ten’s new tiebreakers? Or the QR codes on Oklahoma State’s helmets? Or that CU is putting out statements distancing the Buffs from former staffers who thought it might be cool to hit the Saudis up for money? Conference commissioners are cashing checks first and worrying about consequences later.
Every dollar matters. Every eyeball matters. To make the world want to watch you, best start knocking off the big boys the world came to watch in the first place.
“Yes, seeing a (Florida State) upset to start the season is awesome,” CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi said Monday. “And it’s just a reminder: Anything can happen — it’s just football at the end of the day.”
Although this one, on paper, might be half a bridge too far. Quinn Ewers is arguably the top NFL QB prospect in the 2025 draft not named Shedeur. Texas produces college football players the way Wisconsin turns out cheese curds, the way Carolina grows reapers. In the Lone Star State, even the leftovers look good. And the ‘Horns get first dibs, siphoning away the absolute cream of that crop.
“They have a lot of home-run hitters,” Norvell said. “We can’t give them a lot of at-bats.”
Football translation: Play perfect. Or dang close. Win the turnover battle, you’ll make ’em sweat. Lose it, or get careless, they’ll be scraping you off of Sixth Street with a rusty spatula. Remember that ’22 opener in Ann Arbor? Michigan sacked QB Clay Millen seven times in a 51-7 whupping.
“I think we’re better prepared (than 2022),” Norvell countered. “I mean, our first year is really hard to compare to anything. I’ve never experienced anything like that in 40 years of college life. But I just think we have a committed roster that wants to be at CSU, that is excited about their role here. And so … it’s very different.”
Georgia Tech was an 11-point underdog going into last weekend’s tussle in Dublin with Florida State. The Rams were a 36.5-point ‘dog before Texas tailbacks CJ Baxter and Christian Clark got shelved for the season.
“I think (the Rams) are at a sweet spot too where they haven’t conquered those feats and thus they can still get Michigan and Texas and others to put them on the schedule and pay them a little money too,” Huard said. “Lose, but win. Win-win. Win and really win. Not a bad place to build from.”
Canvas Stadium alone couldn’t do it. It won’t do it.
Somebody at a TV network is going to have to fall in love with CSU the way Homer Simpson loves doughnuts in order for the Rams to eat their way up the college football food chain. And there’s no faster way to what’s left of corporate’s heart than to shoot ratings through the roof.
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