Boise State University (-7.5) at Colorado State University

Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023

Time: 7:45pm MT

Stadium: Canvas Stadium (36,500)

TV:FS1

TV Commentators: Dan Heille and Dirk Koetter

Radio: KBOI 670 AM

Commentators: Bob Behler and Pete Cavender

Know Thy Enemy

Buster may want to take off his hat and sunglasses when he gets to Canvas Stadium as Jay Norvell and the Colorado State Rams play host to the Boise State Broncos for Homecoming in Fort Collins.

The Rams come into this one stretching their heads a bit after suffering a 20-point loss to Utah State in Logan, UT in their conference opener. CSU has had a bit of a rollercoaster season through five games. They opened up the season at home against Washington State and let Cameron Ward and the Cougs do pretty much anything they wanted, losing 50-24. Then came the battle against Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes in the Rocky Mountain Showdown. The whole nation had their eyes on Boulder in what everyone thought would be a blowout for the Buffs, but the Rams had other ideas as they gave CU all they could handle in a wild 35-43 double overtime loss. After back-to-back losses the Rams found their footing and beat both Middle Tennessee and Utah Tech to climb back to .500 before last week's loss to the Aggies.

The Rams offensive game plan is pretty simple— throw the football. Right now, through five games, CSU has the 4th best passing offense in college football, averaging over 350 yards per game through the air. Their quarterback, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is 7th in the nation in passing yards per game and 13th in the nation in pass attempts. However, the Rams aren’t just calling four verticals and throwing bombs all game, they will play a little dink and dunk as they are 72nd in the nation in average yards per completion at just a touch under 12 yards. With an offense like this you have to imagine they have a pretty deep receiver room and you would be right. Troy Horton is definitely the headliner for this group, but behind him CSU has three other guys who all have more than 20 catches. Also in true CSU fashion they also have a dynamite tight end that will take over games in the form of 6’5” tight end Dallin Holker. Between Horton and Holker, the two have combined for 11 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards receiving already. The biggest bugaboo for this team is the turnovers. They rank dead last in all of FBS in turnovers lost with 15 this year; 11 interceptions and 4 fumbles.

Defensively the Rams have their struggles. Their biggest struggle is actually stopping the other team. They rank 128 out of 130 FBS schools in total defense, giving up 478 yards per game on average. They rank 130th in passing yards allowed, giving up an average of 333 yards per game through the air. All of that adds up to giving up 36 points per game this year which is 135th in the county, and three times this year they have allowed their opponent to score over 43 points. The one thing that this team doesn’t struggle with is getting to the quarterback. They have the nation’s leading pass rusher in Mohamed Kamara and he along with the rest of the Rams defense rank 4th in the country in team sacks, amassing 19 sacks through five games, which equates to just under 4 sacks per game. They are also in the top-seven in the county for tackles for loss, which means this team is constantly wreaking havoc in the opposing backfield. All-in-all this defense as a whole isn’t going to scare you, but they do have pieces that will have to be accounted for on Saturday.

Colorado State is coached by visor-wearing Jay Norvell. Norvell is in just his second season on the sidelines for CSU. Prior to his relocation to Fort Collins, Norvell was the head coach for the Nevada Wolfpack from 2017-2021. Norvell is still trying to gain traction with his new team and is struggling to win games. The Rams are just 5-12 through a season and a half with him as head coach. Interestingly enough, Norvell is just one of 15 FBS head coaches to don a crownless hat on the sidelines.

The History between these two teams has been relatively short and one-sided with Boise State winning all 12 matchups dating back to 2011 when the Broncos joined the Mountain West. Only three of the contests have been decided by a touchdown or less with Boise State usually winning by an average score of 42.33-22.33.

What Happened Last Year

Taylen Green was outstanding on the ground and through the air with three touchdowns – two passing, one rushing. He finished the night 24 of 30 passing for 305 yards. George Holani added three rushing touchdowns as the Broncos totaled 514 yards on the night.

Colorado State was held to six first downs and its longest rush was 14 yards in the fourth quarter. Boise State had five sacks and nine TFL on the night to pressure the Rams' offense throughout the game.

The Broncos outgained the Rams 514-170 and scored on eight of their twelve drives in route to a 49-10 win.

Players to Watch

COLORADO STATE

RsFR., BRAYDEN FOWLER-NICOLOSI, QB #16

A lot has already been said about the Rams and their passing attack, but Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is showing that he is more than willing and capable to take on the task. Last week against Utah State he had 57 pass attempts. On the season BFN has thrown for close to 1,600 yards and 11 touchdowns. However, he has shown that he will force the football into places where it shouldn’t be, mainly into the hands of the defense. Fowler-Nicolosi has thrown 10 picks this season including three last week against Utah State.

SR., TROY HORTON, WR #14

Troy Horton is a big time receiver. He’s a huge target in this CSU system and is well on his way to over 100 catches this year. Last week he didn’t make much of an impact in the pass game, but made his presence felt in the return game, taking a punt 76-yards to the house. Outside of last week where he only had three catches, he’s had three straight games of 10-plus receptions. He had a monster game two weeks ago against Utah Tech where he had 10 catches for 227 yards and three touchdowns. Boise State’s secondary better find out what the Aggies did last week against Horton to limit his production and try and copy that this week.

GS., MOHAMED KAMARA, DE #8

Coach Avalos had high praise for the edge rusher out of Newark, N.J., saying “he gets off the ball and gets going. Hes a very explosive player. A guy you have to be aware of.” Kamara is a menace on the defensive line, leading the nation in sacks with 9.5 through five games and had three sacks against Utah State last week. Kamara has also forced two fumbles. He could be a game wrecker this week if Boise State doesn’t game plan around him.

BOISE STATE

JR., AHMED HASSANEIN, DE #91

Don’t look now, but Boise State might have just found their next dominant pass rusher. Ahmed Hassanein has a well documented story of coming to America from Egypt and not playing football until he was well into high school. Hassanein has been a suitable player along the Broncos defensive line, but in the last four games he has really taken a jump to becoming more of a dominant player. To start the season, Ahmed didn’t have any sacks and had a really hard time creating any sort of pressure on opposing quarterbacks. However, the North Dakota game was a major confidence boost for the Defensive End because since that game, Hassanein has six tackles for loss, four sacks and a forced fumble. Coach Avalos gave Ahmed praise for his production in his presson conference on Monday, but also said he needs Ahmed to continue to produce if the Broncos want to get where they ultimately want to go.

Rs.SO., ERIC McALISTER, WR #80

Saturday has all the makings for what could be a monster day for Eric McAlister. #80 has emerged as the spotlight receiver for the Broncos and has really come into form in the last four games. Over this four-game stretch, McAlister has had no less than five catches and 90 yards receiving. Not only that he’s found the endzone in three of the four games, including a two-piece against North Dakota. He saved his best performance of the year for last week against SJSU when he went off for 170 yards on five grabs and a touchdown. He also turned a 20-yard pass into an 83-yard house call in the second quarter. CSU has a terrible pass defense and if Boise State’s tandem-QB system can find a way to find #80 he could have a hay day against the Rams.

JR., A’MARION McCOY, DB #21

A’Marion McCoy may have made the play that saved the Broncos season last Saturday when he intercepted San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro to seal the come-from-behind victory last week. McCoy hasn’t seen the field a lot this year, but as the season wears on he’s seen the field more and more. When it comes to this defensive secondary, it seems like those that produce will see the field and after last week’s game for McCoy I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a hefty amount of snaps this week.

Focus Position Group: Defensive Back

Another week and still more questions about the defensive backfield. SJSU threw for 325 yards last week and averaged over 14 yards per completion. Right now Boise State is giving up 14.4 yards per completion so far this season and they will face another team that loves to throw the football and that has big play makers on the outside. On the other hand this team also has shown they will put the ball in harm's way, throwing multiple interceptions in all but one game this year, including three this past week against Utah STate. Pass defense is more than just coverage, but the guys in the secondary have to be on their game this week.

Rev's Route to a Bronco Win

Disciplined Football

Saturday’s game could get a bit chippy with both teams having up and down years and both teams having history that goes back a while. Boise State has been one of the most disciplined teams in all of college football. The Broncos are ranked 6th in the nation in fewest penalties per game, averaging just 3.5 flags over the course of a game. Conversely, the Rams are the most penalized teams in the nation, averaging over 9.5 flags a game and close to 90 penalty yards per game. Penalties usually cause a team to get “off schedule” and can either prolong an opponent's drive when you’re on defense or stall out your own drive on offense. Boise State has to make the Rams pay for their undisciplined style of football.

No Freebies

Ball security occasionally rears its ugly head when it comes to the Broncos, especially running back Ashton Jeanty. Twice this season Jeanty has had a game where he’s coughed up the football more than once. In both of those cases, the opposing team turned three of those four fumbles into immediate touchdowns. Boise State goes up against a ball hungry Rams team who has forced a ton of fumbles this season, of the 10 fumbles they have forced they have recovered seven of them, which is tied for 3rd in the nation. Jeanty is the type of running back that fights for the extra yard and breaks tackles, you don’t want to coach that out of him, but he has to remember, “when in trouble, double” and put two hands on that football. Boise State can’t afford to turn over the football this week.

It Takes Two

DJ EZ Rock and Rob Base said it best, “It takes two to make the thing go right, it takes two to make it outta sight.” Monday both Coach Avalos and Coach Hamden said that both quarterbacks will again get playing time this week with Taylen Green getting the start. It did seem like both quarterbacks were having a hard time getting into a flow at the start of the game, but it was evident that both quarterbacks got into the flow of the game and the Broncos scored touchdowns on three straight drives in the second half to take the lead. What may actually make this system successful is the fact that both of the young men are each other’s biggest fan.

Revs Rant and Prediction:

“Passion” and “Fun” were two words that jumped out to me during Coach Avalos’ press conference on Monday. He said that his team had one of best week’s of practice that they have had all year coming into that San Jose State game. We wouldn’t have known that based on the first half, but as the momentum shifted and the Broncos got back into the game you could tell that this team was playing with passion and were having fun. The defense played about as passionately as I’ve seen them play all season in that second half by not only shutting out the Spartans, but only allowing one first down in the fourth quarter. Offensively, once they got rolling it looked like this Broncos team was having fun. Even with the two quarterback system, you could tell that when one made a big play the other was the first one off the bench to congratulate them.

So as I mentioned last week, I’m not going to use any one game to project the rest of the season. I’m going to take it one game at a time and last week the Broncos accomplished the mission 1-0. This week the mission is the same, go 1-0. This is a very winnable game. I think this Rams team put all their eggs in that Colorado basket and is in for a rough season. Yes they have a couple of wins, but those two teams have a combined record of 3-9 on the season. Colorado State has shown that they are susceptible to turning the ball over and have a hard time stopping anybody. If Boise State can create a couple of turnovers, which is something they’ve struggled with this year, I think they will have opportunities to put up some major points.

I was asked this week if I ever predict that the Broncos will lose, and to be honest, I am a homer and I probably look at this team through rose colored glasses and think too highly of them, but this week is not that way, even if the Broncos get in a shootout with the Rams, they have the “X-factor” in Jeanty that they will win this game.

Boise State 38, Colorado State 24

Rev's Rundown

CFB: BOISE STATE (3-3, 2-0) (-7.5) AT COLORADO STATE (2-3, 0-1)