FORT COLLINS — First, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi lost Fort Collins. Then, he lost his job.
The Canvas Stadium crowd, its frustration seeping over from the Rams barely beating FCS Northern Colorado at home two weeks ago, repeatedly booed Fowler-Nicolosi in CSU’s 17-16 loss to UTSA on Saturday. A bye week did CSU’s sputtering offense no favors, and at one point the Rams student section chanted “Take him out!” in reference to the struggling quarterback.
Head coach Jay Norvell finally did just that, benching the third-year starter in the final quarter. That sparked a pair of TD drives by backup Jackson Brousseau, including a potential game-tying score with 29 seconds left.
UTSA jumped offsides on the ensuing extra point, which CSU made, and Norvell elected to go for two from the 1-yard line with Wildcat quarterback Tahj Bullock taking the snap. But Bullock’s roll pass was caught out of bounds, and the Roadrunners held on for the win.
“It was my feeling that once we got the penalty and it was half the distance, I felt like we had a really good play that we could score and win the game,” Norvell said. “It was a gut feeling I had, so I’ll take the responsibility for that.”
Roadrunners star running back Robert Henry Jr. lived up to his billing, leading UTSA with 220 total yards and two touchdowns. That included a 76-yard scoring run to give UTSA the early momentum, and a 74-yard reception for the game-winning TD.
Fowler-Nicolosi finished 14-of-25 passing for 176 yards and a 115.1 rating as the Rams were kept out of the end zone for the first three quarters. Brousseau was 10-for-12 passing for 78 yards, a TD and 165.4 rating. Norvell said “it’s too soon to say” if Brousseau will start next week against Washington State in the final game before Mountain West play.
“I felt like we had to do something at that point of the game to change the momentum and get going,” Norvell said. “That’s why I made the change when I did. … I thought (Brousseau) would be ready when it was his turn. He played the way I thought he would play.”
The defeat to the Roadrunners dropped the Rams to 1-2 while putting into question the trajectory of their season.
Fowler-Nicolosi was without two of his top playmakers in tight end Jaxxon Warren and wideout Jordan Ross, both of whom did not play due to injury. UTSA registered three sacks and four quarterback hurries on Fowler-Nicolosi, who rarely had time to stand comfortably in the pocket as the Roadrunners’ defensive line won the battle of the trenches.
The first half was flag-littered, with 13 total accepted penalties between the teams.
Neither team scored in the opening quarter that featured a UTSA punt return wiped off the board due to a block in the back, bailing CSU out. The Rams offense couldn’t make it into Roadrunner territory.
“We didn’t execute well enough, especially offensively on third down early in the game to sustain drives and finish drives and score,” Norvell said.
That trend continued into the second, as CSU punted on its first four drives overall. That included doing nothing with Ayden Hector’s interception of ex-CU QB Owen McCown. Henry finally broke the stalemate at the 10:42 mark of the quarter, ripping off a long TD run to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
Henry shot right up the gut on a draw, bursting through the hole untouched and then easily leaving the Rams’ defense in the dust. Dating back to last season, it’s Henry’s sixth straight game with a run of at least 74 yards.
The Rams responded with a field goal to cut the score to 7-3. Bullock threw a TD pass to Rocky Beers on the drive, but it was negated due to an offensive pass interference call, and CSU had to settle for three.
That was all the CSU offense mustered in the first half, while the Roadrunners tacked on a 40-yard field goal with 48 seconds left to take a 10-3 lead into the break. At several points during the first couple of quarters, the Canvas Stadium crowd booed after Fowler-Nicolosi incompletions.
Those boos continued in the second half. CSU netted three yards on its first possession and punted, then Fowler-Nicolosi was sacked on a fourth-down attempt at midfield on a drive that netted zero yards. The green-and-gold faithful were again displeased as UTSA took over in Rams territory.
But the CSU defense rebuffed UTSA’s opportunity to grab hold of the game, forcing McCown’s second interception, this time by Lemondre Joe on a fourth-down heave. Four straight punts, two by each team, followed as UTSA seemed content to play the field position battle.
On CSU’s second drive of the fourth quarter, Norvell finally made a QB change, swapping out Fowler-Nicolosi for Brousseau.
“I just think (Fowler-Nicolosi) needs a break and he needs somebody else in there so he can see (the offense better),” Norvell said. “I’m hoping he will take a step back, look at his play and work on the things that can help him be better.”
With the help of a suddenly revived run game, the redshirt sophomore from Lehi, Utah, led CSU into the red zone before Bullock capped the drive with a 10-yard TD run to tie the game.
“(My performance tonight) starts back in January, with preparing like you’re going to be the guy every single day,” Brousseau said. “The process never changes and you’ve got to be ready for your number to be called.”
But UTSA had an answer — Henry, unsurprisingly — the next drive.
On third-and-9, McCown found the tailback in the flat, and Henry made one man miss before outrunning the rest of the CSU defense down the sideline to the end zone. That quieted the Canvas Stadium crowd, which had found new life with the QB change the drive prior.
But Brousseau wasn’t done. He engineered another drive down the field that included a fourth-down conversion through the air, a scramble to move the sticks on third-and-6, and then a 4-yard TD pass to Beers with 29 seconds left.
On the failed conversion attempt, Bullock rolled out to his right and was pressured. His pass was caught by Lloyd Avant, but Avant was several feet out of bounds and Canvas Stadium went silent as UTSA celebrated.
CSU linebacker and captain Owen Long acknowledged frustration in the locker room after the defeat, but maintained that the Rams are still good enough to be in the upper echelon of the Mountain West — even if the team now has a quarterback controversy on its hands.
“Conference play hasn’t started, and we still have the end goal of a conference championship we’re chasing,” Long said.
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