Colorado State University Athletics
Saturday, October 22
Fort Collins, CO
2:00 p.m.
Colorado State
2-5 , 2-1
17
vs
13
Hawaii
2-6 , 1-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Hawaii
3
10
0
0
13
Colorado St.
0
3
7
7
17
Rams Go Aggressively After Home Win
10/22/2022 7:10:00 PM | Football
Morrow touchdown, Hector interception cap home rally
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – From the onset, the mindset was there. Be aggressive.
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On the first drive, instead of attempting a game-tying field goal in the red zone, Colorado State coach Jay Norvell went for it on fourth down. Early in the fourth quarter, again in the red zone, he bypassed a game-tying attempt.
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On neither occasion Saturday at Canvas Stadium did the Rams pick up the necessary yardage, and every one of the six times Norvell chose to go for it on fourth down, each decision had a set of circumstances all its own. But the message was the Rams were going to go for it against Hawaii, and bolstered by a strong defensive performance, risk became reward in a 17-13 victory.
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"Every fourth-down decision is its own entity, and we had plenty of them today," CSU coach Jay Norvell said, his team 2-1 in Mountain West play and 2-5 overall. "We have good players, we had to be aggressive. You know, they don't give you any second-place trophies, so we're going to try to win and be aggressive as coaches, and we're going to be smart about it. I'm just really appreciative the kids came through."
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It was the first time the team had overcome a double-digit deficit at halftime since 2016 against Utah State, and it snapped a six-game losing streak at home. A couple of times when Norvell went for it, the team was in no-man's land – to far for a field goal, to little field to really punt.
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On the deciding drive, he had no choice. Fourth-and-3 from the Hawaii 33 with only 3:24 remaining Clay Millen hit Tory Horton for a 13-yard gain. It was a crucial play, and the drive had a few of them. Louis Brown made two impressive jukes on the drive, both netting first downs. The first came on a pass play, where he caught the ball short of the marker but made somebody miss. The second was on a reverse, which was dead to rights as it started, but again, the freshman made a move and found the sticks.
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As they have relied on Avery Morrow a lot the past three games, the Rams did so again. He picked up 22 yards on the 80-yard march, the final 10 a bruising, spinning journey into the end zone for the winning touchdown with 1:28 remaining.
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It was his second scoring run in a game where he rushed 26 times for 147 yards, his third consecutive 100-yard performance, the first back to have such a run since Dalyn Dawkins did it four times in succession at the end of the 2017 regular season.
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He had one thought in mind on the deciding run.
Â
"Finish," he said. "Coach Norvell always talks about emptying your tank, and that was a game-winning drive, he gave me the ball and I left it all out there."
Â
It was clutch and dramatic, and it was all made possible by a defense which became unrelenting in the second half.
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Hawaii only had 257 yards of total offense in the game, which is a good starting point. Still, the Rainbow Warriors had a 13-3 lead at the break by scoring on three of four drives in the first half. A field goal came on the initial drive, then they scored again to take a 10-3 lead when Brayden Schager hit Caleb Phillips for a 1-yard score. They closed the half with a final drive – set up by a missed fourth-down attempt by the Rams – rushing the field-goal unit on the field with 12 seconds remaining and splitting the uprights as the clock expired.
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"We gave up 13 points in the first half and we were talking amongst ourselves and especially as a secondary and we really told ourselves we had to look ourselves in the mirror and say they don't get any more from here," defensive back Ayden Hector said. "They don't get any more yards, any more touchdowns, more points and we really rallied together and shut them out in the second half. I think we did a really good job doing that."
Â
Outstanding, really. Part of the confidence on both sides of the ball came from the decisions Norvell was making to dictate their fate.
Â
The offense fed off of it in their own way.
Â
"He believes in us. He believes that we have talent, and we do," Morrow said. "We just have to execute. Just like last week, we have a lot of young guys, they're still learning, they're getting better and Coach Norvell, he trusts us and he's starting to know his personnel."
Â
The defense likes the faith he shows in them. Going for it on offense near midfield doesn't leave much margin for error. The way the group was playing, Norvell had reason to roll the dice.
Â
When he does, the defense wants to prove him right.
Â
"It also goes to the fact he thinks even if we don't get the fourth down, and even if we don't get a stop on defense subsequently, overall, we'll be good as a team because we really rallied together towards the end, and I think Coach Norvell saw we were going to do that," Hector said. "He kind of predicted it, saw it in our eyes."
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After Morrow wasn't denied on his final run, the defense was just as determined to get the closing touch.
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Hawaii picked up one first down, then on the next play, Hector settled into a zone, read the play and intercepted the pass to allow the offense to come out and line up in the victory formation.
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A perfect way to finish.
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"We were excited over there. I mean, excited for the offense going in and punching it in, but the game being on us," linebacker Dequan Jackson said. "Once you get that mindset, like the offense did what they had to do; proud of the offense but now it's on us. I don't think there was any doubt in anybody's mind they weren't going to score that last drive and we went out and showed that. Just the composure and the mindset the guys had, like this is where we want to be. I think that's a great mindset to have."
Â
Colorado State, with Millen back at the helm (he was 17-of-24 for 177 yards) after missing two games with an injury, generated 386 yards of total offense, a boon for a unit which hadn't hit 300 in a game yet. They didn't turn over the ball and picked up one to close the game.
Â
At halftime, Norvell told his team he saw a bunch of guys waiting for somebody else to do the job. That's not the way the game is played. It's not the way he called it, and they picked up on his cue.
Â
"You can't play football that way. You have to go do your job and you have to have confidence in what you're asked to do, and every man has to play on his own merits," Norvell said. "I just didn't think we were doing that, and we needed to pick up our sense of urgency and our confidence. Coaches, we have confidence in our guys, we told them that at halftime and they really responded the second half."
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On the first drive, instead of attempting a game-tying field goal in the red zone, Colorado State coach Jay Norvell went for it on fourth down. Early in the fourth quarter, again in the red zone, he bypassed a game-tying attempt.
Â
On neither occasion Saturday at Canvas Stadium did the Rams pick up the necessary yardage, and every one of the six times Norvell chose to go for it on fourth down, each decision had a set of circumstances all its own. But the message was the Rams were going to go for it against Hawaii, and bolstered by a strong defensive performance, risk became reward in a 17-13 victory.
Â
"Every fourth-down decision is its own entity, and we had plenty of them today," CSU coach Jay Norvell said, his team 2-1 in Mountain West play and 2-5 overall. "We have good players, we had to be aggressive. You know, they don't give you any second-place trophies, so we're going to try to win and be aggressive as coaches, and we're going to be smart about it. I'm just really appreciative the kids came through."
Â
It was the first time the team had overcome a double-digit deficit at halftime since 2016 against Utah State, and it snapped a six-game losing streak at home. A couple of times when Norvell went for it, the team was in no-man's land – to far for a field goal, to little field to really punt.
Â
On the deciding drive, he had no choice. Fourth-and-3 from the Hawaii 33 with only 3:24 remaining Clay Millen hit Tory Horton for a 13-yard gain. It was a crucial play, and the drive had a few of them. Louis Brown made two impressive jukes on the drive, both netting first downs. The first came on a pass play, where he caught the ball short of the marker but made somebody miss. The second was on a reverse, which was dead to rights as it started, but again, the freshman made a move and found the sticks.
Â
As they have relied on Avery Morrow a lot the past three games, the Rams did so again. He picked up 22 yards on the 80-yard march, the final 10 a bruising, spinning journey into the end zone for the winning touchdown with 1:28 remaining.
Â
It was his second scoring run in a game where he rushed 26 times for 147 yards, his third consecutive 100-yard performance, the first back to have such a run since Dalyn Dawkins did it four times in succession at the end of the 2017 regular season.
Â
He had one thought in mind on the deciding run.
Â
"Finish," he said. "Coach Norvell always talks about emptying your tank, and that was a game-winning drive, he gave me the ball and I left it all out there."
Â
It was clutch and dramatic, and it was all made possible by a defense which became unrelenting in the second half.
Â
Hawaii only had 257 yards of total offense in the game, which is a good starting point. Still, the Rainbow Warriors had a 13-3 lead at the break by scoring on three of four drives in the first half. A field goal came on the initial drive, then they scored again to take a 10-3 lead when Brayden Schager hit Caleb Phillips for a 1-yard score. They closed the half with a final drive – set up by a missed fourth-down attempt by the Rams – rushing the field-goal unit on the field with 12 seconds remaining and splitting the uprights as the clock expired.
Â
"We gave up 13 points in the first half and we were talking amongst ourselves and especially as a secondary and we really told ourselves we had to look ourselves in the mirror and say they don't get any more from here," defensive back Ayden Hector said. "They don't get any more yards, any more touchdowns, more points and we really rallied together and shut them out in the second half. I think we did a really good job doing that."
Â
Outstanding, really. Part of the confidence on both sides of the ball came from the decisions Norvell was making to dictate their fate.
Â
The offense fed off of it in their own way.
Â
"He believes in us. He believes that we have talent, and we do," Morrow said. "We just have to execute. Just like last week, we have a lot of young guys, they're still learning, they're getting better and Coach Norvell, he trusts us and he's starting to know his personnel."
Â
The defense likes the faith he shows in them. Going for it on offense near midfield doesn't leave much margin for error. The way the group was playing, Norvell had reason to roll the dice.
Â
When he does, the defense wants to prove him right.
Â
"It also goes to the fact he thinks even if we don't get the fourth down, and even if we don't get a stop on defense subsequently, overall, we'll be good as a team because we really rallied together towards the end, and I think Coach Norvell saw we were going to do that," Hector said. "He kind of predicted it, saw it in our eyes."
Â
After Morrow wasn't denied on his final run, the defense was just as determined to get the closing touch.
Â
Hawaii picked up one first down, then on the next play, Hector settled into a zone, read the play and intercepted the pass to allow the offense to come out and line up in the victory formation.
Â
A perfect way to finish.
Â
"We were excited over there. I mean, excited for the offense going in and punching it in, but the game being on us," linebacker Dequan Jackson said. "Once you get that mindset, like the offense did what they had to do; proud of the offense but now it's on us. I don't think there was any doubt in anybody's mind they weren't going to score that last drive and we went out and showed that. Just the composure and the mindset the guys had, like this is where we want to be. I think that's a great mindset to have."
Â
Colorado State, with Millen back at the helm (he was 17-of-24 for 177 yards) after missing two games with an injury, generated 386 yards of total offense, a boon for a unit which hadn't hit 300 in a game yet. They didn't turn over the ball and picked up one to close the game.
Â
At halftime, Norvell told his team he saw a bunch of guys waiting for somebody else to do the job. That's not the way the game is played. It's not the way he called it, and they picked up on his cue.
Â
"You can't play football that way. You have to go do your job and you have to have confidence in what you're asked to do, and every man has to play on his own merits," Norvell said. "I just didn't think we were doing that, and we needed to pick up our sense of urgency and our confidence. Coaches, we have confidence in our guys, we told them that at halftime and they really responded the second half."
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Team Stats
HAW
CSU
Total Yards
257
386
Pass Yards
173
177
Rushing Yards
84
209
Penalty Yards
23
50
1st Downs
15
19
3rd Downs
4
3
4th Downs
0
3
TOP
24:15
35:06
1st Quarter
HAW 3, CSU 0
HAW - Shipley,Matthew 27 yd field goal 11 plays, 65 yards, TOP 05:36
2nd Quarter
HAW 3, CSU 3
CSU - Boyle,Michael 38 yd field goal 7 plays, 42 yards, TOP 03:47
HAW 10, CSU 3
HAW - Phillips,Caleb 1 yd pass from Schager,Brayden (Shipley,Matthew kick) 10 plays, 76 yards, TOP 05:17
HAW 13, CSU 3
HAW - Shipley,Matthew 23 yd field goal 10 plays, 60 yards, TOP 01:26
3rd Quarter
HAW 13, CSU 10
CSU - Morrow,Avery 1 yd run (Boyle,Michael kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:37
4th Quarter
HAW 13, CSU 17
CSU - Morrow,Avery 10 yd run (Boyle,Michael kick), 13 plays, 80 yards, TOP 07:16
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
17
TD
0
YDS
177
INT
0
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
RB
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