All Hail Breaks Loose for Rams on Homecoming

Dallin Holker scooped up the ball before it hit the turf and he wasn't about to let it go.

He held on tight on the sidelines while replay officials took multiple looks at the play. He had it high and tight as what was left of the fifth-largest crowd in Canvas Stadium history – 34,901 strong– stormed the field. He had it tucked when he entered a Colorado State locker room which had transformed into a mosh pit of celebration as a Saturday night became a Sunday morning.

He held on for reassurance and he held on to history.

"I was pretty confident that I got it and then everybody came up to me and were like, 'did you catch it, did you catch it?" he said. "I was like, 'I'm pretty sure, but now everybody's making me second think it.' I was pretty confident I got my hands underneath it."

Replay confirmed what no one could believe they had witnessed – Colorado State had finally beaten Boise State in football, 31-30, ending a 12-game losing streak after being the only program in the Mountain West which had never beaten the Broncos.

All it took was matching the biggest comeback in school history with 20 points in the final 6:12 of the game, complete with an 82-yard drive in 33 seconds, capped by a Hail Mary pass everybody practices but no one expects to work.

Except Tory Horton.

"I knew it wasn't going to be a clean catch. Here's the thing – hear me out – we've been practicing this Hail Mary thing for so long, and I told Dallin, look it's either going to be tipped to me or you, and the way they was playing, they was deep. I was like, Dallin, it's going to go to you.

"We used to be at practice like, LB (Louis Brown IV), just tip the ball to him, but we were like, nah, coach is going to get mad. I told him, the tip is going to Dallin, I promise you. I don't know what happened, but as soon as I jumped up and I didn't see the ball, he pulled up with it, I said I called it out."

Horton told head coach Jay Norvell in the huddle in the sidelines in a colorful fashion how it was going to happen.

The Rams had just 6 seconds to play with from the BSU 33-yard line, so they had one shot. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi heaved it up with three Boise State defenders on the goal line, and sure enough, cornerback Jaylen Clark tipped it forward, where Holker went down and rolled through the catch.

By design. Horton, the fast one, goes deep. Brown, who Norvell said has proven he can get up, is to be the point man. Holker, he's to lag behind.

Holker, who took contact on the 5, looked up when the players rise in unison.

"That's my job, to stand on the goal line and see what happens from there. I had a good feeling about it," said Holker, the touchdown catch being his sixth of the season to tie the record for touchdown receptions in a season by a CSU tight end. "Brayden had a good throw, LB and Tory were up there and then the O-line blocked, so it just worked out perfectly."

How the Rams came to the point to even have hope to hold on to was miraculous in itself.

They were down 17-0 at half as Ashton Jeanty was running all over them, 167 yards and two touchdown runs strong by halftime. Colorado State's defense did throw some countering blows, collecting three interceptions, two off interceptions by Henry Blackburn and Chigozie Anusiem.

The offense was no help. The frustration was akin to pushing the button over and over, seeing a spark but no flame for the pilot light. The Rams punted the first six times it had the ball, five of those drives three-and-outs. It wasn't until the fifth drive Colorado State's offense actually produced a first down, and on the very next play, a wide open Horton dropped what looked like a sure touchdown pass on a deep ball.

A fitting end to the half was the Rams drove into field goal range, only to have Jordon Noyes 45-yard attempt blocked.

Just as about the time everybody seemed frozen in place, the spark ignited a warming flame.

"You could feel something switch. You see guys start to believe," CSU safety Jack Howell said. "Everyone made one mistake tonight, and they doubted the Rams, and we didn't. We didn't doubt ourselves at any point of the game. We had big-time players step up and make plays, and I couldn't be more proud of this team."

Part of it was a spark they would have preferred not to have. On a kickoff, Kennedy McDowell was injured by a blindside hit. He was put on a stretcher and carted off the field as players on both sidelines took a knee.

There was no word on McDowell's status after the game, other than he was taken to Poudre Valley Hospital to undergo some tests. Norvell and members of his staff went to the hospital after the game to check in on the true freshman.

It wasn't long after another rough play led to a slew of unsportsmanlike flags – three on Colorado State, one on Norvell – triggered when center Jacob Garner took exception to a rough tackle on Dawson Menegatti and came to his defense.

"It was a physical game. There were a lot of things that went on during the game, but there's no question out team was fighting hard for each other and rallying behind Kennedy and some of our other guys," Norvell said. "There's no question that was one of the rallying points tonight."

The Rams scored a touchdown on an 8-yard run by Vann Schield, then Noyes added a 48-yard field goal – a career long to make it a one-score game.

Jeantry, who became the first back to rush for more than 200 yards against Colorado State since 2019 by finishing with 212, seemingly put the game away with his third touchdown run – a score set up by a Boise State interception -- with 6:12 remaining, making it a 30-10 advantage

"We just kept fighting. It's a real testament to faith," Norvell said. "It's a real testament to not saying die. As a coach I'm always trying to encourage my kids to continue to believe, but I was motivated by them a lot of the times. They just would not fold."

The Rams answered with a six-play, 75-yard drive which ended with a 12-yard scoring pass to Brown in the corner of the end zone. On the ensuing onside kick, backup tight end Vince Brown won the battle for the ball, and those still in the crowd had life.

Fowler-Nicolosi, who finished 32-of-54 for 359 yards, energized them even more with his 2-yard score to Dylan Goffney with 1:53 on the clock.

Again, the Rams recovered an onside kick, which would have been poetic considering Boise State used the same formula to rally from an early 25-point deficit to beat the Rams at Canvas Stadium in 2017.

Only it was negated by a flag. Jeanty then recovered the next, but the defense kept Boise State from gaining a first down, leaving the Rams one final shot.

Nothing about the situation seemed realistic. Not with 33 seconds and a lot of green to cover. Not when the first play led to a flag on Horton for touching the ball after first going out of bounds.

There was an 11-yard pass to Goffney, followed by a 44-yard strike to Horton to get to the 33, then they grounded the ball to leave 6 seconds.

Throw it up and hope for the best. And the worst – and naturally some pause – as Colorado State's celebration led to an extra-long extra point try by Noyes, who calmly nailed it through the uprights.

"I mean, it's something we work on every week in practice. In that situation, I can just thank Coach (Tommy) Perry for that, because he puts us through those one-to-win situations every week," Noyes said. "So, without that, I would have been a nervous wreck, but I put it up confident, and it came off my foot great."

The locker room celebration extended for quite some time, with reason. A beast was slayed, an exorcism performed.

It's a feeling they'll always remember, and a ball Holker will never let go.

"I locked it in my cubby so no one could take it," Holker said. "Now I'm about to put it in my bag so nobody takes it and walks away with it. I might carry it for a little bit, actually, but I'm going to put it in my bag."

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