Rams Feel Reversal of Fortune at UNLV

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LAS VEGAS – In a city built on glitz and glam, average can walk The Strip unnoticed.

For much of Saturday afternoon, Colorado State's football team went about its game with UNLV seeming as if it had no particular place to go and no rush to get there.

The Rams were everyman, going about their day. Grinding it out and staying ahead of the game, but just barely. Then they weren't.

Colorado State's first three drives of each half netted nothing, and when history repeated itself after intermission, UNLV had turned a 13-3 deficit into a 16-13 lead by the end of the third, then a 19-16 lead early in the fourth.

As is apt to happen in Vegas, momentum can change quickly and so did the exchange of leads, four times in the final 3:19 of the game.

Just not in Colorado State's favor, as Jordan Noyes' career-long 55-yard field goal was trumped by Jose Pizano's sixth field goal of the game (tying a Mountain West record), a 28-yarder as time expired to produce a 25-23 victory at Allegiant Stadium.

The Rams slipped to 3-4 overall, 1-2 in conference play. The Rebels won for the fifth consecutive week to become bowl eligible at 6-1, 3-0.

The emotions of the past two weeks have been a wash for the Rams.

"I mean, it's pretty crazy. That's just how the game of football is," tight end Dallin Holker said. "There's up and there's downs and that's honestly the beauty of it. It's an amazing sport; we all love this sport. There's a lot of things it teaches you. It's great to be on one end and it sucks to be on the other end. You just have to keep your head up and keep going and that's what we're going to do, because we have an amazing team."

Over the course of the evening, the Rams did something they needed to do and something they've been wanting to do, both involving rushing the ball.

Offensively, keyed by the longest rush of the season – a 52-yard burst by Vann Shield – the Rams found a running game which actually aided the offense, not one which was more or less window dressing. That was the bonus.

What had to happen was the defense came out stout against the Rebels' rushing attack, one which ranked second in the Mountain West entering the game. The Rebels countered with a better-than-advertised ability to throw the ball, with Jayden Maiava hitting 27-of-36 passes for 353 yards.

Colorado State's defense yielded some yards to UNLV but held down the scoring of a team which led the conference. In the end, one touchdown and six field goals was just enough.

"I think they forced us to run the football. I mean, when you have success doing something, people are going to try to stop you from doing it," CSU head coach Jay Norvell said. "We just have to execute, and we have to convert on third down. We had a couple of third downs which were very makeable, and we just didn't execute the way we needed to to get those."

The Rams were 7-of-16 on third down in the game.

But backed up, the team tried to slug out. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who finished 21-of-32 for 235 yards, led a drive heavily influenced by the reemergence of Justus Ross-Simmons. He had a 35-yard catch-and-run on a crossing pattern, drew a pass interference and then hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass to give the Rams a 20-19 lead, igniting the back and forth.

"When our backs are against the wall, we always come in clutch. One of our problems is we need to be able to do that 100 percent of the time, even when our backs aren't against the wall," Holker said. "When it comes down to those moments, we just believe in each other and know we can get it done."

UNLV answered with a 46-yard field goal. Noyes then topped the kick.

On fourth down, Norvell called timeout and gave his kicker a chance, one he drilled clean and true.

"We tried to draw them offside, but I did feel like we were in his range, and he could make that," Norvell said. "We were playing in a dome and it's' perfect conditions, and boy, he really kicked it. He kicked it really well. Too bad that couldn't be the winner for him."

Too bad, because a week after celebration, the Rams were left with contemplation.

It's a side of the emotional street teams try to avoid, and the Rams have been walking down the middle much of the season.

"It's tough. I give credit to the guys in the locker room," safety Henry Blackburn said. "We have so many guys who are fighting for the team and are completely bought in. We're all on the same page and we all want to win so bad. To come away with some, lose some, it's tough. We've got a lot of fighters on this team and a lot of guys who want to win really bad. We're just doing everything we can to come away with wins."

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Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi

Tory Horton

Players Mentioned

Henry Blackburn

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi

Dallin Holker

Jordan Noyes

Justus Ross-Simmons

Players Mentioned

Henry Blackburn

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi

Dallin Holker

Jordan Noyes

Justus Ross-Simmons

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