FORT COLLINS — Tory Horton’s out to make his 1,131-yard season last year look like a warm-up.
The Rams pulled away from Utah Tech late on Ag Day at Canvas Stadium, 41-20, using Horton’s unstoppable performance to earn back-to-back wins for the first time in head coach Jay Norvell’s tenure.
Horton reeled in 10 catches for a career-high 227 yards, and his two first-quarter touchdowns gave the Rams enough early cushion on a night where they played far from perfect. Then, the senior’s third TD catch turned the game into a rout in the fourth quarter.
“(Horton) is something different,” quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi said. “He’s special, and we can all see that. It’s nice to have a guy where you know he’s going to get open every time. They tried to double-cover him, it didn’t work, so they put three dudes on him. Still nothing.”
Horton’s performance was CSU’s first 200-yard receiving game since Warren Jackson put up 214 yards at New Mexico on Oct. 11, 2019. The Rams star is on pace for a blistering 1,600-yard season, which would surely put him in the conversation for the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s top receiver, and in the mix to be the next CSU pass-catcher in the NFL.
“I’m foolish if I don’t call his number and get him the ball,” Norvell said. “We’re going to keep (feeding him) the ball.”
CSU got another imperfect but productive start from Fowler-Nicolosi, who threw for 462 yards on 26-of-32 passing with four touchdowns and two interceptions. It was the third-most passing yards in a game from a CSU quarterback in program history.
“He’s young and he gets excitable some times and turned the ball over a few times, he needs to keep two hands on the ball while scrambling, and in the second half he threw the ball to three of their guys when he was trying to throw it out-of-bounds,” Norvell said. “He’s got to learn those things, but he’s a talented kid who’s not afraid and we’re able to do some special things offensively.
“A couple weeks ago (under Week 1 starter Clay Millen), we were struggling figuring out how we were going to throw the ball, and now we’re one of the top passing teams in the country. That’s how fast that’s changed.”
The defense also provided some momentum-swinging plays from its stars. Edge rusher Mohamed Kamara had 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss, while safety Jack Howell had a first-half interception.
The Rams looked like they were going to blow the Trailblazers’ doors off early, as within ten minutes of play Fowler-Nicolosi found Horton for touchdown passes of 21 and 76 yards. That aerial connection was making up for the Rams being without their top two tailbacks, Avery Morrow and Kobe Johnson, due to injury.
“We were in empty for the whole first quarter, and I’ve never done that before in my coaching career,” Norvell said. “It shows what we’re capable of doing even with two backs who are hurt.”
But Utah Tech started to chip away thanks to a couple miscues by Fowler-Nicolosi. The Trailblazers turned an interception into Connor Brooksby’s 24-yard field goal, then Fowler-Nicolosi’s fumble into a TD the very next play to cut the score to 14-10.
From there, the pace of the game slowed to a crawl, and Canvas Stadium got to feeling cavernous with fans exiting amid a 50-minute lightning delay.
CSU came out of the break and responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive capped by Fowler-Nicolosi’s four-yard TD run. That made it 21-10, but Utah Tech QB Kobe Tracy found wideout Beau Sparks for the duo’s second TD of the night to cut the underdog’s deficit to 21-17.
“We’re capable of playing much better defense,” Norvell said. “(Defensive coordinator Freddie) Banks is not happy with where we’re at right now. We allowed them to hold the ball way too much. At one point, they had twice as much possession time as we did and it finished (34:19 to 25:41) in favor of them. We’ve got to get off the field and stop them on third down.”
Another lighting delay, this one 25 minutes long late in the second quarter, followed. When the teams came out for the third, CSU was flat, going three-and-out on their first possession before Fowler-Nicolosi threw another pick on the next. Utah Tech turned that into Brooksby’s 52-yard field goal, and it was 21-20.
The Rams added a TD via Vann Schield’s four-yard TD run, as the score by the Rock Canyon product capped a seven-play, 40-yard drive. With a missed extra point, the lead was 27-20.
Fowler-Nicolosi then added on with a 42-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallin Holker, and turned the close game into a blowout when he found — who else? — Horton for a 6-yard TD with 6:59 left. By that time, Horton was running out of dance moves in his celebrations, but he dug deep into his playbook, running to do Jamal Murray’s blue arrow celebration with Fowler-Nicolosi.
Horton’s 227 receiving yards rank seventh in school history for a single game, but he deflected any postgame bragging.
“That’s nice to know (about my 1,600-yard pace) and it feels good how I’ve been playing so far,” Horton said. “But I’m here for the wins. I don’t care for the stats.”
The going gets tougher for CSU (2-2) starting next week, when Mountain West Conference play opens with a visit to Utah State.
