LARAMIE, Wyo. — A half-hour after Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi tripled his turnovers, CSU coach Jay Norvell doubled down on his young quarterback.
“He feels like he let his teammates down, and I just don’t think that’s the case,” Norvell said of Fowler-Nicolosi, whose two second-half interceptions and a bizarre fumbled snap sealed a 24-15 loss at Wyoming in the annual Battle for the Bronze Boot at War Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
“I think we’ve got to find ways to play better and as coaches, we’ve got to help him.
“And he’s our quarterback. And it doesn’t matter if he’s a freshman, you know, we’ve got to find ways to help him. And nobody really cares if we’re playing a freshman quarterback or if we got guys hurt. Nobody cares.”
The Border War was the fourth game this season in which Fowler-Nicolosi, a redshirt freshman from Aledo, Texas, has thrown at least two interceptions. CSU is 1-3 in those games, 3-6 overall (1-4 Mountain West).
The Rams are 2-2 when they’ve avoided multiple turnovers in a game. They’re 1-4 in the five games — including Friday in Wyoming — in which they’ve committed two giveaways or more.
“We have the pieces we need,” said Rams wideout Dylan Goffney, who caught four balls for 37 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown that trimmed the Cowboys’ lead to 24-13 before the 2-point conversion. “We kind of just (have) got to figure out how to get over that hump.”
When asked if inconsistency is the major issue holding the Rams back through CSU’s first nine games, Goffney acknowledged its role in a see-saw season thus far.
“I would say so, yeah, a little bit of inconsistency,” the junior continued. “But I feel like once we get going we can really do some damage.”
As to root of that inconsistency, well …
“I guess that’s something we just kind of have to figure out for ourselves,” Goffney replied.
CSU was 0 for 10 on third downs, while the Pokes converted 5 of 12. The Rams’ lack offensive efficiency was underscored late in the third quarter, when Fowler-Nicolosi threw interceptions on back-to-back CSU drives that gave Wyoming consecutive short fields.
Those gifts proved fatal, as the hosts turned a 10-7 game at the half into a 24-7 tilt at the start of the fourth quarter.
Goffney shared Norvell’s endorsement of Fowler-Nicolosi, who also threw for two scores and now has 18 passing touchdowns and 13 picks this season.
The Texan’s 220 passing yards improved his season total to 2,696, which is the most-ever by a CSU freshman quarterback.
“Really (the message to Brayden is) just, ‘We still believe in you,’” the Rams wideout explained. “‘It happens, you’ve gotta keep your head up and we’ve just gotta keep moving forward.’”
If there’s a silver lining for CSU fans from a third straight loss in the Border War, it’s that the game closes out the toughest games, on paper, left on the Rams’ slate.
CSU next faces San Diego State (3-5 as of Friday) at home on Nov. 11 in a massive game for both limping programs, followed by a Nov. 18 date at Canvas Stadium with Nevada (2-6 as of Friday) before closing out the regular season on Nov. 25 at Hawaii (2-7). The Rams will likely be favored in all three tilts.
