Sonny Lubick got out of the starting gate with a 14-point setback to Oregon, then lost three of his next four. Jim McElwain beat CU — those were Jon Embree’s 1-11 Buffs in 2012, a bunch that’s getting referenced around here far too often for Karl Dorrell’s comfort — in his first tilt, then dropped six straight.
Earle Bruce was 1-3-1 after his initial September on the job. Steve Fairchild started out 3-2. Opening months of inaugural seasons or CSU Rams football coach have fooled us before.
“Here’s the one thing I know Jay (Norvell) has going for him,” Tony Alford, the former CSU running back and longtime Ohio State assistant head coach, told me by phone Sunday.
“He’s got the support of former players. He really does. I still talk to a lot of my former teammates. They are excited and invigorated about what’s going on within the program. I’m not just talking about my former teammates (from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s). I’m talking to guys from different (eras). They’ve (sent) messages about how excited they are for the program and for Jay Norvell and his staff.”
The Norvell Era has, to put it kindly, sputtered off the launch pad. It’s not that the Rams got rolled at No. 4 Michigan, which was pretty much expected. It’s that they followed that up by getting ambushed in their Canvas Stadium opener by Middle Tennessee, which was … not. At all.
When you’re outscored by a margin of 85-26 in your first two games at a new school, you find out awfully quickly who your real friends are.
Alford, come heck or high water, hasn’t wavered. And he’s hoping that his fellow Rams alumni, many of whom were campaigning for him to get the gig that eventually went to Norvell, feel the same.
“OK, you lost a game,” Alford continued. “But everybody knew this (CSU job) was a rebuild.
“But how about harping on the other things that are being done well? I’m a firm believer that if you have a plan that’s well thought-out and you put the pieces in place, and you can lead people in the same direction, doing things the right way, those things are going to bear fruit. It’s just a matter of time as to when they come.”
Alford’s not a completely objective observer, here, by his own admission. Norvell’s an old friend, and the pair worked together as assistants at Iowa State under ex-Cyclones coach Dan McCarney in the late 1990s.
A few hours after the Rams fell 34-19 to the Blue Raiders on Saturday, Alford went on Twitter and encouraged CSU fans to double down on Norvell and his staff, writing that the administration “hired the right guy for sure, I would have hired him too!! They are in great, yes, great hands from a development standpoint & a leadership standpoint.”
It was class to the core on Alford’s part. Especially given the relationship he shares, on social media and off, with the CSU fanbase.
He didn’t have to write it. Heck, he didn’t have to call me back to talk about it. He did both anyway.
“I don’t think people understand — winning is hard,” Alford said. “It’s hard. I don’t care who you are, what level you’re (at), winning is hard to do.
“The man is trying to establish his program and his vision. And that might take a little bit more time in the rebuild. It could be worse.”
Just ask the CU faithful who’re still drying off from a sodden, sullen afternoon wasted at the Air Force Academy this past Saturday.
“I’ve got the utmost respect for the guy,” Alford said. “He’s a great leader of men. And he’s done this. He’s been there, done that. He knows that conference. He knows that area. And like I said, just knowing Jay, he’s going to have it very well-planned out and he’s going to articulate that plan to everybody in the program. I just believe in him as a man and as a leader. I know I would be honored to have one of my sons or my nephews play for him.”
In fact, Alford’s youngest son Braydon — a junior in high school and a budding wide receiver — was slated to camp at CSU this past summer but broke his ankle the day before it was set to start. The family went anyhow, and Norvell and his staff went out of their way to share their time and insights with Braydon, brother Kyler and Tony’s wife, Trina.
“My son was like, ‘Dad, my gosh,’” Alford recounted. “My (kids) know this game. They know what coaching is all about, and what it’s supposed to look like.
“And they couldn’t say enough positive things. It was just cool to hear my son say it.”
If the fates are kind, there’s a good chance Rams fans will look back on the last fortnight someday and laugh their tails off. It’s living through the punchline part that hurts.
