FORT COLLINS — The New Belgium Porch opened its arms wide for the biggest Beers in the building.
Especially when that Beers — CSU tight end and Valor Christian alum Rocky Beers — stands 6-foot-5, weighs 250 pounds, and is looking to party in the north end zone at Canvas Stadium after his first-ever multi-score game as a collegian.
“I actually don’t drink,” Beers said with a grin after scoring two touchdowns in the Rams’ 49-21 demolition of Fresno State. “But yeah, it fits with the last name. It was good to celebrate with the fans.”
It wasn’t just good to be a CSU Ram late Friday night. Oh, no. It was great. A 1-4 team (now 2-4) left for dead by just about everybody outside of its own facility took a month’s worth of frustration out on the overrated Bulldogs (5-2).
Fresno was the right sparring partner at the wrong time, a sucker that rolled into Canvas three weeks too late. One team looked sloppy, stodgy, prone to silly penalties, indifferent to tackling and mentally soft.
The other team was CSU.
Yep. That CSU. Northern Colorado CSU. Washington State CSU. Same guys. Different outcome. Completely different.
“I usually don’t talk to (the team) after we go to the movies, but I did (Thursday) night,” embattled Rams coach Jay Norvell recalled. “And the one thing that I told our team was that, ‘The cavalry’s not riding in to save us. We have to save ourselves. And so we have to make plays, we have to go out there and make plays. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.’ And so, I think they heard me (Thursday) night. I really do.”
Did they ever. These Rams were 2024 peak Rammies again — physical on offense, relentless on defense, desperate, dangerous, opportunistic and refreshingly fun.
CSU’s 49 points were a new game-high for the Norvell Era, and the most in a victory at Canvas since the Rams dropped 58 on Oregon State on the building’s opening night in August 2017. QB Jackson Brousseau (12-for-18 passing, three TDs) was great in the red zone and savvy everywhere else. Defensive coordinator Tyson Summers’ crew forced four turnovers, picked off Fresno State QB E.J. Warner — son of Kurt — three times, stripped him once (for a score) and sacked him five times.
“I mean, you guys could see this,” said Rams linebacker Owen Long, who added to his breakout season with a game-high 17 tackles (nine solo) and a sack. “But I had so much fun on the field tonight.”
It was contagious. Instead of pointing fingers, it seemed as if almost every Ram made a point to pick up the rope if they saw it dropped.
Defensive end Kenyon Agurs hustled his tail off to get across the field and rip the ball out of Warner’s mitts with 5:51 left in the first half, setting up a rumbling-stumbling scoop-and-score for linebacker Paul Tangelo and a 34-7 Rams lead before the extra point. Workhorse tailback and new captain Jalen Dupree, who has been battling ankle issues, came back in to close out the game when Justin Marshall went down late in the fourth quarter.
CSU fans, what few made it in, spent most of the first half picking their collective jaws off the concrete after the hosts zipped out to a 35-14 halftime lead.
Who were these guys? More to the point, where had they been?
Even the low moments didn’t linger. CSU went three-and-out three straight times to open the second half. The Rams in the third quarter piled up three times as many penalty yards (60) as yards of total offense (20).
Still, they hung in. And hung in. In terms of self-inflicted wounds, missed assignments, bad run fits, multiple flags, dumb football and costly mistakes, it was all Bulldogs early.
Marshall got free for a 73-yard touchdown jaunt up the right boundary on the Rams’ third play from scrimmage — and CSU was literally and figuratively off to the races from there.
At the half, the hosts had outgained Fresno 140-62 on the ground, led the takeaway battle 2-0 and had been flagged once for 15 yards while the Bulldogs had six infractions for 50 yards.
“We are getting our butts kicked,” Kurt Warner posted to X during the game. “Hats off to CSU!!”
Hats off, indeed.
Pressure off?
We’ll see.
“We’ve got to be a team that doesn’t beat itself,” Norvell said. “And if we can do that, we’re going to put ourselves in position to do some positive things.”
Amen. Hawaii, next weekend’s homecoming dance partner, isn’t any better than Fresno. Wyoming was outscored by a margin of 99-43 during a three-game losing streak versus Utah, CU and UNLV.
Is Fresno a fraud? Is CSU decent? Or a blind squirrel that finally wandered into a nut?
“It was finally nice to give back to the defense because they’ve been kind of carrying us and holding strong for us the past couple of games,” reflected Beers, who finished with three catches for 26 yards. “So it was nice to give back to them and put on a show for them.”
Beers was on fire. Now it’s on Norvell to bottle these Rams, to bottle this vibe, and carry it the rest of the way.
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