Murfreesboro, Tennessee- A hard-fought, well-played battle between two evenly matched teams took place Saturday evening. The Colorado State Rams broke away in the final period with two scores to triumph, 31-23. Both quarterbacks atoned for most of the yardage. Both defenses shut down the running games. On a fake field goal and a defensive score, Colorado State capitalized. In front of over 19,000 fans at Red Floyd Stadium, Guest Game Analyst Ed Mainardi (Brown U.) and I concurred- it was a fun game to watch!
Note: if you were looking for a review of Kentucky vs Vanderbilt here, we aborted that visit. Unlike previous seasons where parking was ample and easy for Vandy games, the arrangements were fubar. Due to construction eliminating parking spaces and a very long traffic line to get into only one nearby parking garage, it wasn’t worth the price and aggravation. Now that we know, we will be at Vandy vs Missouri next week as part of our econo-schedule this season.
Teams go toe-to-toe
The two teams battled through three quarters to a 17-17 tie. CSU (1-2) scored its first possession with a 32-yard field goal by Jordan Noyes. The Blue Raiders struck right back with a 49-yard TD pass from Nick Vittiato to Holden Willis. An unsportsmanlike penalty by the Raiders gave the Rams good field position after a kickoff from the 20. CSU set up for a field goal at the MTSU 24. Noyes followed through with a fake boot. Holder Giles Pooler rolled left and connected with TE Dallin Holker whose catch and run turned into a 24-yard TD. Before the first period ended, Zeke Rankin converted on a 32-yard field goal to even the score for Middle Tennessee, 10-10.
In the second period, following an MTSU interception, the teams continued to exchange punts. For the day, the Rams garnered only 33 yards on 19 carries. QB Braden Fowler-Nicolosi completed 30 of 43 for 321 yards, two TDs and one INT. The Raiders totaled 151 rushing yards with Vittiato leading with 47. He threw for 30 of 41 for 279 yards and two touchdowns. He completed a 35-yard pass to Willis who made a beautiful diving catch at the four with seconds left in the half. From there, Vittiato ran it in for a 17-10 lead to close the first-half scoring.
Colorado State finds its man
Halfway through the third, Fowler-Cangelosi tossed a seven-yard TD pass to Tory Horton to cap an 80-yard drive to tie it up. On the ensuing MTSU possession, the Ram defense halted the Raiders’ Frank Peasant on a fourth and two to take over on downs on their 24. The Rams drove the length of the field into the fourth culminating again on a seven-yard pass again to Horton for a 24-17 lead. On second down from their own 25, Middle Tennessee attempted some trickery of its own. On a double reverse, CSU pressured to force a fumble. It got picked up at the five and run for a touchdown return by DE Mohamed Kamara. He sat the bench in the first half due to a targeting call the previous Saturday in their OT loss to Colorado.
Never say die
MTSU (1-3) responded with a 75-yard scoring drive. Vittiato connected with Elijah Metcalf from the yards out with 6:34 left to play. However, the low PAT attempt got blocked to make the comeback somewhat tenuous as the Blue Raiders trailed, 31-23. They forced Colorado State to punt from their 44 eventually, but burned their final two time-outs. To start with 2:39 remaining, the Raiders picked up three first downs to the Colorado State 32. Two passes fell incomplete in the end zone. On the final play of the game, CSU sacked Vittiato for an 11-yard loss. They preserved their first victory of the season, 31-23. Despite a relatively small homecoming crowd, the game was exciting and the crowd was into it. Fun time as Ed and I agreed. Looking forward to some more games there as more Conference USA action looms ahead.
Next Thursday!
Colorado State heads home to host FCS Utah Tech (1-3). They lost badly to Missouri State, 59-14, who we saw fall to UT-Martin two weeks ago. We will see Middle Tennessee play again earlier than expected. We will join them for their annual rivalry with C-USA foe Western Kentucky (2-2) Thursday night in Bowling Green. Conference USA teams will be playing on weekday nights throughout October. We plan to see several such contests. On Saturday, our plan will be to attend the game between now No. 23 Missouri (4-0) and typical, struggling Vanderbilt (2-3) who shows very little on offense. Hopefully the Dores make it some kind of a fight.