Daniels, a fifth-year quarterback, won the Heisman and AP player of the year honors last week after accounting for 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards of offense this season.

He was joined in the backfield by Missouri’s Cody Schrader, a sixth-year running back and former Division II player who leads the nation at 124.9 rushing yards per game.

The other sixth-year player of the AP first team was North Carolina State linebacker Payton Wilson, who won the Chuck Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year.

Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe, edge rushers Laiatu Latu from UCLA and Jalen Green from James Madison, and Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat were the other fifth-year players to make the first team.

College players who were in school during the 2020 pandemic season were granted an extra year of eligibility and they are still making their presence felt around the country.

Eleven more fifth-year players made the second and third teams and there were eight sixth-year players selected to those teams, including Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the Heisman runner up. Penix and the second-ranked Huskies face No. 3 Texas in the College Football Playoff’s Sugar Bowl semifinal on Jan. 1.

Colorado Buffaloes sophomore receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter was named to the first team. Colorado State junior tight end Dallin Holker made the second team and Air Force senior safety Trey Taylor earned a third-team nod.

Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt and Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. were selected first-team All-Americans for the second straight year. Beebe and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers moved up from second team last season to first this year.

No. 5 Alabama led all teams with three first-team All-Americans, all on the defensive side: cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold and linebacker Dallas Turner.

The Crimson Tide, seeded fourth in the College Football Playoff, faces No. 1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal on Jan. 1.

First-team All-Americans (by conference)

• SEC — 9.
• Big Ten — 6.
• Pac-12 — 4.
• Big 12 — 3.
• ACC — 1.
• MAC — 1.
• Sun Belt — 1.
• Independent — 2.

The AP All-America team was selected by a panel of 18 college Top 25 poll voters.

First team

Quarterback — Jayden Daniels, fifth-year, LSU.

Running backs — Ollie Gordon II, second-year, Oklahoma State; Cody Schrader, sixth-year, Missouri.

Tackles — Joe Alt, third-year, Notre Dame; Olu Fashanu, fourth-year, Penn State.

Guards — Cooper Beebe, fifth-year, Kansas State; Zak Zinter, fourth-year, Michigan.

Center — Jackson Powers-Johnson, third-year, Oregon.

Tight end — Brock Bowers, third-year, Georgia.

Wide receivers — Malik Nabers, third-year, LSU; Marvin Harrison Jr., third-year, Ohio State; Rome Odunze, fourth-year, Washington.

All-purpose player — Travis Hunter, second-year, Colorado.

Kicker — Graham Nicholson, third-year, Miami (Ohio).

Edge rushers — Laiatu Latu, fifth-year, UCLA; Jalen Green, fifth-year, James Madison.

Interior linemen — T’Vondre Sweat, fifth-year, Texas; Jer’Zahn Newton, fourth-year, Illinois.

Linebackers — Payton Wilson, sixth-year, North Carolina State; Edgerrin Cooper, fourth-year, Texas A&M; Dallas Turner, third-year, Alabama.

Cornerbacks — Cooper DeJean, third-year, Iowa; Kool-Aid McKinstry, third-year, Alabama.

Safeties — Malaki Starks, second-year, Georgia; Xavier Watts, fourth-year, Notre Dame.

Defensive back — Terrion Arnold, third-year, Alabama.

Punter — Tory Taylor, fourth-year, Iowa.

Second team

Quarterback — Michael Penix Jr., sixth-year, Washington.

Running backs — Audric Estime, third-year, Notre Dame; Omarion Hampton, second-year, North Carolina.

Tackles — Taliese Fuaga, fourth-year, Oregon State; JC Latham, third-year, Alabama.

Guards — Tate Ratledge, fourth-year, Georgia; Clay Webb, fifth-year, Jacksonville State.

Center — Sedrick Van Pran, fourth-year, Georgia.

Tight ends — Dallin Holker, fifth-year, Colorado State.

Wide receivers — Troy Franklin, third-year, Oregon; Malik Washington, fifth-year, Virginia; Luther Burden III, second-year, Missouri.

All-purpose player — Ashton Jeanty, second-year, Boise State.

Kicker — Jose Pizano, third-year, UNLV.

Edge rushers — Jonah Elliss, third-year, Utah; Jared Verse, fourth-year, Florida State.

Interior linemen — Byron Murphy II, third-year, Texas; Howard Cross III, fifth-year, Notre Dame.

Linebackers — Jeremiah Trotter Jr., third-year, Clemson; Jason Henderson, third-year, Old Dominion; Jay Higgins, fourth-year, Iowa.

Cornerbacks — Quinyon Mitchell, fourth-year, Toledo; Beanie Bishop Jr., sixth-year, West Virginia.

Safeties — Tyler Nubin, fifth-year, Minnesota; Caleb Downs, first-year, Alabama.

Defensive back — Kris Abrams-Draine, fourth-year, Missouri.

Punter — Matthew Hayball, sixth-year, Vanderbilt.

Third team

Quarterbacks — Bo Nix, fifth-year, Oregon.

Running backs — Blake Corum, fourth-year, Michigan; Kimani Vidal, fourth-year, Troy.

Tackles — Javon Foster, sixth-year, Missouri; Troy Fautanu, fifth-year, Washington.

Guards — Christian Haynes, sixth-year, UConn; Luke Kandra, fourth-year, Cincinnati.

Center — Zach Frazier, fourth-year, West Virginia.

Tight end — Ben Sinnott, fourth-year, Kansas State.

Wide receivers — Ricky White, fourth-year, UNLV; Brian Thomas Jr., third-year, LSU; Tetairoa McMillan, second-year, Arizona.

All-purpose player — Xavier Worthy, third-year, Texas.

Kicker — Will Reichard, fifth-year, Alabama.

Edge rushers — Chop Robinson, third-year, Penn State; Bralen Trice, fifth-year, Washington.

Interior linemen — Kris Jenkins, fourth-year, Michigan; Braden Fiske, sixth-year, Florida State.

Linebackers — Nathaniel Watson, sixth-year, Mississippi State; Edefuan Ulofoshio, sixth-year, Washington; Danny Stutsman, third-year, Oklahoma.

Cornerbacks — Ricardo Hallman, third-year, Wisconsin; T.J. Tampa, fourth-year, Iowa State.

Safeties — Trey Taylor, fifth-year, Air Force; Dillon Thieneman, first-year, Purdue.

Defensive back — Sebastian Castro, fifth-year, Iowa.

Punter — James Ferguson-Reynolds, second-year, Boise State.

The Denver Post contributed to this story.

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The 6-foot-1, 250-pound defensive end led the Mountain West in tackles for a loss (17) and sacks (13). Kamara, a graduate defensive end, is second in conference history in career sacks (30.5) and his total this season was fourth-most in the Mountain West record book.

He is the third CSU player to receive the award, joining linebackers Rick Crowell (2000) and Shaquil Barrett (2013).

Kamara is one four Rams named to the all-conference first team, joined by senior wide receiver Tory Horton, junior tight end Dallin Holker and junior defensive back Jack Howell. Horton was also named a second-team punt returner. He was joined by senior offensive lineman Jacob Gardner and junior linebacker Chase Wilson.

Air Force also has four first-team selections in senior offensive lineman Thor Paglialong, senior defensive lineman PJ Ramsey, senior linebacker Bo Richter and senior defensive back Trey Taylor. Three Falcons players were named to the second team: senior running back Emmanuel Michel, senior offensive lineman Adam Karas and linebacker Alec Mock.

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is the offensive player of the year. UNLV placekicker Jose Pizano is the special teams player of the year and Rebels quarterback Jayden Maiava is the freshman of the year.

All-Mountain West first team

• QB Chevan Cordeiro, Sr., San José State
• WR Tory Horton, Sr., Colorado State
• WR Ricky White III, Jr., UNLV
• WR Jalen Royals, Jr., Utah State
• RB Ashton Jeanty, So., Boise State
• RB Kairee Robinson, So., San José State
• TE Dallin Holker, Jr., Colorado State
• OL Thor Paglialong, Sr., Air Force
• OL Cade Beresford, Sr., Boise State
• OL JC Davis, Jr., New Mexico
• OL Tiger Shanks, Jr., UNLV
• OL Frank Crum, Gr., Wyoming
• PK Jose Pizano, Sr., UNLV
• KR Jacob De Jesus, Jr., UNLV
• DL PJ Ramsey, Sr., Air Force
• DL Ahmed Hassanein, Jr., Boise State
• DL Mohamed Kamara, Gr., Colorado State
• DL Tre Smith, So., San José State
• LB Bo Richter, Sr., Air Force
• LB Jackson Woodard, Jr., UNLV
• LB MJ Tafisi Jr., Sr., Utah State
• LB Easton Gibbs, Jr., Wyoming
• DB Trey Taylor, Sr., Air Force
• DB Jack Howell, Jr., Colorado State
• DB Emany Johnson, Sr., Nevada
• DB Ike Larsen, So., Utah State
• P James Ferguson-Reynolds, So., Boise State
• PR Jacob De Jesus, Jr., UNLV

All-Mountain West second team

• QB Jayden Maiava, R-Fr., UNLV
• WR Steven McBride, Sr., Hawai‘i
• WR Nick Nash, Jr., San José State
• WR Terrell Vaughn, Sr., Utah State
• RB Emmanuel Michel, Sr., Air Force
• RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Sr., New Mexico
• TE Mark Redman, Sr., San Diego State
• OL Adam Karas, Sr., Air Force
• OL Kage Casey, R-Fr., Boise State
• OL Jacob Gardner, Sr., Colorado State
• OL Mose Vavao, Sr., Fresno State
• OL Cade Bennett, Jr., San Diego State
• PK Jonah Dalmas, Sr., Boise State
• KR Terrell Vaughn, Sr., Utah State
• DL Jalen Dixon, Jr., UNLV
• DL Devo Bridges, Sr., Fresno State
• DL Soane Toia, Jr., San José State
• DL Jordan Bertagnole, Jr., Wyoming
• LB Alec Mock, Sr., Air Force
• LB Andrew Simpson, So., Boise State
• LB Chase Wilson, Jr., Colorado State
• LB Levelle Bailey, Sr., Fresno State
• DB Carlton Johnson, Sr., Fresno State
• DB Morice Norris Jr., Sr., Fresno State
• DB Noah Tumblin, Sr., San Diego State
• DB Cameron Oliver, Jr., UNLV
• P Jack Browning, Sr., San Diego State
• PR Tory Horton, Sr., Colorado State

Honorable mentions

Air Force: Matthew Dapore, PK; Jayden Goodwin, DB; Zac Larrier, QB.

Colorado State: Chigozie Anusiem, CB; Henry Blackburn, S; Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, QB; Drew Moss, OL; Justus Ross-Simmons, WR.

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Brayden Schager was 30-of-43 passing for 320 yards and a touchdown, and Matthew Shipley kicked a 51-yard field goal as time expired to send Hawaii to a 27-24 victory over CSU on Saturday night.

The Rams needed to make one stop to send the game to overtime.

Instead, on third-and-3 from the CSU 45, Schager hit Chuuky Hines for an 11-yard gain to set up Shipley’s winner. And with that, Colorado State (5-7, 3-5 Mountain West) was denied a bowl bid for the sixth straight season, and second in a row under head coach Jay Norvell.

Colorado State took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead when Justin Marshall scored on a 21-yard run and Jordan Noyes kicked to 22-yard field goal to give the Rams a 10-7 lead with 9:27 remaining in the second quarter. Hawaii (4-8, 2-5) responded with a five-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with Tauaefa’s first career touchdown less than 3 minutes later.

Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala ran for a 8-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Matthew Shipley kicked a 35-yard field goal with 13:32 to play that made it 24-10.

Then CSU mounted its rally.

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Louis Brown IV with about 9 minutes left that brought the Rams within eight points.

Facing fourth-and-8, Tory Horton got behind the defense and caught a pass from Fowler-Nicolosi on his way to a 70-yard touchdown and the pair connected again for the 2-point conversion to make it 24-all with 54 seconds left.

Fowler-Nicolosi finished with 317 yards passing and two touchdowns, Marshall had 20 carries for 94 yards rushing and Horton added 186 yards receiving on nine catches for Colorado State.

Still, it wasn’t enough for the Rams to close out the season with a third straight win.

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In his first season with Colorado State, the BYU transfer has emerged as one of the nation’s top tight ends and a key figure in a bounce-back year under coach Jay Norvell that the Rams hope culminates with a bowl berth Saturday night in Hawaii.

Holker took the long road to get here, with stops in Chile (where he spent the 2019 and ’20 seasons on a mission) and Provo (where he appeared in just three games last season) before he arrived in Fort Collins this past offseason.

But all the twists and turns that eventually led him to CSU produced just the sort of steady hand the Rams needed.

“He’s a very mature guy, and that’s important because we had a team that was really full of immaturity when we took over,” Norvell said. “His maturity has really helped us as a team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. He’s stabilized us; he’s given us some continuity there and a lot of confidence.”

It was Holker, after all, who came down with the tipped Hail Mary pass that beat Boise State on Oct. 14, capping an improbable comeback at Canvas Stadium that proved to be a turning point in CSU’s season.

And it’s Holker who was caught by the coaching staff jumping the fence to CSU’s practice field after hours, an innocuous trespassing violation he’s made a weekly occurrence with his wife Taye Holker. There, Taye fires off 100 balls, sometimes 200, to her husband through the JUGS Machine as part of the tight end’s routine that’s showing up on game day.

Once left “confused” and “frustrated” by a lack of opportunities at BYU, he now has 59 catches for 739 yards and 36 first downs this year, all of which rank No. 1 nationally among tight ends in Division I FBS.

“It’s that sort of stuff like that that makes him, him,” CSU tight ends coach James Finley said of Holker’s routine. “He doesn’t do it to get credit from the coaches. That’s just him always working. He requests meetings with the O-line coach (Bill Best) so he can make sure he’s got his blocking in order. He’s always in the building. He’s always trying to be first in the sprints. He’s top-ranked on the sleep and recovery app that the players use. He’s always putting in extra work with the quarterbacks, staying late to watch film. He’s taken some of the younger guys under his wing and catches balls with them.

“The stuff that he does is contagious. And he’s always at least five minutes early to the meetings. Sometimes I get there and Dallin is there at 4:50 for a 5:00 meeting. I’ll get there at 4:55 and he’s giving me crap like, ‘Coach, you late!’ He’s definitely trying to beat me there.”

When Holker transferred to CSU with Taye in the spring — his wife competes in the long jump, 100, 200 and 4×100 relay for the CSU track and field team — he immediately made an impression on his teammates, leading to his captainship this fall.

It quickly became clear he could command the middle of the field, a presence CSU sorely lacked last year. But it was also evident that the 23-year-old’s outlook was crafted much differently than the average college player.

For example, shortly after arriving on campus last spring, the Holkers took it upon themselves to cook dinners for a teammate going through the fasting rigors of Ramadan, when Muslims cannot eat or drink from dawn until dusk.

“In our head we thought it would be nice if he didn’t have to worry about cooking that night, so we wanted to make sure he had a meal prepared for him,” Dallin recalled. “A lot of those things I learned on my mission, how to help serve people. I think that’s really important.”

Fast-forward to this season, and Holker’s become one of the ringleaders of the team’s Friday night card games. He’s the type of player Norvell hopes will be the foundation of his rebuild in FoCo — someone the coach says “relates to everyone, regardless of background.”

“He talks a lot about his mission, and about meeting with families with dirt floors and 10 people in one room, and how they don’t have much food but any food they have they give to you,” Norvell said. “That humility he experienced over there has really helped him be a great communicator and great leader in our program.”

While the football stars at the state school down south are driving luxury cars and sporting diamond-studded watches, Holker keeps a low profile in FoCo. He refrains from using “I” in interviews. He doesn’t even have a car, instead biking everywhere around campus, assuring the coaching staff that “a very big jacket” will suffice in keeping him warm when the dead of winter arrives.

And that understated approach off the field is just how Holker likes it.

“I grew from that experience (in Chile) a lot, just serving people every day,” Holker said. “Every day we would wake up, study from the Bible, study Spanish (to become fluent). We’d help people build things, we’d pull weeds.”

This year, Holker’s helped out Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi perhaps more than anyone on the team. The steady tight end, along with star receiver Tory Horton, enabled the redshirt freshman to endure a learning curve in the QB’s first season as a starter.

Horton, despite being banged up for much of the fall, needs 50 yards against Hawaii for his second straight 1,000-yard season. And Holker, at six receiving TDs, needs one more score to set the CSU single-season record for TD catches by a tight end.

Both have one year of eligibility left. With another step forward as a program in mind for 2024, Norvell hopes they take it.

“Tory and Dallin are good enough to leave and go to the NFL,” Norvell said, “but it really is best to make yourself as marketable (for NFL scouts) as you can, have another great year … and solidify their legacies at CSU before they move onto the next level.”

When/where: 9 p.m. Saturday/Clarence T.C. Ching Complex

TV/Radio: Spectrum Sports/ESPN Honolulu, 104.3 HD2

BetMGM Line: CSU -5.5, 54.5 over/under

Weather: Around 80 degrees with slight wind.

Five storylines

Almost bowling: Overheard in the underbelly of Canvas Stadium a few weeks ago: CSU AD Joe Parker, prior to the Rams’ win over San Diego State, remarked to a fellow staffer that, “If we can win these next three games, this season could be special.” He’s right. And now after beating the Aztecs and hanging on to defeat Nevada last week, CSU is one win away from its first bowl game since 2017. Head coach Jay Norvell needs to avoid a letdown in Honolulu, because a postseason berth would be a huge building block.

Horton eyes 1K: CSU star wideout Tory Horton’s dealt with multiple injuries this year, including leg/ankle issues and a hip pointer. But that hasn’t stopped him from again being CSU’s top threat in the passing game, and now the senior is 50 yards away from his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Horton has 87 receptions for 950 yards with seven TDs, and ranks No. 21 nationally among FBS wideouts in receiving yards per game (86.4) and is third in receptions per game (7.9).

Hard-hitting Howell: Jack Howell — son of former CSU/NFL safety John Howell and brother of soccer star Jaelin Howell — has lived up to his family name again this year. After leading the nation’s FBS defensive backs with 108 total tackles in 2022, the junior is No. 2 nationally in total tackles this year at 106. A stopper in the second level who’s also shown vast improvement in coverage, Howell is the first Rams DB to post consecutive/multiple 100-tackle seasons since defensive stats became official in 2000.

BFN’s ball security: Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi let Nevada back into the game last week by throwing a pick-six on the final play of the first half, and his poor decisions with the football have been a common thread tied to the Rams’ fortunes this year. The redshirt freshman QB has to take care of the football against Hawaii, whose only chance to keep CSU from a bowl game is if the QB gifts them multiple interceptions and correspondingly short fields. BFN’s thrown 20 TDs to 15 INTs this year; he needs to be more accurate with his throws and diagnose coverages better against a Hawaii secondary that’s not very good.

Coaching Connection: Hawaii head coach Timmy Chang was on Jay Norvell’s staff for five seasons at Nevada, and Chang was slated to be CSU’s tight ends coach before landing the job in Honolulu. Hawaii’s associate head coach/special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield was also on that Nevada staff and then came to CSU with Norvell before following Chang to the Rainbow Warriors. So there will be no shortage of familiarity with concepts and game-planning between the two staffs.

Predictions

Kyle Newman, sportswriter: CSU 35, Hawaii 28

Pack your bags, Rams fans: This team is going bowling. Just like last week against Nevada, CSU starts fast and then holds on in the second half to defeat the Rainbow Warriors, with tight end Dallin Holker’s TD catch and a strong running game the difference. If Jay Norvell sticks around for a while in Fort Collins, we might look back at the close to this season as a turning point.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Hawaii 30, CSU 28

Like Pullman on a miserable Friday night, not much good happens in Honolulu if you’re visiting in late November. (Other than the weather.) The Warriors are 11-1 in regular-season home finales dating back to 2011, including a wild 50-45 win over the Rams under the Daz back in ’21. As a former Jay Norvell assistant, Hawaii coach Timmy Chang knows darn well what’s coming. And while Rams fans are hoping he won’t play spoiler, history says otherwise.

Matt Schubert, sports editor: CSU 34, Hawaii 27

It’s difficult to predict how a team will handle a trip to Honolulu. Things didn’t go well for Air Force (27-13 loss) earlier this month, and red-hot New Mexico State (20-17 loss) gave away a two-touchdown lead in September. No doubt, the Rainbow Warriors will have CSU’s attention with a bowl bid on the line. Freshman RB Justin Marshall looks like the real deal. Feed him early and often against a bad Hawaii run defense and the Rams go bowling.

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“I love what (coach) Jay (Norvell) is doing,” Parker told me Saturday after CSU’s 30-20 win over Nevada pulled the Rams (5-6) to within one win of a bowl berth with a game to play. “I believed in him the moment that we had our first conversation through the (interview) process.

“And every day he just affirms that he’s got an incredible way to kind of focus on the things that matter. And what matters most is culture, building a program where every player in the locker room understands the points that they’re going to be held accountable for. And when it becomes less of coach leading those conversations, but more of the players really holding themselves and each other accountable, in a way, that’s healthy.”

CSU football’s coming. Loveable. Flawed. But still coming. The Rammies are creeping in the slow lanes, lurching ever forward. In September, Norvell’s squad averaged 10 penalties per game. In November, that number’s been trimmed to 6.3 flags a week. Giveaways have dipped from 2.5 per game in September to two per tilt in November.

That said, It feels as if the Rams are sometimes throwing the ball to try and prove a point when running it more might actually score them. You’d prefer to see the game in the hands of freshman tailback Justin Marshall — he’s piled up 217 rushing yards on just 37 carries the last two weeks — than in the mitts of fearless but erratic quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, truth be told.

That said, the latter’s strung together a quietly nice year (20 touchdowns thrown and 3,143 passing yards) with all kinds of upside bubbling underneath that skinny frame. When BFN is on, the kid’s touch is sublime. When he’s off — the Texan’s tossed 15 picks, and his two at Wyoming proved fatal — or gets locked into “hero mode,” best hide the sharp objects.

“I think he has to really get a handle on his process of playing,” Norvell said of Fowler-Nicolosi. “And when you’re a young player, I think you kind of think you’ve got it handled. But you really have to prepare yourself for all those situations. And he’s a young excitable guy. He’s full of confidence. We don’t want to take that out of him. But he just has to control his process to be a more consistent player week-in and week-out.”

Most nights, the Rammies are an enigma strapped to a roller-coaster. Yet this is also the healthiest CSU has been come late November in six years. That’s both a compliment to Norvell and a scathing indictment of the mess he inherited, a program at 5,003 feet fighting rug burns.

The hosts were far from superlative against Nevada, but the superlatives kept rolling in anyway. CSU just capped its first November with multiple victories since 2016. Its four wins at home were the most since 2017, when Canvas Stadium opened. Attendance for the woebegone Wolf Pack — 20,121, roughly 55% of capacity — was the highest for a CSU home football finale in six years.

Basically, the Rams are clearing some awfully low bars. Which is still good, even if the good’s hugging an asterisk. The next step?

Raising them.

“We really want to go undefeated (at home), to be honest with you,” said Norvell, whose postseason fate hinges on a sneaky-tough tussle at Hawaii (4-8) next Saturday. “But we want to play well in front of our home fans. We want to play well and get that good feeling when we’re in the stadium.

“And I’m gonna be honest — at the beginning of the year, it wasn’t (there). We did not have that good feeling in Canvas. But we’ve developed it and we’ve worked for it, and I believe we have it now.

“We want people to have a hard time when they come here. We want it to be a tremendous atmosphere. And I think we can be. And we have a lot to look forward to next year, (given) the schedule, and the type of atmosphere this place can be. And we’re excited about that.”

CSU lost by 26 points at home to Washington State in Week 1. CU just lost by 42 to those same Cougars in Week 12. Discuss.

“I think Jay has built a really strong model,” Parker said. “I see it every day.”

He smiled. Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race. Then again, what’s the point of being easy to find if you’re so dang hard to watch?

“I don’t lose confidence,” CSU’s redshirt freshman quarterback said of a rocky middle two quarters of a 30-20 win over Nevada on Saturday in the Rams’ regular-season home finale at Canvas Stadium.

“There’s no loss of confidence. I really know the player I am, who I can be.”

The lithe Texan showed it down the stretch, completing five of his last seven throws in the fourth quarter and using his arm — and legs — to preserve a fourth home victory for the Rams (5-6, 3-4 Mountain West), who can clinch bowl eligibility with a win at Hawaii (4-8, 2-5) next weekend.

Fowler-Nicolosi’s afternoon, like the game itself, wasn’t pretty. The CSU signal-caller misfired on 10 of 15 pass attempts in the second and third quarters as a 20-3 Rams lead evaporated into a 23-20 nail-biter to start the fourth stanza on Senior Day.

“I thought (Fowler-Nicolosi) was inconsistent today,” CSU coach Jay Norvell said of his young signal-caller, who was 15 for 30 on the afternoon for 245 yards and two scores through the air. “He wasn’t as sharp as he needs to be, and I think he’ll be the first one to tell you that. But he did make some big plays and some big throws.”

Despite some misfires in the pass game, the Rams were able to take advantage of the Mountain West’s worst rush defense to pile up 169 yards on the ground on 34 carries. The tally included six runs in the game’s final 3:54 that forced the Wolf Pack to burn three timeouts and helped notch a fifth win on the season, the most at CSU since 2017 (7-6).

“(Saturday) was hard,” chuckled Norvell, whose record in two seasons in FoCo improved to 8-15. “It’s hard, man — it’s hard to win games.

“But I’m very proud of our guys. And I know that they have more in them. I really do. I believe in our team, I believe in our players. We have some tremendous leaders on this team and they really want to lead this team to a successful season.”

CSU ultimately won the day, but not without some physical costs along the way. Bruising tailback Avery Morrow left the game after scoring the game’s opening touchdown, with a lower-body injury that Norvell described as a possible hip-pointer, one that required hospitalization.

While the Rams started fast and finished strong, the middle was a muddle. And aesthetically, if you wondered what 2020 Rocky Mountain Showdown that never happened (thanks, COVID) might’ve looked like, Saturday offered something of a tease.

Different offense, at least where the Rams were concerned. But the Pack had a familiar feel.

That was because Nevada coach Ken Wilson turned the reins of his offense over to Lewis, who played QB for the CU Buffs from 2020-22. The redshirt sophomore entered the portal last Oct. 17 — before Coach Prime showed up and cleaned house in Boulder — and committed to the Pack last Christmas eve.

You know what? New colors, same guy. Same tendencies. Still running for his life. Zone read. Dink. Dunk. Zone read.

Although not with 2:32 left in the third quarter, while CSU clung to that 23-20 edge. On third-and-16, the ex-Buff, who wound up with 169 passing yards and 61 more on the ground, stepped up in the pocket and fired a 31-yard dart to Dalevon Campbell, extending the drive to the Rams 46.

The Pack drove to the CSU 19 before a Mo Kamara sack on third down pushed them back to the 26, forcing a 43-yard field goal attempt … which Brandon Talton pushed wide left. That kept the Rams’ lead at three with 12:41 to go in the tilt and helped the hosts regain some of that lost mojo.

In hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have been that close.

The Rams grabbed control from the jump, scoring on their first four drives while ending two of Nevada’s first three possessions with a pick. The hosts turned those Pack mistakes into 10 points, with Jordan Noyes’ 42-yard make pushing CSU’s cushion to 20-3 with 9:43 until halftime.

But the Rams stalled out from there, felled by curious play-calling and lapses in execution. A last-ditch CSU drive at its own 49 turned into a first-half-ending pick-6 off Fowler-Nicolosi, a miscue that cut the Rams’ lead from 20-6 to 20-13 in a blink. Half the 20,121 in attendance appeared to be in shock while the other half wondered if the Comatose Cannon going off in the middle of Richard Toney Jr.’s runback would rule the play dead. (It didn’t.)

“The pick-6 helped them. I kicked myself for that,” Norvell said.

“But I give our kids credit for being resilient and playing through the fourth quarter and the rough, rough patches of the game. That’s something they’ve learned to do. And that’s what we have to continue to do.”

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When/where: 1 p.m. Saturday/Canvas Stadium

TV/Radio: Mountain West Network/Rams Radio Network

BetMGM Line: CSU -11.5, 47.5 over/under

Weather: Mix of sunshine and clouds with high of 61 degrees.

Five storylines

Chasing Bowl Eligibility: It’s bowl-or-bust for the Rams, who have endured a roller-coaster season yet are two wins away from six wins and their first bowl since 2017. Through an early-season QB change, to disappointing rivalry losses to CU and Wyoming, to the Rams’ last-second Hail Mary to beat Boise State for the first time in program history, it would be a letdown for the Rams to not finish on a high note by beating Nevada and then winning again as a likely favorite next week in Hawaii.

Jay Norvell Bowl: In his first game last year against his former school, Norvell led the Rams to a 17-14 win in Reno when Michael Boyle hit a 43-yard field goal as time expired. It was CSU’s fifth walk-off win in program history. That was CSU’s first true look at Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who played the entire game due to an injury to then-starter Clay Millen. Running back Avery Murrow carried CSU that day with 169 rushing yards. CSU holds a 13-5 all-time advantage over the Wolfpack.

Individual Record Watch: Three of the Rams’ stars are near statistical milestones with a couple games left to play. Mo Kamara is at 29 career sacks and needs four to match CSU’s all-time record of 33, set by Clark Haggans in the late 1990s. Dallin Holker is at six TD grabs and needs one more to own the CSU record for TD receptions in a season by a tight end. And Tory Horton, who has been banged up this fall, needs 128 yards for his second straight 1,000-yard receiving season.

O-Line Improvement: After CSU’s 2022 offensive line bombed, giving up 59 sacks for 399 yards with both marks the worst in FBS, this year’s revamped front has shown vast improvement. Coach Bill Best’s unit has yielded 13 sacks for 85 yards, an average of 1.30 sacks per game compared to 4.92 sacks per game last year. Staying healthy has played a part in that, but major credit also goes to the Rams’ transfer tackles, Saveyon Henderson (from Lane College) and Drew Moss (Lamar).

Marshall Law: Did the Rams just find their next great tailback? Freshman Justin Marshall looked the part in his first appearance in green and gold, rushing for 119 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries in a 22-19 win over San Diego State. It was a welcome development for a Rams ground game battered by injuries and ranked near the bottom of FBS at just 82.9 yards/game. One of the best parts about Marshall’s debut? Since it came in the third-to-last game of the season, Marshall can play out the rest of the schedule and still preserve his red-shirt if the Merrillville, Ind., product so chooses.

Predictions

Kyle Newman, sportswriter: CSU 35, Nevada 21

After Justin Marshall burst onto the scene last week to become the first CSU freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since 1974, the Rams suddenly have three tailbacks in Marshall, Avery Murrow and Vann Schield. That takes a lot of pressure off Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, and if the young QB can limit his mistakes once again, CSU should run away with this. Mo Kamara will set the tone early and finish with a pair of sacks to ensure the Rams aren’t looking ahead to Hawaii.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: CSU 24, Nevada 13

Jay Norvell’s Rammies are 3-2 when they’ve been intercepted one or zero times in a game. They’re 1-4 when that pickoff count is two or higher. Even better? The Pack is dragging the Mountain West’s worst rush defense into Canvas, allowing 184 rush yards per game and 5.3 yards per tote. Ground, pound, punt, win. Onto the islands with .500 on the line.

Matt Schubert, sports editor: CSU 28, Nevada 17

In the second leg of the Rams’ three-win journey to bowl eligibility, freshman Justin Marshall delivers another big performance and the Rams defense holds down a Wolf Pack attack that’s a long way from the days of Carson Strong and Jay Norvell. Then, it all comes down to Hawaii.

Before the start of the season, it didn’t look like that would be a problem with last year’s leading rusher Avery Morrow returning and transfer Kobe Johnson expected to have a significant impact as well.

But along the way, both got injured, Johnson so much that the Rams decided to shut him down and redshirt him this season. Morrow is back but hasn’t been 100%.

In the meantime, CSU turned to redshirt sophomore Vann Schield, who carried the load for a few games. Then last Saturday in the Rams’ 22-19 victory over San Diego State, the Rams got the spark they have been looking for.

In his first college game, true freshman Justin Marshall rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown, making him the first CSU freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since Ron Harris in 1974.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries,” CSU head coach Jay Norvell said. “We lost Kobe. Avery was hurt for several weeks. He’s still not really back to 100% and Vann had to carry that load. We had a couple of good young freshmen that we have been trying to incorporate in our run game and we just felt like it was time for Justin, and we thought he played really well.”

Marshall’s first collegiate run went for 12 yards, and he didn’t slow down after that. He had another run for 17 and his longest run of the game was for 21, one of the longest carries by a CSU running back this season.

Those long runs were specifically something Norvell was pleased with. The head coach keeps track of explosive plays and Marshall provided them when the team needed them.

“Coach (Jeremy) Moses did a good job preparing him for his game,” Norvell said. “He gave us a shot in the arm, had a couple of explosive runs that we’ve been missing from our offense.”

For the CSU offensive line blocking and opening holes in front of him, a breakout game from a freshman running back was fun to watch and fun to be a part of.

It was the first time this season that CSU had a back run for more than 100 yards. Schield had 90 against UNLV.

“That was awesome watching him,” graduate student offensive lineman Andrew Cannon said. “We got some practice reps with him. We didn’t really get to see what he could do so when he came out on the field and exploded, it was just real cool to see how much of a dawg he is.”

Marshall said after his performance that he couldn’t wait to get the ball and show what he could do. He didn’t even know he was going to see action until his name was called. When it was, he was ready.

Another part of the run game that had failed CSU in previous contests was being able to run the clock at the end of the game.

Against the Aztecs, they were finally able to do that. Morrow ran the ball three times in the final 2:04 and was able to get a first down as San Diego wasted its timeouts. Eventually, the Rams were able to run the clock out on their fourth victory of the season.

“It’s very, very important for us to be able to run the ball well situationally and run the ball when we have to run the ball to win games,” Norvell said.

“That was huge for us,” Cannon added. “We had tried to do that in a few other games and weren’t able to pull it off. So, to finally actually be able to put it on the ground and finish the game, get that last first down was really big for us.”

Norvell said Monday that Marshall will be a big part of the game plan going forward and the Rams will need another strong performance on the ground this week against Nevada.

Kickoff for the Rams’ final home game of the season against the Wolfpack is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Canvas Stadium.

“My daughter, who doesn’t follow college football, if you asked her, who did Denver play for the (NBA Finals) championship?” She might not know it was Miami,” the venerated basketball analyst and “Inside The NBA” stalwart told me last month as he searched for said daughter’s contact info.

“But she called me last week and was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe Colorado was up 29-0 (against Stanford) and lost.’ Deion (Sanders) has a magnetism and gravity that I haven’t seen. … I have not seen it happen (like this). And for college sports and for college football, I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened.”

Coach Prime’s Buffs (4-6, 1-6 Pac-12) probably won’t win another tilt this season. The game management lacks. Handing your offensive play-calling to Pat Shurmur is the kind of Hail Mary that lands like a wounded duck at the 7-yard line. The defense is coming around, but not quickly enough to save what’s left of November. And yet …

Deion Sanders was the right hire.

Coach Prime might not salvage his first season with a bowl bid. But by gosh, he’s salvaged a brand, hasn’t he?

A year ago at this time, the Buffs were 1-9, burnt toast in cleats, fresh off a 55-17 hammering at USC. They’d gone 5-17 over their previous 22 games. Fourteen of those 17 losses were by 20 points or more. If relegation existed the way it does in European soccer, the Buffs would’ve opened 2023 in the RMAC.

I mean, Kenny Smith’s kid sure as heck didn’t give a hoot about Ralphie. Neither did Kenny, now that you mention it.

“You guys were not a national program,” Smith said. “There’s Colorado shirts all over (now). I live in Los Angeles. All over Los Angeles, there’s Colorado shirts. All over Atlanta. All over the country. I’ve never seen that before.

“I wouldn’t even have known the Colorado mascot. It’s a buffalo. I wouldn’t have known that. It’s a female buffalo, right?”

Yep. Nebraska native. Don’t tell anybody.

“I wouldn’t have known,” Smith continued. “I see (the logo) everywhere, everywhere around the country. You guys are just like … you’re in the airport and you’ll see someone wearing North Carolina (gear), like, you start to see it with more frequency. I don’t know what (Sanders has) done for the state, but, golly, you could not do an awareness campaign for this state bigger than that.”

Before the Cult of Prime drove the train, CU football had a cult following. That 2016 division title proved impossible to sustain. And 2020, while it counts, was this odd duck of an autumn — Steve Addazio is still the only CSU coach to beat Wyoming since 2015, and since nobody was there, did it really happen? (It did. It was weird.)

Everybody knows what Buffs football is now, warts and all. It’s Coach Prime. It’s shades. It’s cowboy hats. It’s sellouts. It’s Lil Wayne. It’s The Rock. It’s games that last ’til 1 in the morning. It’s Shedeur Sanders, the coach’s son, making something outta nothing. It’s Travis Hunter, Boulder’s present and future millionaire, somehow covering two guys in the end zone at the same time.

Fanatics.com told me over the summer that CU is now a top-20 seller among college teams worldwide. Time magazine hopped onto the Deion bandwagon, and we’re waiting for Rolling Stone to join the party.

“I think there’s a vibe — there’s a vibe around in all of college football really,” Lynn Boggs, an Alabama businessman who attended the CU-USC game on behalf of the Peach Bowl, told me in late September. “I mean, we even met somebody (at Folsom Field) who came out to this game from Atlanta just because of that, because he grew up watching Coach Prime play.

“I think he is such a great figure in college football. I think what he’s done for the sport overall is just incredible and he’s brought a lot of excitement back to it for fans of any school, of any league, of any region. And it’s just great to see.”

Right hire?

Three words: Saturday. Night. Live.

“Anyone who doesn’t understand what he’s doing just doesn’t want to,” Smith said. “(They) want to have diametrically opposed opinions. And they’re content with that instead of (having) a real opinion of what he has done for (CU), for college football.

“There’s always interest in college football, but to continue it at such a high level and bring casual people into it … my daughter, if I called her right now, she can’t tell you who played in the NBA Finals (last spring), and I’m a basketball analyst. But if I asked her what happened last week in Colorado football, she’s gonna tell me.”

You can’t buy that kind of ad space, images burned with a hot iron into the American psyche. True, there are hard questions about staffing, discipline and execution that need answering, and they may not be the answers Prime wants to hear. Just trying to “out-talent” Power 5 foes might be fun for a fortnight, but it’s not a long-term strategy.

Still, even if this chapter ends at 4-8, CU brass wouldn’t trade the last three months for all the linemen at Cherry Creek. And anybody who tells you otherwise is full of bull junk.

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