FORT COLLINS — Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi struck the wrong pose.
And he just might’ve kick-started Travis Hunter’s Heisman Trophy march with one little gesture.
Down 14-3, Fowler-Nicolosi, the CSU Rams’ sophomore quarterback, rolled right and bumped Hunter on the sideline as the pair went out of bounds.
Words were exchanged. But the kicker was when the Rams signal-caller leaned in and gave Hunter a “too small” taunt. The same one Patrick Beverley gave to LeBron James last year.
Two problems. One, BFN isn’t as good a quarterback — yet — as Beverley is a trash-talker. Second, Hunter might be to college football right now what Old Man Bron is to hoops peers: A generational talent. The king.
Following that exchange, the Buffs’ two-way star, who played more than 100 snaps in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, caught four balls for 31 yards and two touchdowns — and that was just on offense. On defense, No. 12 picked up an interception and an all-time unsportsmanlike penalty for celebrating that pick with his teammates, powering CU’s 28-9 win over the Rams in the first-ever Showdown at Canvas Stadium.
Hunter picked BFN off with 18 seconds left in the third quarter on fourth-and-12 and ran it right back up the right sideline. After the play was over, the future NFL first-round draft pick partied at the CSU 10, with Hunter spinning the ball like a top while a group of CU defenders appeared to stretch their arms out as if being warmed by a pigskin fire.
Out came the flags for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the point was made.
The Buffs (2-1) weren’t just here to win.
They were here to make a statement.
Especially coming off the heels of a humbling 28-10 loss at Nebraska the weekend prior.
Like Lincoln a week ago, Fort Fun brought the noise and brought the heat early. Unlike Nebraska, the Rams couldn’t ride that momentum to knock the Buffs out of the game early.
The Buffs didn’t just find a run game. They found a feature back in true freshman Micah Welch (seven carries, 50 yards in the first half). They found an offensive line tweak with legs by moving Tyler Brown to left guard and inserting Phillip Houston as starting right tackle.
CSU let CU hang around. They let Shedeur Sanders get comfortable in the pocket. They let Hunter and LaJohntay Wester get comfortable between the hash marks. They let the Buffs get comfortable enough to find a foothold.
And once they did, the Rams were in trouble.
The Cornhuskers had scored a touchdown the first time they had the ball, a touchdown the fourth time they had the ball, and fired off a quick pick-6 in between to forge a 21-0 cushion by midway through the second quarter.
Midway through the second stanza, CSU had managed a field goal, 61 yards of total offense and three punts.
The Rams seemed content to play the field-position game rather than open it up — a gambit that came back to bite them, especially after a pair of ill-timed penalties gave two CU scoring drives oxygen. Sanders and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur simply ducked and weaved until they could fire off some shots of their own.
The haymakers began with 8:47 to go until halftime. On second-and-13 from the CU 44-yard line, with CSU still clinging to that 3-0 cushion, the younger Sanders fired incomplete up the right hashmark for wideout Jimmy Horn Jr. But instead of third-and-forever at midfield, a roughing the passer call on Rams defensive lineman Andrew Laurich gave the visitors a first down at the CU 47. Six plays later, the Buffs QB found Wester on a 4-yard slant for a score, CU’s first of the evening.
Sanders and Wester were just getting warmed up. On the Buffs’ next drive, a series of CU penalties had turned a second-and-1 at the visiting 41 into second-and-21 at the CU 21. The Buffs went back to Welch off the left side, and a big gain flipped the field entirely when a 15-yard face mask call on CSU defensive lineman James Mitchell gave the Buffs first down at the home 48.
Four plays after the flag, Wester got free on a crossing route with 58 seconds left, Sanders found him, and the former outran the CSU secondary for a 34-yard touchdown. The jaunt pushed the Buffs’ cushion to 13-3 and capped arguably the most complete half of the Deion Sanders Era at CU.
“We are featuring a running game today, the running backs are doing well,” Sanders told CBS Sports at halftime. “I’m so darn proud of the offensive line, the defensive line, and Buff Nation as well.”
The Rams, meanwhile, seemed stuck in neutral. Unlike Sanders, Fowler-Nicolosi started tentative and stayed there, rolling out sometimes by design, usually for safety.
While the home crowd begged to see BFN veering from the safe approach, his aggression backfired on the hosts’ initial drive of the second half. On second-and-9 from the CSU 4, the Rams QB scrambled right in his own end zone and fired a ball over the middle of the field that was intercepted by CU’s Preston Hodge at the 20, with the latter’s 8-yard runback gifting the Buffs the ball at the CSU 12. The younger Sanders zipped a 2-yard slant to Hunter for a score two plays after that to push CU to a 20-3 lead and make the rest of the evening academic.
Dinged-up CSU wideout Tory Horton answered the bell, to his credit, but wasn’t a factor early — or late. The Rams were salty before the game and chatty during it. The last word belonged to Hunter and the scoreboard. Not necessarily in that order.
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