{"id":724,"date":"2025-10-13T06:45:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T06:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/724\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T06:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T06:45:21","slug":"rocky-beers-jay-norvells-csu-rams-defense-roast-fresno-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/724\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Beers, Jay Norvell’s CSU Rams defense roast Fresno State"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT COLLINS \u2014 The New Belgium Porch opened its arms wide<\/a> for the biggest Beers in the building.<\/p>\n

Especially when that Beers \u2014 CSU tight end and Valor Christian alum Rocky Beers<\/a> \u2014 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI actually don\u2019t drink,\u201d Beers said with a grin after scoring two touchdowns in the Rams\u2019 49-21 demolition of Fresno State. \u201cBut yeah, it fits with the last name. It was good to celebrate with the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t 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\u2019s worth of frustration out on the overrated Bulldogs (5-2).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The other team was CSU.<\/p>\n

Yep. That CSU. Northern Colorado CSU. Washington State CSU. Same guys. Different outcome. Completely different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually don\u2019t talk to (the team) after we go to the movies, but I did (Thursday) night,\u201d embattled Rams coach Jay Norvell recalled. \u201cAnd the one thing that I told our team was that, \u2018The cavalry\u2019s 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\u2019s going to feel sorry for us.\u2019 And so, I think they heard me (Thursday) night. I really do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did they ever. Friday\u2019s Rams were 2024 peak Rammies again \u2014 physical on offense, relentless on defense, desperate, dangerous, opportunistic and refreshingly fun.<\/p>\n

\"JustinJustin Marshall (20) of the Colorado State Rams takes a long rush to the end zone during a game against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, at Canvas Stadium in Ft. Collins, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

CSU\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019 crew forced four turnovers, picked off Fresno State QB E.J. Warner<\/a> \u2014 son of Kurt \u2014 three times, stripped him once (for a score) and sacked him five times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you guys could see this,\u201d said Rams linebacker Owen Long, who added to his breakout season with a game-high 17 tackles (nine solo) and a sack. \u201cBut I had so much fun on the field tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Defensive end Kenyon Agurs hustled his tail off to get across the field and rip the ball out of Warner\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Who were these guys? More to the point, where had they been?<\/p>\n

Even the low moments didn\u2019t 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).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Marshall got free for a 73-yard touchdown jaunt up the right boundary on the Rams\u2019 third play from scrimmage \u2014 and CSU was literally and figuratively off to the races from there.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"ColoradoColorado State Rams head coach Jay Norvell looks back to the bench during a game against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, at Canvas Stadium in Ft. Collins, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting our butts kicked,\u201d Kurt Warner posted to X during the game. \u201cHats off to CSU!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hats off, indeed.<\/p>\n

Pressure off?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be a team that doesn\u2019t beat itself,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cAnd if we can do that, we\u2019re going to put ourselves in position to do some positive things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amen. Hawaii, next weekend\u2019s homecoming dance partner, isn\u2019t any better than Fresno. Wyoming was outscored by a margin of 99-43 during a three-game losing streak versus Utah, CU and UNLV.<\/p>\n

Is Fresno a fraud? Is CSU decent? Or a blind squirrel that finally wandered into a nut?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was finally nice to give back to the defense because they\u2019ve been kind of carrying us and holding strong for us the past couple of games,\u201d reflected Beers, who finished with three catches for 26 yards. \u201cSo it was nice to give back to them and put on a show for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beers was on fire. Now it\u2019s on Norvell to bottle these Rams, to bottle this vibe, and carry it the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

\"ColoradoColorado State Rams outside linebacker Paul Tangelo (52) drags Fresno State Bulldogs\u2019 Andre Cobb (2) into the end zone for a touchdown after a fumble recovery on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, at Canvas Stadium in Ft. Collins, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT COLLINS \u2014 The New Belgium Porch opened its arms wide for the biggest Beers in the building.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1321,1327,743,1322,1323,112,114,113,1324,181,1325,127,1326],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-college-football","tag-college-sports","tag-colorado-state","tag-colorado-state-football","tag-colorado-state-rams","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-jay-norvell","tag-latest-headlines","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}