Strike 1: It was a perfect night for football, however the football was anything but perfect.

The Colorado State campus was fired up, and the record-breaking crowd created a fever pitched atmosphere never before seen at CSU. But the 2024 version of the Rocky Mountain Showdown failed to come close to matching the fireworks from the year before, leaving most of those who tuned in on national TV reaching for their remotes.

If last season’s game was a barnburner, this year’s was a campfire that was easily doused. Lackluster at best.

For their part, the Colorado Buffaloes did enough to take down their in-state rivals for the seventh straight time, having perhaps discovered something of a running game, and maybe even a tight end they can throw the ball to. CU head coach Deion Sanders and his QB son’s late game risk taking/stats padding play calling (and don’t think for one second it was offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur sending in long pass plays with under two minutes to play) was head shaking to say the least, offensive to every Rams follower, and downright dumb if you didn’t have a dog in the fight. It was a sign of an inexperienced head coach who’s priorities aren’t in the right place and have zero to do with program building.

Overall, the Buffs were meh.

The Rams on the other hand simply failed to answer the bell. The questionable CSU defense hung in there for the most part, holding the Buffs under the 30 point mark. The CSU offense (which was supposed to be able to at least match that) however was lousy. They were ineffective after a first scoring drive (and a mishandled snap cost them a chance at a touchdown.) Four costly turnovers gave the Buffs a short field for one score, and another inside the 10-yard line cost the Rams another. CSU committed another 10 penalties, including a costly and needless personal foul that kept a CU scoring drive alive. The vaunted Rams “Air Raid” offense had 12 passing yards at halftime. Head coach Jay Norvell is clearly trying to establish a running game early in the season, which is a good thing. But has it come at the expense of the explosive passing game Rams fans seeing enjoyed a season ago?

The end result was what most expected. CU moved to 2-1, with CSU falling to 1-2. The question now is what will these two teams do from this point forward? The goal for both programs this season was to make it to a bowl game. The Buffs now need four more wins, the Rams five. Can either or both reach that goal?

The Rams have the easier schedule, with at least seven winnable games left on the slate, starting with a home game against UTEP on Saturday. The Miners have a new head coach who will bring a fast-paced, hurry up passing attack to the Fort, but their defense isn’t among the best CSU will face this season. Future conference foe Oregon State will be a tough ask, as will Fresno State later in the year. Other than that, the Rams have a manageable group of Mountain West games ahead of them. Can they do better than break even?

In order to find five more wins, the Ram offense – and quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi in particular – need to be a whole lot better. In trying to cut back on his mistakes from a season ago, Nicolosi appears more tentative, which leads to just the opposite result. He has looked more like a freshman this season than he did as a freshman last year. That has to change. Quick.

As for Deion’s Buffs…

The schedule is not on their side. This week’s conference foe, Baylor had been penciled in as a likely ‘W’ before the season, and CU will be the betting favorite. But the Bears and their vastly improved defense did handle Air Force with relative ease on Saturday. While the Falcons appear to be down this year (for a change) the Bears are now 2-1, having lost by 11 points at Big 12 favorite Utah for their only setback.

After this weekend things get even tougher.

An east coast road trip to Central Florida is followed by a visit from nationally ranked Kansas State. A trip to Arizona, another to Texas Tech and yet another to Kansas are big hurdles. November home games against Utah and Oklahoma State appear to be tall tasks, too.

What we’ve seen from CU to date is a team that can score quickly from almost anywhere on the field, but a team that’s still suspect at best in the trenches. Depending on Shedeur Sanders and his wideouts to score in bunches in order to try to win shootouts might help in padding some stats and impressing scouts, but isn’t the best recipe for success in the win-loss column.

Oddly enough, in the race to bowl eligibility, the loser of the Rocky Mountain Showdown has the inside lane.