Strike 2: It’s time for Jay Norvell to make a bold move that could save his job.

It’s time for Colorado State’s third-year head coach to look back into his vast rolodex of coaching contacts and find someone to bring in – yes, even in October – to take over the play calling duties for the Rams. Before it’s too late.

Now that Norvell has put the “Air Raid” offense into mothballs in Fort Collins, it should not be difficult to find a veteran play caller to bring aboard. It needs to be someone with whom Norvell has worked with at one of his previous nine collegiate coaching stops and can work comfortably with again, who is well versed in what’s transitioned into a more standard, run-first, ball control offense.

The reason is simple: Colorado State’s sideline game management has continued to cost them close games. There’s no better example than Saturday night’s 2OT loss at Oregon State. Four delay of game penalties (13 penalties total) plus at least a half dozen timeouts that were forced to be called to avoid even more delay flags. The offense and the entire sideline looks disjointed.

And it can all be fixed.

The head coach needs to be in charge of what’s happening at the moment, and not focused solely on what’s going to happen on the next snap.

Norvell has called the offensive plays since he arrived in FoCo. He has “associate head coach/quarterbacks” coach Matt Mumme on his staff, and Mumme is the guy well versed in the “Air Raid” system brought into existence by his father Hal. CSU does not officially employ an offensive coordinator at the moment. Mumme doesn’t call the plays. And while “Air Raid” is still talked about, five games into the season, it’s clearly no longer CSU’s go-to, having been dumped in favor of a more balanced, physical attack. CSU is running the ball more this season than at any time in Norvell’s tenure. Against the Beavers, CSU handed the ball off 36 times for 176 yards, and dropped back to pass 33 times to gain 263.

That being the case, CSU could hire an OC of Norvell’s choosing, leave Mumme to coach the QB’s, and free up the head coach to handle some of the details that aren’t being handled very well at this point.

Remember, Norvell was a defensive back/linebacker during his playing days. He’s not a “throw it all over the field” guy by nature. The change to a run-first approach is very clearly his idea and fits him better anyway. With a defense that’s inexperienced and suspect up front, he could certainly lend his expertise on that side of the ball as well.

It was the offense that was supposed to pick up the slack and be the strength of this year’s team. That’s not been the case thus far. Far too many little things – like the horrid play calling on the final four plays against Oregon State – have gone wrong.

It’s not a secret that the Rams new athletic director and school president are in “win-now” mode with their football program. Norvell’s seat gets hotter with every defeat. So it’s no longer “when,” but “who” would be the right fit for Norvell to relinquish play calling duties to so that he can focus on game management and the big picture.

Norvell’s been around college football for a long time. He knows a lot of people (coaches) and has a ton of contacts. Surely he knows someone he could bring in to run the kind of offense he wants to hang his hat on so he can get his sideline in order?

If he waits too much longer, and things continue to go like they’re going, it won’t be his decision to make for much longer.