Know the Foe: Wyoming at Colorado State

Nov. 10—Kevin Lytle has covered Colorado State University football for the Coloradoan since 2017. He weighs in on what UW can expect from this weekend's Border War rivalry game in Fort Collins.

Clay Millen left the game early last weekend against San Jose State. What's CSU's quarterback situation going into this weekend?

Clay Millen left the game against San Jose State, but he was practicing (Tuesday). He's in red, but it looks like he's going to be available to play. It's still to be determined, but it seems likely that Clay Millen will be back in there. If not, it's kind of a big question mark. They've started true freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi when Millen was hurt earlier this year, and they also started Giles Pooler, a redshirt freshman, in another game that Millen missed.

It was actually Jackson Stratton, another true freshman, who came in for Millen last weekend when he got hurt.

It could kind of be any of those three if it's not Millen.

Wide receiver Tory Horton is leading the conference in receptions and receiving yards. What have you seen out of him this year?

Tory Horton is a really good player. He'll be playing on Sundays at some point in the future. He's got a long stride, and he's fast, with pretty good hands. I don't want to say deceptively fast, because that's kind of a weird phrase, but he doesn't look like the fastest guy. He kind of just blows by people to get open. He can also make some good contested catches.

Running back Avery Morrow has been a big part of the offense in recent weeks. How important is his role for the Rams?

He's a really important piece. With the struggles that this team has had moving from a ground-and-pound offense to the air-raid, and also a ton of offensive line issues, they've kind of settled into a pretty decent running game with Morrow. He's going to be a key in this game. He or Horton have been their best player of the last month or so.

Avery Morrow has just been running really hard. He's a kid that came from Nevada and hadn't really had a chance to play there, and has really taken in and run away with his opportunity here. ... They kind of use the running game to open up the passing in this offense, and Morrow is the key piece of that.

The defense has had its struggles this year for CSU. Who has stuck out the most for the Rams defensively?

Probably the most important players start with Mo Kamara on the defensive line. He's a big guy, and he's probably also a guy playing on Sunday in the future. He's really quick off the edge. I think he had four sacks the first couple games, and has obviously started to draw a lot of attention after that. He's a really good player that can disrupt things. Linebacker Dequan Jackson is certainly the heart and soul of the defense. He might not be the best player on the team, but he's the emotional leader.

It feels like he's been at CSU for a long, long time. He's certainly a key, and one of the most important players on this team.

This is definitely an emotional game for both sides because of the historic rivalry. How badly does this Rams team want to play spoiler to UW's conference title hopes this weekend?

Big time. Yesterday, legendary CSU coach Sonny Lubick came and spoke to the team, and he shared a story about early on in his tenure, it was a rebuild and they were struggling, kind of like how this year's team is. He told them how he faced a good Wyoming team and beat them and kind of ruined the Wyoming season that year. It also served as a turning point for CSU to get to eventual success under Sonny Lubick.

I think they're kind of looking from that viewpoint now. They're saying, 'Hey, let's win this week, beat Wyoming, get the Boot and ruin Wyoming's chances of winning the Mountain West.' They want to use this as the turning point for the program under coach Jay Norvell. They want to use this as a pivot for what's to come in the future.

Where does this rivalry rank for you in terms of the rest of college football?

This is a really cool one. The Boot is a pretty neat trophy, with a cool story behind it, and the Boot Run is a really unique event. Like most rivalries, it's built on proximity between Fort Collins and Laramie, so there's a lot of friendly — and sometimes unfriendly — talks between fans. I always appreciate this one because it's one of those hidden gem rivalries that isn't getting as much attention as some of the others.

What does Colorado State have to do to win this game?

Defensively, they need to control the run game a little bit. You have to figure Wyoming will run the ball some, but make sure to limit those really explosive plays. Offensively, CSU finally started moving the ball really well last week. Continuing to do that will be big, but they have to clean up in the red zone.

CSU has been the worst red zone offense in the nation. If this is a low-scoring game, you have to take advantage of those opportunities. It's kind of cliché because it's like this for every game, but you have to figure that turnovers will play a big part in this game, as well.

What are you expecting to see out there Saturday night?

I feel like it'll be a low-scoring game. Wyoming kind of does what Craig Bohl always does. They don't really blow the doors off of anybody, but they defend well and run the ball well. CSU has been doing the same thing when they've been at their best this season, defending well and running the ball well. I expect low scoring, and I think it'll be a tight game. It's always hard to predict, but I think it's going to be a fourth-quarter game. I expect it to be a good one.

Alex Taylor covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net or 269-364-3560. Follow him on Twitter at @alex_m_taylor22