Live recap: Jay Norvell, Colorado State football team beat Nevada

RENO, Nev. — The beginning of Mountain West play for the Colorado State football team.

The highly anticipated return of Jay Norvell to Nevada, where he coached the previous five seasons.

A late-Friday national TV audience.

For two struggling teams, there is a lot of interesting going on in this matchup Friday night as CSU plays at Nevada (8:30 p.m. MT on FS1).

Coloradoan reporter Kevin Lytle will have live coverage from Reno on Friday as the Rams battle the Wolf Pack.

CSU wins

Michael Boyle hit a 43-yard field goal to give CSU a 17-14 win over Nevada.

The Rams drove down in a 2-minute offense to get in field goal range, largely due to two catches by Tory Horton (the first a 26-yarder). Boyle missed his first attempt but was roughed and hit his second try.

3 takeaways:CSU football stuns Nevada with last-second field goal

Guess what, a punt!

Nevada goes three-and-out and has to punt. CSU ball at own 21 with 2:17 to go.

Nevada gets next chance

CSU quickly goes three-and-out and has to punt. Nevada ball own 34 after punt.

It's 14-14 with 3:11 to go.

CSU forces punt

Nevada threatened, moving into CSU territory, but Rams force a punt at own 45. CSU ball at own 10 with 4:41 to go.

CSU offense can't respond

CSU's drive after Nevada's TD stalled near midfield and the Rams had to punt.

Nevada ball at own 25. The game is tied at 14 with 6:38 to go.

Nevada ties it up

Toa Taua runs in from 2 yards out and Nevada ties the game 14-14 with 8:53 to go.

It was a 51-yard drive for Nevada, set up with a 31-yard play on the first play of the series.

CSU's offense has to find a way to do something.

Offenses still unable to click

CSU can't find the one offensive drive it needs to put the game away.

The Rams punt again and Nevada ball near midfield after punt and kick-catch interference on CSU. Rams lead 14-7 with 10:34 to go in the game.

End third quarter

CSU lead is 14-7. Nevada ball first-and-10 on own 43 to start the fourth quarter of this bafflingly strange game between two bad teams.

CSU fumbles at red zone

Just when it looked like the CSU offense might boost the lead, the Rams shoot themselves in the foot again. Avery Morrow has been running great and eclipsed 100 yards on this drive but then he fumbled at the Nevada 20 and the Wolf Pack recovered. Huge play because a two-score lead would be big.

CSU lead 14-7 with 1:36 left in third quarter.

These offense are not great

No other way to say it other than these offenses are, well, offensive. Pretty putrid play on each side.

Teams are trading punts.

Tory Horton with a big return to put the Rams at own 48.

Morrow running well

CSU's first drive of the second half did have some success via Avery Morrow, who is up to 89 rush yards on the game. But a negative rush play with Vivens and a false start stalled out the drive just inside Nevada territory.

Nevada ball at own 10 after the punt.

CSU forces punt to start second half

A good defensive start to CSU, with a three-and-out for Nevada on the first drive of the third quarter.

CSU ball at own 34 to start first drive of half.

Halftime

Colorado State 14, Nevada 7.

CSU leads on the backs of two defensive touchdowns. The CSU offense has done nothing. The Rams have 72 yards of offense in the first half.

Nevada has 233 yards of offense.

Nevada receives the second-half kickoff.

Touchdown Nevada

Nevada virtually ends the half (14 seconds left) with a 99-yard TD drive. It was finished off with a Toa Taua 4-yard run. It was a 17-play, 99-yard drive in 6:47.

The drive included a couple controversial plays. On Nevada's first, first down of the drive Nate Cox appeared to be stopped short of the line to gain at his own 10 but the first down was given and there wasn't a review. Nevada would have had to punt from its 10 if the first down wasn't given.

Later in the drive CSU gave up 15 free yards on a late hit that some felt was questionable.

Nevada converted a 4th and 6 from CSU's 33 to get deep into the red zone.

CSU lead is 14-7 with 14 seconds left in the half.

Penalty costs CSU

The Ram offense briefly got going, with good runs from Tory Horton (on a reverse) and Avery Morrow. Morrow's 24-yard run put CSU at the 24 but he picked up an unsportsmanlike penalty pushing the Rams back and it stalled the drive.

Paddy Turner's punt pinned Nevada inside its own 1.

CSU forces turnover on downs

CSU's offense still isn't doing anything but the defense is clicking. After another CSU punt, Nevada moved the ball into CSU's half and faced a 4th and 1 from the 44.

The Rams held, with a host of tacklers stuffing Toa Taua for no gain. Henry Blackburn and Mo Kamara led the charge.

Now the offense gets the ball with decent field position. Can it move the ball?

CSU defense holds

CSU's defense held in the red zone, including a great tackle for loss by Henry Blackburn. Then Nevada kicker Matthew Killam shanked a 28-yard attempt. Nevada's star kicker Brandon Talton is out hurt.

CSU's lead remains 14-0 with 14:09 until half.

End first quarter

CSU leads 14-0 on two defensive touchdowns, but Nevada is inside CSU's 10. Nevada 2nd and goal from the 6 to start second quarter.

CSU defense scores again

CSU defensive lineman Mukendi Wa-Kalonji picked up a fumble when Nevada's Devonte Lee tried to pitch the ball while going down.

Wa-Kalonji raced 50 yards for the second defensive touchdown of the quarter for the Rams. It's the first time CSU has scored two defensive TDs in one game since 2012.

Rams lead 14-0 with 3:44 left in the first quarter.

Another interception

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is picked off as he's hit as he's thrown for the second pick of the game. He was slow to get up. Nevada ball at own 31.

If Fowler-Nicolosi can't go, Giles Pooler would be next up.

CSU football takes lead on Pick-6

Following Nevada's interception, CSU one-upped the Wolf Pack. CSU safety Ayden Hector jumped a telegraphed Nate Cox pass into the flat, grabbed it and returned it 22 yards for a TD.

CSU is up 7-0 with 9:03 left in the first quarter. It's CSU's first lead of the season and first, first-quarter points of the season.

Hector's is the first pick-six since Marshaun Cameron had one against Wyoming in 2020, a span of 18 games.

Nevada intercepts Fowler-Nicolosi

On a third-and-long near midfield CSU QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi fired deep and was picked off by safety Bentlee Sanders on the overthrow.

Never had a chance to be completed, but also functionally serves as a punt. Nevada ball at own 18.

Far from a sellout

Nevada tried to promote this game as a #PackTheMack in a bid for a sellout, but it is far from that. Plenty of empty seats in the 27,000 seat stadium.

While the announced attendance will surely be above 20K, it's probably in the 17,000 range.

Teams trade punts

If you're wondering, neither of these offenses are good. So, punts for each team to start is no surprise.

CSU starts three-and-out

CSU received the opening kick and went five-wide on the first play for Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, a quick screen to Tory Horton. The Rams quickly went three-and-out though.

CSU is seeking its first first-quarter points of the season.

Thomas Pannunzio has left the team

CSU receiver Thomas Pannunzio has left the team ahead of the Nevada game. Pannunzio’s main role was as a punt returner and he had a punt return touchdown last season.

He has one season of eligibility remaining by sitting out the rest of this season. He spent time at both receiver and in the secondary at CSU.

With him gone, Tory Horton will likely be CSU’s main punt returner. A’Jon Vivens and Justice McCoy also were fielding punts in warmups.

Receiver Gerick Robinson has also left the team.

Injury updates for CSU football

It’s not all good news for CSU on the injury front, but more good than bad.

The two big absences are quarterback Clay Millen and safety Jack Howell. Millen will be replaced by Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi. Howell leads CSU in tackles and interceptions.

Good updates for CSU are cornerback Greg Laday, defensive tackle Devin Phillips, offensive linemen Dontae Keys and Dante Bivens, running back A’Jon Vivens and safety Henry Blackburn all participated in warmups.

Jay Norvell with a frosty meeting for Ken Wilson

CSU coach Jay Norvell made a beeline for Nevada coach Ken Wilson during warmups and the two held a brief, but seemingly tense conversation.

Wilson suggested that Norvell may committed NCAA violations in recruiting former Nevada players to CSU. Norvell was flanked by two police officers as he took the field.

CSU team bus arrives quietly

There was no fanfare nor incident around CSU team bus arrival. Granted, the team locker room and bus parking spot is far away from main tailgate sections, so few fans were around.

There's some tailgating around campus but a fairly quiet gameday so far.

Score predictions?

An ask on Twitter for score predictions for the game is a mixed bag of results right now.

What do you think? Who will win and what will the final score be?

What will the Nevada crowd look like?

One of the reasons Jay Norvell said he left Nevada for CSU (read more about that here) was overall fan support. Nevada is averaging 13,676 fans in the 27,000-seat Mackay Stadium through two games. CSU is above 26,000 in two games despite poor results.

"During Norvell's tenure, the Wolf Pack averaged an announced 17,915 fans per home game, discounting the 2020 season which did not allow more than 250 fans due to the pandemic. Those 17,915 fans — which in reality was closer to 13,000 in actual attendance — is 10,000 below capacity in one of the FBS' smallest stadiums," writes Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Net.

Nevada is calling Friday's game a blackout, selling cheap tickets and pulling out the stops for a big crowd. We'll see what it looks like.

A new quarterback for Colorado State

While Jay Norvell wouldn't publicly rule out the injured Clay Millen, it's almost certain that the redshirt freshman won't play in his return to Nevada as he rests his shoulder.

Assuming that's the case, it means true freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi (a former Nevada commit) would make his first start. Read up on that and other injuries here:

Injury update:Clay Millen and several key Rams with important injury updates

What they're saying about Jay Norvell back to Nevada

It's a mixed bag of responses to Jay Norvell's return to Nevada, where he was the head coach for the last five seasons. New Nevada coach Ken Wilson threw gas on the fire, current Nevada players have varied answers and CSU has mostly deferred away from the discussion.

Ken Wilson: “I think what happened to the players here doesn’t happen in college football very often. I don’t think coaches, at least coaches that I work with, leave their team before a bowl game and take players and tell players not to play in the bowl game and tell players to go to the NFL draft. There’s just a lot of things here that don’t usually happen.”

Current Nevada player JoJuan Claiborne: "I think it's lame that people are switching the narrative for what? Sell more tickets to a game?...Don't discredit this man for doing nothing but spreading love to the Reno Community for as long as he could."

CSU QB Clay Millen: “I’m not going to get too much into the drama,” he said on his weekly radio show on 1310 KFKA, but added, “No one ever told me ‘Do not play in the bowl game.’"

Jay Norvell: “I don’t even know what he said, to be honest with you. I’m not even concerned about really who we’re playing. I’m more concerned about our team and growing and developing this team. So, no, I’m not going to comment on that.”

CSU lineman Jacob Gardner: “It’s just another football game. I’m a football player, I just want to play football. I’m not here to talk about anything else. It’s a football game. It’s just that simple.”

Nevada RB Devonte Lee: "There's some people who feel like Jay Norvell turned this program around and some people feel like he wasn't right the way he left. So it really is just preference. We don't hold any bad blood as a team. We're really just looking forward to that next opponent."

War of words:Read more about the debate on Jay Norvell's departure from Nevada

Black jerseys, blackout for Nevada

Nevada unveiled new blackout jerseys for Friday's game. The jersey is black with blue lettering and numbers outlined in silver. "Nevada" is spelled out across the front of the chest. The black pants have the Battle Born logo from the Nevada state flag in silver and blue on each hip.

The Wolf Pack also will wear a silver flake helmet with the sport wolf logo and facemask both in blue, per Nevada Sports Net.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Live updates: Jay Norvell, Colorado State football team play at Nevada