Colorado State football was a success in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl

TUCSON, Ariz. – A total disappointment.

The Colorado State football team talked a lot about the importance of making and winning a bowl game, but the Rams performed poorly in front of a large Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl crowd.

Miami (Ohio) took advantage of CSU’s frequent mistakes and won the 2024 Arizona Bowl 43-17.

Here are insights from the game.

The Colorado State football team misses the moment

This was a stage that CSU fans and administration had been watching for years.

CSU hadn’t played in a bowl in seven years. The Rams were desperate to bring relevance to the football program.

It came with this bowl. Snoop Dogg is an icon and the first year he sponsored the Arizona Bowl was met with great interest and excitement.

It was a surreal show, with Snoop stopping by the team’s locker room before the game. Social media was full of photos of Snoop and CSU.

It was a huge crowd for a medium-sized bowl (announced: just over 40,000). The Rams had sold out their ticket allocation several times.

And the team failed to meet the moment.

One game in a strange bowl season won’t decide the future of the program (good or bad outcome), but this was a great opportunity to gain momentum and add gas to the game.

Instead, it was a fire extinguisher.

So many CSU fans were prepared for this. The pep talk the night before was electrifying. Wall to wall with CSU fans celebrating the program’s return to relevance.

Now many of the familiar questions about the team under Jay Norvell will resurface.

Is this program really headed in the direction it needs to be in order to transition to the Pac-12 in 2026? Eight wins can’t be ignored, but the big disappointments in big games (highlighted by the bowl and the game against Colorado) are big warning signs.

Familiar concerns are once again haunting the CSU

Norvell repeatedly said that the Rams would have to play flawlessly to beat Miami.

CSU turned the ball over four times, plus two turnovers on downs (which are not considered official turnovers).

They were also expensive. Miami started drives in CSU territory three times after a turnover and the RedHawks scored 19 points from them.

The offense was almost consistently poor. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was inconsistent in the air, and a bad pick into the arms of a defensive lineman in the first half was costly.

He also had some excellent throws that made the ebb and flow of his game even more apparent.

The Rams need to figure out what drives the offense. The 2024 edition was not good enough.

CSU (8-5) had a terrible second half. Miami (10-5) led just 9-3 at halftime but managed 76 yards on six plays in the third quarter to set the tone.

Miami scored touchdowns on its first three drives of the second half. The RedHawks scored 34 points in the second half and had 271 yards of offense in the second half. Miami ran for more than 200 yards on the ground, including a 97-yard touchdown run, setting an Arizona Bowl record.

Colorado State’s bowl problems continue

CSU hadn’t made a bowl since 2017. The Rams haven’t won a bowl since 2013.

Both are pretty staggering statistics that highlight the long-standing problems of CSU football.

The Rams are now 6-12 all-time in bowl games.

The Colorado State football team misses the moment

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