FORT COLLINS — In his CSU debut, Jim Mora sent Wyoming a message you could read all the way in Laramie: This is our Hauss.
“How much does that thing weigh?” a reporter asked victorious Rams quarterback Hauss Hejny as he carried the Bronze Boot, the spoils of the 2026 Border War, beneath the bowels of Canvas Stadium.
“Kinda hefty,” Hejny replied with a smile, loving every step.
If Saturday was any harbinger of what’s to come, CSU might turn into one heck of a load in the new Pac-12.
The Rams have played 10 openers at Canvas Stadium. They’ve never kicked a party off quite the way CSU 35, Cowboys 13 did.
When Mora put down a marker, he aimed right for Pistol Pete’s thorax. The former UCLA and UConn coach introduced himself to FoCo by becoming the first CSU coach to open 1-0 since Mike Bobo in 2015. His defense forced four turnovers, three on interceptions. His transfer quarterback, former Oklahoma State/TCU slinger Hejny, threw for five scores, each twist of the dagger saltier than the last.
“Hell of a job, Hauss,” Mora told him after the game.
Sure as heck was. While the Cowboys were getting the boot, Hauss ran around like the Bo Nix of the North, capping his line with 215 passing yards, 39 rush yards on seven attempts and a wacky tipped catch for another 28 yards receiving.
“Just a lucky catch,” the Aledo, Texas, native cracked.
Fortune favors the bold, baby. And speaking of bold, fans by the thousands ignored the public-address system’s warning not to storm the field, as players and patrons in green danced the night away.
Then, in another twist, that same P.A. system blasted ” over the stadium speakers. Another playful poke at the Pokes, who suffered their worst margin of defeat ever at Canvas, which opened in 2017, and their worst in the historic rivalry series since 2013, when the Rams raced to a 52-22 victory.
Of Hejny’s five scores, the third might’ve been his sweetest. After the Rams’ third pick of the evening set the offense up at midfield, the kid let ‘er rip.
On second-and-7 from the CSU 43 with 4:00 left in the quarter, No. 8 dropped back and found wideout RJ Vick racing all alone between the hash marks. Hejny waited and fired — the only question was whether the rainbow coming from the Rams’ QB had enough air under it for a sure six. There was. Canvas roared again as CSU went up 20-13 before the extra point.
No. 8 started in Oklahoma State’s opener a year ago, breaking a bone in his foot that ended his season after one game. Fast forward to September 2026, and the kid looked like a Power-4 quarterback dicing a Group of Five defense. Hejny had it all working in the second half. Arm. Legs. Eyes. And is there a more Texas moniker than Hauss? Hejny was a tough, ornery little sucker, a cowboy who’s listed at 6-foot but plays with a 6-foot-4 swagger.
The Rams outscored Wyoming 21-7 in the second half, including two touchdowns in the final 12 minutes, to blow open a contest that’d been nip-and-tuck at halftime. Wyoming was ripping off yardage in chunks, but CSU bowed up against the Pokes in the Rams’ red zone. Half of Wyoming’s first six first-half drives made it inside the Rams’ 30-yard-line. The visitors also came away with only two field goals to show for it.
Coordinator Tyson Summers’ D snuffed two of those drives with picks. The second came with 4:32 left in the half, on a third-and-4 throw as the Pokes’ Eric Richardson fell along the right boundary on a timing route. Wyoming QB Tyler Hughes let it go anyway, and cornerback CJ Blocker stepped in front of the ball for the hosts’ second pick of the tilt.
CSU took over at its own 49, and Mora went back to the ground. On second-and-1, Mel Brown bounced to his left and rambled 37 yards before being dragged down at the Wyoming 13. The hosts converted a third-and-1 on a toss to the right to bring up a fresh set of downs at the Pokes’ 3.
Old Hauss wasn’t waiting around. Hejny took the play fake, rolled right, and found Reginald Vick Jr. open in the end zone, extending the hosts’ lead to 13-3 before the extra point.
Rams QBs in the Canvas Stadium Era have tended to be either pure throwers or run-first types. Hauss seemed comfortable with both—and whenever he took off, CSU faithful held their collective breath.
Hejny scampered around in the first half like a mini-Nix, radar in the pocket always scanning for danger, elusive as quicksilver in the open field. The Texan completed 16 of his first 21 throws for 105 yards and two scores, getting it out quick and favoring the safe over the sorry.
Mora’s first two gambles, on the other hand, paid off handsomely. CSU’s opening drive stumbled at the Wyoming 42. On a fourth-and-2 with 12:27 left in the first quarter, the new coach and QB didn’t hesitate. Hejny hit another UConn import, wideout Jackson Harper, for a 7-yard gain, and a sleepy stadium began to stir in the summer heat.
Turns out Gamblin’ Jim was only just getting warmed up. On the first down that followed, another former UConn wideout, Terence Smith Jr., took a handoff from Hejny, effectively trading spots with his usual target. Smith then faded to his right, reared back and fired a wounded duck across the field, a jump ball up the left boundary. After dangling in the air for what felt like forever, just waiting to be picked off, the ball somehow bounced off two Cowboys defenders. Hejny, who didn’t give up on the play, reached over and snared it off the carom, the way a fan catches a home run blasted into an empty row of bleachers. The Texan turned a whole lot of nothing into a 28-yard gain at the Wyoming 8.
“I saw the ball in the air, and I saw two defenders on me, so I was like, ‘I’m going to try and draw a (pass interference call), if I can,'” the Rams QB recalled later. “Football gods are on our side right there.”
The throw, even for a guy wearing gloves, looked terrible. The roar that followed it was thunderous. The hosts scored two plays later when Hejny rolled right and flipped it in the flat to a wide-open Cedric Ross. The tailback outraced everybody to the pylon and put the hosts up 6-0.
It was the first time CSU scored a touchdown on its very first offensive drive of the season at Canvas Stadium. And the first time they scored on the first drive of a home opener since 2015 at old Hughes Stadium. Three coaches and one building ago.
Mora’s opener had some warts, to be sure, but the Cowboys’ concerns were louder. Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel hosts UNC next weekend. As we learned last year in Fort Collins, the Bears aren’t exactly the team a mid-major FBS coach wants coming into their house when they’re starting to feel some heat. Just ask Jay Norvell.
That was then.
This is wow.
“This is a message for the rest of the Pac-12,” linebacker Oumar Diamonde said. “We’re coming.”
Coming? They’re here. For one September night, at least, the Rams, to a man, have their Hauss in order.
