After taking a couple of turns, they happened upon a football field and saw members of the Rams team practicing on their own. Mora admits he slowed down a bit but never stopped.

“One day, it was a Saturday morning, it was about 8:15 a.m., and there is our botanical garden right over here. If you haven’t been there, you should drive by it; the flowers are gorgeous,” Mora said. “So, my wife and I are driving by there with the intent of just looking at the flowers because it����ap gorgeous, and we take a left, and we take another left, and there’s a football field over there. And the team was out there at 8:15 on a Saturday morning practicing on their own.

“So, I’m not going to lie. I slowed down. I didn’t stop because I’m not allowed to stop and watch, but it was like, ‘Oh my God, that����ap what you’ve got to have.’ That����ap a player-led team, and that����ap what I saw. Maybe they knew I was going to go out and look at the flowers or something, so they all ran out there really quickly, but I don’t think so. I think that����ap just who they are.”

Player-led practices like the one Mora happened to catch a glimpse of have played an integral role in player development and bonding in the past, and with a large roster turnover from last year, should again this season.

Defensive lineman Jack Moran said even though the team had been together in the spring, those practices helped the players not only sharpen their skills but build confidence and the bond they need to have to be successful this fall, especially in a couple of key areas.

“I think our focus and our speed during those practices,” Moran said. “I think we did a really good job of staying focused, rallying around each other in those harder times.”

Newcomer Jackson Harper, a transfer from UConn, said the player-led practices were important because, on those Saturdays, the players are the leaders between the sidelines when the coaches are purposefully absent.

“We try to be a player-led team because player-led teams are successful,” Harper said. “The coaches aren’t out there on the field with you in the game. We would get together, the whole offense as a group. The defense would get together, no coaches out there. We would find a field around here and get together and work together.”

The team hopes their extra preparation and time forming a bond will translate to success once their Sept. 5 season opener against Wyoming arrives.

“It����ap been a process that started all the way back in January, led into spring ball, and we’ve taken huge steps throughout the summer,” Harper said.

Five Rams named to Pac-12 Impact List

CSU had five players named to the Pac-12’s 2026 preseason impact list late last week. The league released the list in lieu of a preseason all-conference team.

Tight end Juice Vereen, wide receiver Terrence Smith Jr., running back/kick returner Mel Brown, linebacker Oumar Diomande and defensive back Caleb Presley were each recognized by the league ahead of the season.

Diomande, a native of New York City and The Bronx, was 20th in the nation with his UConn-leading 116 total tackles last season, and his 65 solo tackles were tied for seventh in the country. Vereen grabbed 22 receptions for 310 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games last season with the Huskies.

Brown was limited to just five games last season due to injury but recorded 262 yards on 32 attempts with a pair of touchdowns for UConn. In 13 games as a junior, he racked up 673 yards on the ground while averaging 29.1 yards per kick return.

Smith Jr. spent two seasons with the Huskies before following Mora to Fort Collins. Last season he played in all 13 games and logged four receptions for 34 yards, while racking up 75 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Presley has previous Pac-12 experience, having started his career at Washington before spending the 2025 season at San Jose State. He played in 12 games for the Spartans, racking up 22 tackles, one tackle for loss and two pass breakups.

Starting QB decision won’t come soon

Mora said Monday after practice that he won’t name a starting quarterback anytime soon, possibly not until right before kickoff against the Cowboys.

“We’re going to name a starter probably about 4:02 p.m. on September 5th, not before that,” Mora said.

The quarterback battle has only intensified during the first week of fall camp. With seven signal callers on the roster, the competition to be the starters has narrowed, but not one has definitively solidified starter status.

In fact, it wouldn’t been surprising to see the Rams go with multiple quarterbacks early in the season.

Hauss Hejny and K’saan Farrar lead the pack. Both have had sensational moments last spring and early in fall camp as well. Returner Darius Curry has caught Mora’s attention also.

“They’re both highly competitive,” Mora said. “So, even if we were to name a starter today, they’d both continue to compete well. I’m putting DC in there because he’s competing his tail off, too. I have a lot of respect for that one.”

“You start out talking to the high school coach, you’re trying to get a list of players, and Mora was the first name they brought up,” Lubick, the CSU Rams’ coaching icon, recalled to me Tuesday.

This was 1979, when Sonny was combing greater Seattle for prospects as a plucky young head coach at Montana State. Mora’s jib had the kind of cut that Lubick liked — a scrappy, play-anywhere teenage plugger at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Wash., the son of a coach.

“We got this Mora kid,” an Interlake coach told Lubick, “but I don’t know if he’ll be leaving the Seattle area.”

“Well, I’d like to talk to him,” Lubick countered.

“So,” I wondered Tuesday. “how’d it go?”

Sonny laughed.

“I don’t think I had a chance to talk to him on that first trip,” Lubick chuckled. “And I guess everything is history after that.”

Mora, as it turns out, never did leave Seattle to play college ball. Jim eventually walked on at the University of Washington, where he was a backup defensive back and linebacker for two Rose Bowl teams under Don James.

Ain’t life funny? Here they are, reunited 46 years later, under the same green and gold tent. Lubick remains a living legend in FoCo, having turned 89 this past March. His 108 football wins at CSU from 1993-2007 put the Rams on the map and remains the program’s gold standard.

Mora, 64, is CSU’s sixth coach since Sonny hung ’em up. These days, that Mora kid practices on a surface — Sonny Lubick Field at Canvas Stadium — named for the former Montana State coach.

“I had forgotten. The first time I saw him (in Fort Collins), (Lubick) goes, ‘You know, I recruited you,'” Mora told me Tuesday afternoon. “I’m like, ‘That’s right. Oh, my God.’

“And he texts me. And I see him, and I’ll be picking his brain.”

Sonny’s Rams won or shared WAC titles in 1994, ’95 and ’97. CSU won or shared Mountain West crowns in ’99, 2000 and 2002. Those Rams weren’t just conference peers with BYU and Utah — they were beating them.

When I mentioned Lubick to a former CSU administrator a few years and a couple football coaches ago, he sort of shook his head and referred to those days as wishful thinking by Rams fans. An era they couldn’t recapture.

Mora, though, sure sounds like he wants to try. When I asked Tuesday what the Rams’ identity would be in the Pac-12, the new CSU coach sat up a little straighter in his chair.

“I’m going to give you a whole bunch of cliches. Are you ready?” Mora said.

“Tough. Mentally tough, physically tough. A team that drags teams into the deep water.

“Disciplined. We don’t do stupid things that inhibit our ability to go win a game.

“Situationally smart. Excelling in 2-minute drives, which we’ve been really good at at UConn and other places I’ve been because we work a lot on situational football.

“Resilient. I want us to play a brand of football that encourages people to come into the stadium because they know it’s going to be a fun day. I’ve been told that the environment around our games is unbelievable — I won’t ever feel it, other than the Ram walk-in because I don’t get to tailgate yet. But I want the same energy and excitement, or even enhance (that), when they come in here.”

Mora’s hit the ground running, or at least power-walking, at every coaching stop. His first UCLA team went to a bowl. So did his first squad at UConn, which improved by five wins from the season prior in his debut season. His initial Falcons team went 11-5 and reached the NFC Championship.

He doesn’t just ask, ‘Why not here?’ He wonders, ‘Why not now?’

“I don’t know that (Lubick) has given me advice more so than he’s given me support,” Mora said of Sonny. “If anything, it’s just, you know, ‘Be you, do it right. I’m here for you if you need anything.’ And that’s probably the most important thing right now,

“But he’s also said, ‘When you win, if you win and when you win, this community will get behind you like you can’t believe.’ Which is exciting. You want to know that that’s out there. That’s a kind of carrot dangled out there for you. Because it’s important to me. It’s important to me to serve this community. This team represents this community. This is Colorado. I mean, we’re the Front Range. I mean, agriculture, hard-nosed, hard-working, honest, roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty. We want to be that kind of team — dependable. Like I said to somebody, I said, ‘You know, there’s no excuses, man.’ You’re working in the cattle industry, the cattle’s got to get fed. Better get your (butt) up and feed them, you know? Doesn’t matter if you’re sick. Doesn’t matter if you’re tired. They’ve got to eat, you know?”

And Mora’s got to feed the beast. Especially with the richest coaching contract in the Pac-12 ($2.4 million salary in ’26) and a slew of conference television deals coming up for renewal at the end of the decade. If this doesn’t work in FoCo, what will?

“I didn’t tell (Mora) much, because everything has changed so much,” Lubick mused. “But I think I see something really good in him …

“On the occasions I’ve been around them, and I don’t know a lot of his staff as much as I did the other (coaches at CSU), but really, there’s something good about him. He’s been around. I think he’s really down-to-earth. I think he’s really grounded. I just hope he’s thinking, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna do this thing overnight.’ It’s gonna be hard. It’s never easy. Especially when you’re going like CSU … I don’t know how they are financially, but I think they’re decent. We’ll see how it goes. Sometimes you need a little luck here and there.”

These days? More money than luck. Although a little pluck never hurt.

“We don’t have a bunch of entitled players in this team,” Mora stressed. “As a matter of fact, we lack entitlement, which we love.

“We want to work for it. These guys have a great attitude, and they work their (butts) off. And that’s the start. And when you go into a meeting, you sit with them, their eyes are open, they’re sitting up straight, they’re taking notes. There’s a little bit of an old-school feel with a new-school approach. So we’ll see where it goes. That doesn’t promise us anything, right? But it’s a good start. It’s where you want to start.”

We’ll see how they finish. Although The Mora Mantra sounds an awful lot like a guy who used to work at Hughes Stadium, doesn’t it?

Sean Keeler: tells me CU goes 5-7 and CSU is destined for a scrappy 3-9. Then again, have Massey’s A.I. overlords ever tried to cover new Buffs folk hero Danny Scudero? Or DeAndre Moore? Have they ever tried to get around CSU offensive tackles Toriyan Johnson Jr. or Quinton Harris, both of whom check in at 6-foot-8 and 320-ish pounds? The Rams will be beefy. The Buffs will be fast, and Julian Lewis has a gear we haven’t seen up close yet. I think they’ll both be 2-1 heading into conference play. The swing month in Boulder and Fort Collins is October. CU gets Texas Tech, Utah and K-State at home over those 31 days, along with a trip to Oklahoma State. CSU gets Oregon State and San Diego State at home, peppered in with visits to Texas State and Utah State. If the Buffs and Rams can land three victories from those four tests, they’ll make the computers look silly. Even 2-2 would hold serve. At 1-3 or 0-4, you’re asking for trouble later.

Renck: Jim Mora is where Deion Sanders was three years ago. New, fresh and benefiting from the unknown as he imported 70 new players, including a chunk from UConn. If he was the former hoops coach, I would have more confidence. But Mora worked his magic with the Huskies and has a Pac-12 schedule with enough elasticity for growth. The Rams have potential playmakers in receiver Tommy Maher, running back Mel Brown and tight end Juice Vereen. But who is in charge of the offense? Former four-star recruit Hauss Henjy is with his third school, and Huskies transfer K’Saan Farrar isn’t as highly regarded but knows the offense. The offensive line is big, but young. And the defense, frequently gashed by big plays last season, is light on talent. Linebacker Oumar Diomande needs to anchor the unit as a game wrecker.

Keeler: The Rammies are loaded at tight end and solid along both lines. CSU will be able, more often than not, to run the ball when its wants to. Henjy, like JuJu, is scrappy but small. My biggest question mark for the Rams is largely the same as it is with CU: When push comes to shove, can this defense actually stop anybody? Injuries wrecked CSU’s 2025, and Jay Norvell’s job security, starting with Week 1 at Washington, right from the jump, and the awful mojo never went away. Mora will upgrade his understudies, but stacking quality depth often takes time. CSU tends to fall apart once its expected stars fall prey to the injury bug. If Mora can flip that script, then maybe a Year 1 miracle truly is in the cards for FoCo.

Renck: CU landed intriguing talent with receivers Danny Scudero and DeAndre Moore and tackling-machine linebackers Gideon Lampron and Liona Lefau. Brennan Marion brings a reputation for establishing a creative ground game. Good luck. CU has been among the worst rushing teams since Sanders arrived. But Julian Lewis could use the help for his health. There are whispers that Utah transfer Isaac Wilson could push the five-star recruit for playing time. CU has no problem providing highlight plays. The question remains: will some steak accompany the sizzle? The concerns with the offensive and defensive lines and a rugged Big 12 schedule make it hard to be bullish on the Buffs. My prediction. CSU wins five games and CU finishes with four.

Keeler: I don’t know if Marion is here for a long time, but he’s sure as heck here for a good time. Stat to note: In his four previous stops as an offensive play-caller, Marion’s first-year teams wound up posting a combined record of 28-21, for an average finish of 7-5. That’s a lot to ask of a ’26 Buffs team with this many moving parts — but I’m not taking it off the table, either. CU wins six. CSU wins five.

A native of Nederland, Texas, Fuller starred under legendary coach Bum Phillips as a high schooler before playing for Bear Bryant at Alabama, where he was an All-SEC safety.

CSU hired Fuller, the defensive coordinator for the Texas Longhorns, in December 1981, to revive a program that had bottomed out at 0-12 that season. He was 25-55 during seven seasons in Fort Collins, which included a 6-5 mark in 1986. Fuller returned to Texas following his dismissal after going 1-10 in 1998, but wound up back in Colorado in 1994 after Wade Phillips hired him to coach defensive backs for the Broncos.

Fuller is credited with bringing Sonny Lubick to CSU as his offensive coordinator and Dave Lay as the offensive line coach. Lubick, hired to lead the program ahead of the 1993 season, won six Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West titles during his 15 seasons coaching the Rams. The program peaked at No. 14 in the AP poll in 1994.

Fuller is also responsible for CSU’s modern look, ditching the yellow helmets with green horns that the Rams had previously worn for green helmets with yellow horns. CSU football has worn dark green as its primary helmet color for the last 45 seasons. He’s also the only Rams coach to play a game outside of the United States after accepting a bid to the Gridiron Bowl in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 4, 1987, where CSU fell to BYU, 30-26.

Among those who starred under Fuller in Fort Collins were Keli McGregor, who later played for the Denver Broncos and worked in the Colorado Rockies organization, as well as Steve Bartalo, a walk-on who became the school’s all-time rushing leader with 4,813 yards.

During the 1986 season, Fuller also delivered the Rams their first victory over in-state rival Colorado since 1958. After humbling losses in 1983 and 1985, Fuller’s Rams decked the Buffs in Boulder on Sept. 6, 1986, winning 23-7.

Last week, was coming off the euphoria of winning the opening game of its final Mountain West Tournament via a buzzer-beater. But in the semifinal of the tournament against UNLV in Las Vegas — essentially a home game for the Rebels — CSU’s best player, Lexus Bargesser, suffered a

Instead of folding without Bargesser, the Rams found a way to rally to beat UNLV, and then went on to topple in-state rival Air Force in the tournament championship to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. No. 12 CSU (27-7) takes on No. 5 Michigan State (22-8) in the opening round of on Friday in Norman, Okla.

“To beat UNLV, to beat Air Force with (Bargesser), it just tells me our players were really focused and locked into what had to get done,” Rams head coach Ryun Williams said. “They were not going to leave Vegas without a fight for that trophy.”

That’s what the Rams did en route to their first March Madness berth since 2016, and just their seventh overall appearance in program history.

With a team identity rooted in lockdown defense, the Rams held their three opponents in the Mountain West Tournament to just 53.3 points per game on 30.7% from the field and 20.3% from 3. That included stifling Air Force in the championship, as the Falcons scored only 42 points, including just 16 in the second half.

On the season, the Rams rank in both points allowed per game (54.9) and opposing field goal percentage (35.0). And sans Bargesser, the Rams punched their ticket to March Madness thanks to the play of a pair of seniors who have bucked the transfer portal-trend by spending their entire college careers in Fort Collins.

Guards Marta Leimane and Hannah Ronsiek have combined for 237 appearances and 135 starts over their four seasons with CSU as part of four-straight 20-win teams. When Bargesser limped off the floor against UNLV, Leimane — nicknamed the “Latvian Bear” — came off the bench and delivered. She tallied 16 points in 32 minutes, including hitting 4 of 5 from distance, while Ronsiek turned in one of the Rams’ top defensive performances.

“(Leimane) had to really score the ball well against Vegas and was big reason why we won that game,” Williams said. “She accepted a different role and delivered. And then she had to guard (Air Force’s Milahnie) Perry, the leading scorer in the league, the next night. So, whatever we asked (Leimane) to do, she did it.

“Same thing with Hannah in that tournament. She guarded post players. We asked her to sacrifice and be tough and nasty. That was her role, and that’s how we beat Vegas and Air Force because it just made us much more difficult on defense. Whatever we’ve needed, those two players have delivered.”

‘What we’ve been building for’

Both Leimane and Ronsiek said that entering the transfer portal never crossed their minds. Heading into this season, Ronsiek correctly forecast that the Rams would be an elite defensive team, while Leimane said she believed the program’s final year in the Mountain West before moving to the rebuilt Pac-12 in 2026-27 presented a great opportunity to win the conference.

“I settled in really well by my sophomore year here, and I just had a lot of faith in this team and where we could get going forward,” Leimane said. “I thought if I left and disrupted our balance, we might not get where we are right now. Because this was the year that Hannah and I looked at things and thought, ‘This is it — this is what we’ve been building for and the year we can actually win the Mountain West.'”

In addition to Leimane and Ronsiek, sophomore guards Brooke Carlson and Kloe Froebe, redshirt freshman guard McKenna Murphy and senior forward Madelyn Bragg — a transfer from Division II Northern State who in the Mountain West Tournament — will also be key in the Rams’ chances of an upset of Michigan State.

The Spartans boast the 10th-best offense in the country at 83 points per game, meaning the best version of CSU’s defense will have to show up. The Rams also need to take care of the ball, which has been a strength so far this season, considering CSU is ranked the best in the nation with 10.4 turnovers per game.

Should the Rams upend the Spartans, it will be their first March Madness win in and will match the 1998 squad for the biggest NCAA Tournament upset in program history when the No. 12 Rams beat No. 5 Drake 81-75.

“The biggest key is we’ve got to value the basketball and not create offense for (Michigan State),” said. “They’re a very high-powered offensive team, and so that’s critical. You let them get out and really get running, they’re hard to stop.

“We just have to compete on the ball. Rebound extremely well. We’re going against a longer, taller body type than we’ve faced, and probably more physical, but that’s what this time of year is about. We’re going to play the best and we’ve got to elevate our game, and we’re up for that challenge.”

CSU earned a No.12 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament and will face No. 5 Michigan State in the first round in Norman on Friday.

At a watch party at Canvas Stadium on Sunday evening, the Rams learned their fate and cheered along with their head coach when the school showed up in the bracket.

“Colorado State, on a national stage, that����ap where we belong,” CSU head coach Ryun Williams said. “And for these young women to be representing this university, there’s nothing better than that. Their competitive makeup is right where it needs to be for an NCAA Tournament,”

The Rams earned a spot in the 68-team field by of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

They have been waiting since winning that title Wednesday night to learn their tournament fate. Even on Sunday, the Rams’ section of the bracket was one of the last to be revealed.

“I’ve been on a high a little bit since the championship and just kind of taking that all in and not looking too far into the future,” CSU senior Hannah Ronsiek said. “But now, I think it����ap time to look onto the next team.

“I’ve wanted to do this for four years. Obviously, this is the goal, but I’m just super happy that we could get it done in my last year.”

This will be CSU’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016, which was also the last time the Rams won the MWC tourney.

It will be CSU’s seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second under Williams. The Rams are 5-6 in the tournament, with their last victory dating back to 2001.

The farthest CSU has advanced in the tournament is the Sweet 16. That occurred in 1999 when the Rams were led by Becky Hammon and Katie Cronin.

CSU is 22-7 on the season. The Rams went 15-5 in conference play and won three games in three days to win the league tournament, defeating Grand Canyon 61-59, UNLV 66-59, and then Air Force in the championship game.

The players and Williams believe what they did in Las Vegas earned them enough respect to earn the 12 seed they received.

“It was super overwhelming to know that they see our great determination, and they see how hard we work and just to gain that No. 12 seed is really promising for us,” CSU sophomore Kloe Froebe said.

The Rams have been led this season by senior Lexus Bargesser. The Mountain West newcomer of the year averaged 15.2 points per game for CSU but was injured in the conference semifinal game against UNLV and did not play in the championship game.

Sophomore Brooke Carlson averages 11.3 points per game and Froebe is averaging 10.7. Froebe is also the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 6.8 per contest.

If the Rams win their first-round game, they will face either host Oklahoma or Idaho in the second round.

The Rams released their 2026 football schedule on Wednesday evening,

CSU will play four of its first five games at home, including a season-opening tussle with rival Wyoming in the Border War on Sept. 5. It’s the earliest Battle For The Bronze Boot in the game’s history.

The opener is followed by an “Orange Out”/Ag Day game against Southern Utah on Sept. 12, then a visit from Big 12 power BYU on Sept. 19. After three home dates, the Rams visit UTSA on Sept. 26 before hosting Oregon State for homecoming on Oct. 10.

Following an Oct. 17 bye, CSU will finish the season with four out of its next six games on the road. San Diego State visits Canvas Stadium on Oct. 24; Boise State visits on Nov. 7.

The Rams’ first league slate will feature a unique wrinkle at the end — a home date on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving weekend, against a “flexed” opponent. Per the university’s news release, the “Pac-12 will retain the right to adjust the matchup based on the best interests of the league, including College Football Playoff (CFP) considerations at that time.”

The Rams will officially join the Pac-12 on July 1, the start of the new university fiscal year. CSU and former Mountain West members Boise State, Utah State, San Diego State and Boise State will join Pac-12 holdovers Oregon State and Washington State and newcomer Texas State in the league’s inaugural season.

He wants every kid in Colorado to grow up dreaming to play for the Rams. But that requires signing a few with 303, 970 and 719 area codes.

In the current 2026 class, CSU and CU added one player each from our state among 247Sports’ top 47 recruits. The Rams welcomed Arvada West safety Atticus Tillman, while the Buffs inked Thompson Valley offensive lineman Josiah Manu. The Buffs show little interest in recruiting in their own backyard, not helped by the fact that coach Deion Sanders cannot be bothered to leave campus for at-home visits.

Mora plans to throw a fence around the state, aiming to keep elite recruits in Fort Collins. Coaches make these promises, but rarely keep them. It was understandable when our state was not producing many D1 players. That is no longer the case. The top 25 players are all going to big-time schools.

You don’t think Cherry Creek tight end Ty Goettsche would draw comparisons to Trey McBride if he chose CSU over BYU? He is the ninth-ranked tight end in the country. What about Windsor’s tower of power Deacon Schmitt? You are telling me he would not be an upgrade over the sieve that CU passes off as an offensive line? He is headed to Oklahoma.

And I challenge you to find a player in the state that fits the scheme of new CU offensive coordinator Brennan Marion better than Cherry Creek’s Jayden Fox. He flipped to UCLA along with Legend High quarterback DJ Bordeaux.

Here’s the deal. CU and CSU will always land in-state walk-ons like Charlie Offerdahl, who love the school, learn the fight song and spend Saturday nights enjoying off-campus dinners with family. Mora needs to put his words into action with his next class, and prioritize in-state stars and a handful of risks.

Getting a few of the best to stay will help the Rams in multiple ways.

It builds the brand, shows CSU cares about Colorado preps. It also improves relationships with high school coaches, and leads to the identification of prospects with potential. That two-star offensive lineman can become a starter in his third season if you have a vision for him. Those are the ones that form the foundation of the program, make you less desperate to get old and stay old in the portal. They build camaraderie and chemistry, something that is hard to bake in with transfers.

Mora has called CSU his last stop. He wants people to be proud to support the program. They will if he keeps more local kids, the best and projects alike, around.

Bruising Broncos: What our eyes told us last Sunday, the facts support. The Packers-Broncos game felt like a playoff game, defined by eye-opening physicality and multiple injuries. That is not the first time we have seen Denver throw down the sawdust and engage in a bare-knuckle fight. Teams are 3-10 the week after playing the Broncos. It is why the Bears are expected to punch the Pack this weekend.

Adios Diego: Quarterback Diego Pavia has been a great college football story. He willed Vanderbilt to relevance. But it is clearly time for him to move on. He turns 25 in April. On my first Heisman Trophy ballot, he was second. When he did not win, he posted on social media “F all the voters” with a thumbs down emoji. He doesn’t owe me an apology. He owes the winner Fernando Mendoza one for acting so selfishly and immaturely.

Portal Patrick: Dylan Raiola hit the transfer portal, leaving Nebraska. The quarterback was supposed to restore glory to the Cornhuskers, a program where his father played, but never met expectations. His lack of a mobility is an issue. And the Temu Patrick Mahomes act is getting old. If he transfers to Texas Tech, Mahomes should insist that Raiola change his hairstyle and number — both of which are identical to the Chiefs star — or get hit with a restraining order.

“Yes. 100%,” Rams athletic director John Weber told me with a straight face Monday. “If other programs out of the Mountain West and the Pac-12 can do it, CSU can and will do it.”

“You’re convinced Jim will get you there?” I asked.

“Yes,” Weber replied. “Absolutely.”

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t stutter.

“I love to go uphill,” Jim Mora, CSU’s fourth new football coach in seven years and sixth since 2010, said during his introductory news conference at Canvas Stadium on Monday.

“And I think that’s a metaphor for my personality in general, because I love to embrace hard things. And I stood here (Monday) and I (looked out) there and I saw the top of those mountains. I said, ‘I’m going to get up there, you know?'”

At that point, the Rams coach stopped. Turns out he had a question for the rest of us.

“How many 14ers are there in this state?” Mora asked the crowd.

“Fifty-four,” came the reply.

(Actually, it’s 53. Or 58. Or 74.)

“I didn’t say I was going to tell you all our goals, OK,” Mora continued with a grin. “We’re going to win a Pac-12 championship. All right? We’re going to go (try) to win a national championship. And I’m going to scale 54 14ers.”

The football mountains facing CSU might be the tougher climb. Although give him credit for this much — Mora, an outdoors enthusiast, arguably rolled into town Sunday as the best FBS football coach within a 90-mile radius of Fort Fun.

Deion Sanders made the CU Buffs marketable and sexy, yes — but also maddeningly inconsistent on the field. He’s 16-21 since 2023. Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, long the gold standard, is just 9-15 with the Zoomies over the last two seasons.

Mora won at UCLA. He won at UConn.

“It’s about the opportunity to compete for a championship and get in the CFP and win when we get there,” Weber continued. “That’s what we’re about, that’s what we aspire to, that’s what we’re focused on. And he was clearly set on an opportunity that allowed him to do the exact same thing. That’s how we came together.”

Connecticut’s path to the College Football Playoff, as an independent, is a pipe dream. CSU, meanwhile, hosts BYU next fall. Arizona is slated to visit FoCo in ’27. CSU heads to Wisconsin in September 2027 and Oklahoma the September after that. The Rams have got CU at home in ’29 and away in ’30.

Keeler: How did CSU Rams land Jim Mora? Give assist to this former Broncos QB

Nail one solid Power 4 hide toyour wall in August or September, followed by a league championship with an undefeated (or close to it) record, and who knows?

"Go look at the Tulanes of the world, the North Texases," former CSU offensive lineman Jake Bennett told me Monday. "To say, just because you're in Fort Collins, you can't do it?"

Bennett's a believer. Mind you, he's been fooled before. Mora spoke to a full house on the fourth-floor suites at Canvas, with Rams football alumni scattered among the staff, alumni, boosters and reporters. The No. 1 complaint I get from CSU friends is they're backing a program that hasn't performed anywhere near the levels aspired to by the construction of Canvas in the first place. Jay Norvell is the only football coach to win more than seven games with a Rammie squad since the building debuted in August 2017. Over the last nine seasons, seven have been losing ones.

"I was here when we opened it, and we went 7-6 (in '16) and 7-6 (in '17) and from there, it's just been kind of woefully underperforming," Bennett, who was among the Rams letter-winners in attendance to hear Mora. "Like he was saying, (like) every coach that's been here before him, the foundation’s here. The city's great. Why can't you get it done?"

To that end, Weber said, he put Mora's name down for consideration early in the process. TurnkeyZRG, the search firm CSU hired, had also pegged the former collegiate and NFL coach as possibly looking to move away from UConn.

"We continued to work our way through that entire process and came back to him -- and came back to him again," Weber recalled. "(Mora) definitely knew about us, knew about the area, knew about the opportunity, knew about the investment that we've been making here."

That's because Mora admitted he'd actually put his name in the hat for the CSU job back in 2019, when Mike Bobo was relieved of his duties. And oh, lordy, what might have been. Only in this timeline, Urban Meyer was running the CSU search then, more or less, and put forth his old pal and Florida coordinator Steve Addazio -- who wasn't exactly beloved at Boston College for reasons that became all too obvious once he showed up.

COVID-19 set Rams football back about a year. The Daz set it back about four.

Alas, what's done is done, and there Jim was Monday, six years after the fact. If you're of a certain age, the Mora family looms large in your folk memory. Jim's father, in particular. Before Sean Payton hoisted the Saints to another level, the elder Jim Mora helped put the 'Aints on the NFL map two decades earlier. Although the old man's most famous sound bite came during a trying 2001 news conference while coaching the Colts after an even more trying defeat to the 49ers. Someone had asked Mora about playoff hopes after Indy had fallen to 4-6.

"Playoffs?" the senior Mora countered, voice climbing three octaves in just two syllables. "Don't talk about ... playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game."

They won two more and finished at 6-10. Trivia: Peyton Manning was the QB on that team -- one that, did, in fact, miss the playoffs. The Colts' defensive coordinator? Vic Fangio. The Colts' receivers coach? Jay Norvell.

"Jay coached for my dad," Mora said of Norvell, who was let go by Weber in October. "I grew up in this business, so I'm always very, very sensitive to the changes that take place. But as a football coach, we all understand that change is inevitable, and it's something that we have to accept if we're going to be in this business. When the program decided to move on from Jay, I was immediately interested."

In a weird way, this is home for Jim. Always has been. The new CSU football coach spent his grade-school years along the Flatirons while his father was an assistant at CU under Eddie Crowder. Mora's son Trey, who was part of the family entourage, is a Buffs grad who's currently studying at CU's Leeds School of Business. The coach's mountain-scaling exploits are already the stuff of legend.

"There is no top to the mountain. There is no top," Mora said. "You just keep going, you keep climbing. And when you reach one peak, you find a way to get to another peak ... I will never put any limitations on what this football team can be ever, if we do the work. Which we will."

It took three minutes during the presentation for Sonny Lubick's name to come up. It took another 22 or 23 minutes for Wyoming to cross anybody's lips, and Mora did so with the relish of a man itching for a friendly scrap.

"I think it's Sept. 5 or 6, the Border War," Mora said. "Let's go!"

It's Sept. 5, but time flies when you're having this much Fort Fun. Jim's line about this being his last coaching job, according to those who know him better, came from the heart. Mora had his Lane Kiffin phase. He'll be 65 next November. Fort Collins is the kind of college town you aspire to retire in -- that's true for coaches too, from Lubick to ex-Nebraska volleyball coach Terry Pettit, who won a national championship and 21 league titles with the Cornhuskers.

Playoffs, though?

That's some serious uphill, coach.

"It's very realistic," Mora said. "We have the resources -- and when I speak about resources, I'm not speaking about money. I'm speaking about people and the vision and the commitment ... The commitment that we make, that will determine how far we go. I'm very confident that we can do those things."

On Monday, that confidence proved contagious. One of those proud Rams who was here to see Mora stopped me as we disembarked from the elevator at Canvas.

"That was good," she wondered. "Wasn't it?"

Sure was. How good, we're all about to find out.

The school announced that Jim Mora will take over the football program. Mora, who revived UConn over the past four seasons, will be introduced Monday afternoon in Fort Collins.

“I would like to thank President Amy Parsons, Director of Athletics John Weber, and all those involved for providing Kathy and me this very special opportunity,” Mora said. “I am truly humbled to join CSU as we transition to the Pac-12 Conference. I am excited to meet the team and look forward to connecting with the former players. I can’t wait for our family to become part of the Northern Colorado community.”

CSU athletic director John Weber made it clear that his goal is for the Rams to challenge for a spot in the college football playoff and that he believes the school has the resources to do so. Weber fired Jay Norvell on Oct. 19 after a disappointing 2-5 start, which saw the football team unable to build on last season’s bowl berth or provide a compelling product.

Mora, 64, brings a wealth of experience in college and the NFL. He revived the UConn program, guiding the Huskies to a 9-3 record this season and a pending third bowl berth in four years. Mora fits the profile in experience and resume CSU sought as it moves into the reshaped Pac-12 next season. Mora coached in the conference for UCLA, compiling a 46-30 record and four bowl berths from 2012-2017.

“Our goal from the very start was to execute a comprehensive search to find the next leader of the Colorado State football program,” Weber said. “We did that, and it was extremely energizing to have such significant interest from so many accomplished coaches. From our very first conversation, Coach Mora’s desire to serve student-athletes, his comprehensive experience, and passion to win was evident. I could not be more excited to welcome Jim and his wife Kathy to CSU and Fort Collins.”

Mora featured an explosive offense this season in UConn with a 1,000-yard rusher (Camryn Edwards), 1,000-yard receiver (Skyler Bell) and an efficient quarterback (Joe Fagnano, 28 touchdowns, one interception). The Huskies finished the season on a four-game winning streak, including victories over Air Force and Duke.

Early Wednesday, UConn athletic director David Benedict issued a statement confirming that Mora was headed to Fort Collins.

“Jim Mora informed me late last night that he has accepted the head coaching position at Colorado State. We are grateful for Coach Mora’s contributions to UConn over the past four seasons,” Benedict said.

“He took on the challenge of rebuilding our football program and delivered results that exceeded expectations. Under his leadership, the Huskies won 27 games and achieved bowl eligibility in three of his four seasons, including back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time in program history. Coach Mora brought energy and a winning culture back to UConn football and put our program back on the national stage. We thank Jim for his dedication to our student-athletes and wish him, his wife Kathy and his family the best at Colorado State.”

Mora is the son of longtime NFL boss Jim Mora, who coached the Saints and Colts. Peyton Manning was his quarterback during his final four seasons in Indianapolis.

Mora, whose hiring was first reported by ESPN late Tuesday night, brings Colorado connections. He lived in Boulder for part of his youth and expressed interest in the CU job after Mel Tucker bolted for Michigan State.

The changing college landscape doomed Norvell in Fort Collins. With the school wanting to at least match or improve on last season’s 8-5 season, the Rams sputtered in September as veteran starting quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi slumped. He was eventually benched and later left the school. It did not help Norvell when CSU looked overmatched against future conference opponent Washington State in an ugly 20-3 home loss on Sept. 27.

The hope is that Mora can bring stability and success to a CSU program that wants to reap the rewards of an on-campus stadium that opened in 2017.

Since that time, CSU has had three coaches — Mike Bobo, Steve Addazio, Norvell. All posted losing records, finishing a combined 23 games under .500.

Mora received a four-year, $10-million extension at UConn in December of 2024. Norvell made $1.9 million this season, and was owned a $1.5 million buyout from CSU, per terms of his contract.

Mora is known in coaching circles for his energy and confidence. He brought UConn back to life, now he appears ready to embrace the challenge of restoring glory to CSU.