Rams are Arizona Bowl-bound

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

CSU accepts invitation to play in Snoop Dogg-sponsored game in Tucson on Dec. 28

Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell speaks into his headset during the Colorado State Rams football game against San Jose State Spartans at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins on Oct. 12. ALEX MCINTYRE — SPECIAL TO THE DENVER POST

Colorado State’s Jamari Person, left, is tackled by Utah State’s D.J. Graham II during their game Nov. 29 in Fort Collins. REBECCA SLEZAK — SPECIAL TO THE DENVER POST

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By Nathan Wright

nwright@prairiemountainmedia.com

For the first time since 2017, the Colorado State football team is bowl eligible, and on Sunday the Rams found out where they will play in their first bowl game appearance in seven years.

CSU accepted an invitation to play in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl on Dec. 28 in Tucson, Ariz. The Rams will face Miami (Ohio) at Arizona Stadium. The 2:30 p.m. game will be televised on The CW.

“I’m so excited to be heading back to the Arizona Bowl,” CSU head coach Jay Norvell said in a news release. “It’s a great venue and fantastic hospitality. It will be a lot of fun for our fans and our team. It’s a great reward for seniors, and we’re excited to finish our season with a bowl win and gain great momentum going into 2025. It’s been our goal from the start to be a bowl team year-in and year-out, and this is a great springboard for our program for the future.”

CSU finished the season with an 8-4 overall record and a 5-1 mark in Mountain West Conference play. The eight wins were the most for the program since 2014.

This will be the Rams’ second appearance in the Arizona Bowl. In 2015, the Rams lost to Nevada, 28-23 in the inaugural edition of the game.

The bowl game will be the 18th in CSU history. The Rams have earned 17 of the program’s 18 bowl invitations since 1990. CSU’s last bowl appearance was in the 2017 Gildan New Mexico Bowl and was the last of a five-year run of bowl game appearances. The Rams played in the 2013 Gildan New Mexico Bowl, followed by the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl in 2014; the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl in 2015; the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2016; and then the New Mexico Bowl again in 2017.

CSU is 6-11 all-time in bowl games.

The Rams’ first bowl game was the 1949 Raisin Bowl in Fresno, Calif., vs. Occidental College. The team then waited 40 years to go to its next bowl, the 1990 Freedom Bowl. That was followed by a run of nine bowl appearances in a 12-season span from 1994-2005, under Sonny Lubick.

This will be Norvell’s first bowl appearance with CSU and his second appearance in the Arizona Bowl. Norvell is 2-1 in bowl games as a head coach, leading the Nevada Wolf Pack to four consecutive bowl appearances (Norvell did not coach Nevada in the 2021 Quick Lane bowl). In Norvell’s tenure as both a player and a coach, he has participated in 16 total bowls.

The RedHawks enter the game 8-5 on the season following Saturday’s 38-3 loss to Ohio in the MAC Championship game. CSU and Miami Ohio have played twice and the RedHawks have won both (41-21 in 2003 and 31-10 in 2010).

“This fall has been really special,” CSU director of athletics John Weber said in the release. “We have seen so many students and teams realize great success as a direct result of their hard work. I am really proud of our football program for earning an invitation to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl in Tucson, Arizona. These students under coach Norvell’s leadership have continued to grow, and this season has been a real success.”