FORT COLLINS, Colorado — Having grown up in nearby Littleton as a BYU fan, current Cougars offensive lineman Andrew Gentry witnessed for himself how much the Front Range schools — Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming — despised BYU when those schools were in the Mountain West Conference together.
The hatred spawned mostly because BYU dominated the Rams, Falcons and Cowboys in football for many of those years, then ramped up even more when the Cougars left the Mountain West in 2011 to go independent in football and into the West Coast Conference in most of their other sports.
“Any time you go play somebody, there’s a little bit of animosity there. But I’m just excited to go back again and play in the hometown, play in front of an away crowd. I actually kind of enjoy the noise. I enjoy playing in front of an away crowd that you can kind of use as motivation. I think it’s fun.”
— BYU offensive lineman Andrew Gentry
When BYU departed, Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force were among the Mountain West schools most adamant about not wanting to play BYU again — in any sport. But time has apparently healed some of those wounds.
Colorado State and BYU will renew what was once a pretty heated rivalry, this weekend in Colorado and in 2029 in Provo.
As No. 11 BYU has prepared this week to take on 2-0 Colorado State on Saturday (5:30 p.m. MDT, CBS) at 10-year-old Canvas Stadium, Gentry has occasionally played historian, letting his teammates know that this is not going to be an ordinary nonconference matchup. The Rams and Cougars are meeting for the first time since 2010, a 49-10 BYU victory at the old Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins.
“Growing up, there was maybe a little bit of animosity in (all those) Mountain West rivalries with BYU,” Gentry said Monday. “I remember going to some games up at Colorado State when BYU would come and play, and they were never big fans of BYU.”
Gentry said he doesn’t really have a good feel for whether that bitterness still exists, but figures he and his teammates will find out Saturday. And this is a guy who knows a lot about heated rivalries, having played in several Michigan-Ohio State contests when he was in Ann Arbor.
“Any time you go play somebody, there’s a little bit of animosity there. But I’m just excited to go back again and play in the hometown, play in front of an away crowd,” he said. “I actually kind of enjoy the noise. I enjoy playing in front of an away crowd that you can kind of use as motivation. I think it’s fun.”
BYU was listed as a 20.5-point favorite when the week began, but that number has shrunk to 17.5, at last check. The Rams opened with a 35-13 win over rival Wyoming and followed that up with a 58-24 win over Southern Utah last week.
“I know they have a really good offense and that they’ve been putting up a lot of points and a lot of yards, so I’m excited for the challenge,” said BYU safety Tommy Prassas. “Really, I’m excited to just go play another football game.”
Prassas and BYU defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa said containing Colorado State’s dual-threat quarterback, Hauss Hejny, will be difficult, but they feel like facing Arizona’s Noah Fifita last week in a 28-17 BYU win helped them get ready for the former sprinter from Texas.
“We did some drills and things last week to prepare us for Noah Fifita, and now going into this week, we’ll continue to build on top of that success that we strived to have (against) Noah, keeping him in the pocket and kind of caging him as a quarterback,” Tanuvasa said.
BYU defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga said Colorado State’s Hejny is faster than Fifita, just not as experienced. Hejny played for TCU and Oklahoma State before transferring to CSU.
“Yeah, (their) quarterback is a problem,” Poppinga said. “He’s a very good player, quick release, gunslinger, throws the ball really well. Has a very accurate arm. His passer rating is really high right now. … Throws a lot of touchdowns, (few) interceptions, and he runs with the ball really well. He reminds me a lot of the guy we played last week.”
Receivers Jackson Harper, Terrence Smith Jr. and RJ Vick have combined to catch 26 passes for 367 yards in two games.
“They have three really good receivers,” Poppinga said. “They got guys. They have talent as close to a Power Four team. … You look at the Pac-12 and they’re maybe not in that circle, but they should be. This team, I respect them, and I think they’re setting themselves up to have a big season. We’re going to have to go in and play well against these guys.”
BYU coaches familiar with CSU’s history
While BYU’s players don’t know much about Colorado State’s football history, BYU’s coaches certainly do.
An Evanston, Wyoming, native, Poppinga played against the Rams a couple of times as a linebacker for BYU and remembers the 2008 game in Fort Collins particularly well.
A Max Hall-led BYU took a 7-1 record and No. 17 ranking into Hughes Stadium that year against a 4-4 CSU team, but the game “turned into a dogfight” and the Rams took a 42-38 lead with 1:44 remaining. Hall combined with running back Harvey Unga, receiver Austin Collie and tight end Dennis Pitta to get the Cougars into the end zone with 22 seconds remaining to pull out a 45-42 win.
BYU had 551 yards of offense, CSU 401. Attendance that night in Fort Collins was 20,222
“Dennis Pitta made a great catch in the end zone, got the crap knocked out of him, and we ended up winning 45-42. But yeah, these are battles,” Poppinga said. “I think our guys are ready for their environment, and we know that it’s going to be a sold-out crowd, and it’s going to be loud, and they’re going to be hyped up. Their team’s playing well right now, and their crowd has a lot to cheer for. We know we’re going into a hostile environment. Should be fun.”
On Nov. 13, 2010, BYU went into Fort Collins expecting a similar battle, especially because the school had announced 10 weeks before that it was leaving the Mountain West. That big battle didn’t materialize as Luke Ashworth broke a BYU record with four touchdown receptions in the first half alone and the Cougars cruised to a 49-10 win.
Jake Heaps was 15 of 20 for 242 yards and four touchdowns as BYU improved to 5-5 on the season. Attendance was 16,501.
Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick’s memories of games in Fort Collins are not as enjoyable.
“The last time I went there, when I was at BYU, we got our butts handed to us. They were really good. It was a blowout, and then when I coached up the road at Utah, we went there a few times too, and had some tough battles with that team,” Roderick said.
“They’re a good program. I have a lot of respect for the program and know what it means to the fans and the town.”
New coach Jim Mora turned around UConn’s program and will do the same thing at CSU, Roderick predicted.
“I’ve coached against coach Mora several times in my career, and his teams are tough, man,” Roderick said. “He’s an excellent coach. I have a ton of respect for him, and I know we’re gonna get their very best.”
