The BYU football team came to Fort Collins and showed exactly what most think it is.
A very, very good team and potential College Football Playoff squad.
The No. 11/13 Cougars dominated Colorado State in a sold-out Canvas Stadium in a 41-23 win on Sept. 19.
Here are takeaways from the game.
Hauss Hejny, K’saan Farrar injuries top concern for CSU
It was the worst case scenario for CSU.
A loss, even one with a lopsided score, was understandable for CSU in this one. What no one at CSU, or Rams fans, could handle emotionally was a damaging injury.
And in the first quarter rising star QB Hauss Hejny rolled to his right on a third down, threw a pass and slowly hobbled to the sideline after an incompletion.
He went right to the medical tent in the commercial break. Hejny did return just minutes later for CSU’s next series, but the Rams went three-and-out and he didn’t come back out the next time.
Hejny was replaced by K’saan Farrar, who he competed with for the starting position in preseason.
The CBS broadcast reported Hejny’s injury as a hamstring. No further update was provided during the game by CSU.
Needless to say, this is the one to watch moving forward. Hejny has shown star potential. He has 10 touchdown passes this season after throwing one to RJ Vick on CSU’s first possession of the game against BYU.
It’s fair to say his injury limited CSU’s offense as the Rams were surely staggered by losing their starter.
Farrar is well-regarded and the staff has confidence he can perform if needed, but jumping in cold to the middle of a game against a top-15 team wasn’t an ideal spot.
Farrar did some OK things moving the ball but did throw a first-half interception on a miscommunication with a receiver. Then a another worrying situation struck CSU.
Early in the fourth quarter Farrar went down with an injury and had to be helped to the medical tent. He was replaced at QB by third-stringer Darius Curry.
Who plays at QB for the Rams Week 4 at UTSA is now the top question for the next week.
Hejny finished 6-10 for 80 yards and a touchdown. Farrar was 13-23 for 70 yards and an interception, plus 12 rush yards.
Curry played well against BYU’s reserves, throwing a TD pass to Nader Chirchi and leading two scoring drives (and two succesful two-point conversions).
Curry was 6-8 for 70 yards and a TD.
BYU’s offense is excellent, but CSU’s defense really struggled
CSU coach Jim Mora said several times this week that he thought BYU running back LJ Martin might be the best back in the nation.
Unfortunately for CSU, the defense helped Martin make that case. CSU’s tackling through the game was poor, helping make a very dangerous attack nearly unstoppable.
Martin had three touchdown runs in the first quarter and had 173 yards on 14 carries (12.4 per carry) in the first half. He only had one second-half carry and finished with 176 rush yards.
BYU racked up 377 yards of first-half offense to take a 31-7 lead into the break and the game was over by that point.
A few things are true:
- BYU’s offense is very good. The Cougars look the part of a College Football Playoff attack.
- CSU’s defense must improve.
The tackling, in particular, was nowhere good enough. An offense like BYU’s is going to make some big plays, but CSU helped make them bigger by not getting ball-carriers down when they had a hand on them.
BYU had more than 550 yards of offense and more than 330 of them came in the rushing game.
The Rams did force another two turnovers in this game, which makes 10 on the season.
Good news for CSU is there’s no offense left on the schedule like this one. CSU defense absolutely must be more consistent, but this is also an outlier of an opponent.
A measured view of where this leaves CSU
Take this result for what it is: A financial and roster mismatch.
BYU is operating on another plane of college football than CSU right now.
The Cougars look every bit of a CFP team and favorite in the Big 12. CSU is much-improved, but from a 2-10 record in 2025.
It’s worth taking the areas CSU must grow that were highlighted in this game, but also worth caution to not put too much stake in the result.
CSU’s Week 4 game against a good Group of 6 foe in UTSA will tell us more about where the rebuild for the Rams is at.
The 2-0 start for CSU bred energy and excitement, but this was a reality check that the BYU level is just a long ways above where CSU is right now.
That said, CSU is 2-1 and that’s right where most would have realistically hoped to be.
Sports reporter Kevin Lytle can be found on social media on X, Instagram and Threads @Kevin_Lytle and on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: BYU hands CSU reality check as Hauss Hejny injury a concern for Rams
