Typically, teams who win the coin toss defer to receiving the ball in the second half in an effort to establish momentum in the second part of the game.
However, that was not Colorado State’s game plan.
The Rams won the toss and elected to receive the ball to open the game, wanting to establish dominance from the start. Although they didn’t find the end zone on their first offensive drive, they managed to walk away with three points.
Little did CSU know that its opening drive would be the only time it would be the team to assert dominance in the game. From then on, Miami (OH) would take full control.
By the end of it, it was head coach Chuck Martin who would stand side-by-side next to Snoop Dogg as the rap legend connected a golden chain around Martin’s neck following the Red Hawks 43-17 win over the Rams, securing Miami (OH)’s first bowl win since 2021.
“I was thinking if I could’ve befriended Snoop and just kind of been part of something that he does, this could be my last game [and] I just fade off into the sunset with Snoop, that was my goal,” Martin said jokingly after the game. “I don’t think I quite got that done. Maybe if I get back here and win another one we can partner up.”
Martin considers himself to be a simple man. He said he’s someone who wears the same jacket and pants every day and only dresses up when he absolutely has to. Sharing the stage with one of music’s greatest living icons wasn’t just something that just happened.
But Martin and Snoop weren’t the only two front-and-center postgame on the stage. Senior running back Kevin Davis, the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl MVP, was also on display for the world to see.
Rightfully so.
For Davis, there wasn’t a better way to end a collegiate career. The agile back finished with a career-high 144 yards and two touchdowns off nine carries, including scoring on a 97-yard touchdown run on the Red Hawks’ first play of their third offensive drive in the third quarter.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Davis said about having that type of performance in his final game. “It doesn’t even feel real. But the biggest thing about it is I get to do it with the guys I love. I’ve been here for five years, and a lot of us have been here for, you know, five, six years so just going out in a way like that with the guys that’s been through it all the for the past few years, you know alongside you, you can truly say that you fought with your brother in every battle, and you know just to go out there and do it one last time is just amazing.”
Martin helped the Red Hawks offense turn on the jets in the second half, but the story wasn’t the same as the first. Although Miami (OH) scored six points off three field goals in the first half, the team struggled to capitalize on early CSU mistakes. Martin said he felt the Rams controlled the game.
It wasn’t till the Red Hawks’ final drive of the first half that they could put together an elongated offensive drive, which resulted in a field goal. Martin saw that his team had one advantage: speed.
“We got going in the third quarter, and we kind of went a little tempo, and it worked, and then the next drive it worked, and then the next thing you know, the floodgates were open,” Martin said.
After running 35 plays in the first half, the Red Hawks could only produce nine points. By the time the clock had run a little over the halfway point in the third quarter, Miami (OH) had scored 20 in only 12 plays.
When Miami (OH) seemed to be pulling away with a 29-3 lead, CSU began to wake up. The Rams pulled out some trickery late in the third quarter on fourth-and-short on their 44-yard line.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi tossed the ball to his wide receiver out of a shotgun snap, almost like the Rams were running a jet sweep. But they weren’t. The receiver tossed the ball back to Fowler-Nicolosi, who fired a rocket 56 yards downfield to redshirt freshman wide receiver and Sierra Linda High School alum Stephon Daily for his first career touchdown.
While it seemed like Miami (OH) wouldn’t let CSU’s first touchdown affect them by returning the kickoff 61 yards downfield, the Red Hawks turned the ball over. Suddenly, there was optimism for the Rams.
But not for long.
Any possibility of the Rams making a comeback was crushed when senior linebacker Ty Wise intercepted a pass tipped by a CSU wide receiver as time expired in the third quarter. Wise returned it to the CSU 5-yard line.
Wise was still shocked about his big play postgame.
“It was amazing,” Wise said. “Had to run a long way to get that.”
Junior running back Jordan Brunson would find the end zone for Miami (OH) as the fourth quarter began, essentially sealing the deal for the Red Hawks.
While Miami (OH) and maybe Snoop Dogg were the stars of the show Saturday, Martin was impressed by the way the Red Hawks fan base traveled and the support from the city of Tucson for the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, which set a new attendance record of 40,076.
“We have so much support,” Martin said. “Not only that… you watch all these bowl games and there’s nobody at any of them, and that’s just normal. They got town to rally behind this bowl, and fill this place. Totally different experience for [the team].”
“What they do in this town and the pride like, I told kids, the pride [Tucson takes] in this shows with every turn you make. Everything is just done a little bit better, and we’ve had great bowl experiences everywhere we’ve ever been, but this is just upgraded like, everything from the players lounge to the events, everything they do. It’s pretty cool.”
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