FORT COLLINS — Jay Norvell can’t relate to what Tory Horton is dealing with this week, but he’s hopeful to have his star wide receiver available for the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

“I was never fast enough to get a groin strain,” the Colorado State coach said with a laugh.

Horton suffered the injury in the Rams’ Week 2 win over Northern Colorado, a game in which he opened the scoring with a 78-yard punt return touchdown and still managed to lead the team in receiving yards with 65.

“Tory is sore, but I think he’s gonna be available to play,” Norvell said. “We’ll see how he progresses over the week. We’re hopeful he’s able to play.”

The Rams are certainly going to need Horton if they are going to pull off an upset over a Colorado team that enters this week’s rivalry game as a 7.5-point favorite. Horton had a career-high 16 catches for 133 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Buffaloes last season.

While CSU was able to get in the win column against UNC after the blowout loss Week 1 at Texas, Norvell knows the team on the other sideline is going to look more like the one in Austin than this past weekend in Fort Collins.

“(Colorado) might have faster receivers than Texas,” Norvell said. “Those kids can all run. We gotta do a good job of playing good, solid pass defense.”

With the likes of Travis Hunter, Jimmy Horn Jr. and LaJohntay Wester all showing flashes through two weeks, Norvell’s defense will have its hands full once again and doesn’t want a repeat of the season opener where Longhorn receivers were running open all over the field.

The one thing CSU has going for it heading into this year’s matchup is familiarity. Even though Pat Shurmur is now the Buffs’ offensive coordinator after still being limited to an analyst role this time last season, what Norvell has seen on film isn’t much different from what he remembers seeing in person in Folsom Field last September.

“Very similar to last year in the personality and the strengths of their team,” Norvell said. “Everything starts with their offense and their quarterback. They’re very, very capable of being very explosive. They mostly attack through the air. Everything goes through the quarterback. When they make explosive plays, they’re very hard to slow down.”

The Rams were able to do that for much of last year’s game and led by 11 points heading into the fourth quarter. Norvell believes his team is ready to finish the job this time around.

“Most games come down to the last four minutes where you either have to seal it or steal it,” Norvell said. “I think we have a much more mature team. I think we’re wiser and I think we have a better plan.

“We learned a lot from last year’s game. We have a bigger sample size on them, too. We know what they are, we know who they are, we know what they’re trying to do.”