FORT COLLINS — John Weber is shooting for the stars.

For what feels like the first time ever, Colorado State has an athletic director not satisfied with mediocrity. Past iterations of the Rams athletic department may have let Jay Norvell ride out the rest of his contract (which expired at the end of the 2026 season). Heck, Norvell did lead CSU to its first eight-win season in a decade and its first bowl game since 2017 just last fall.

But that also raised expectations for Norvell to — at the bare minimum — match those feats this season, if not surpass them and win the program’s first Mountain West title in over 20 years.

When Norvell and his team failed to meet them with a 2-5 start that featured regression on both sides of the ball, Weber wasn’t going to just sit back and watch it happen, as he promptly fired Norvell after last week’s loss to Hawaii.

“We all had a lot of high expectations for this particular season,” Weber said. “We entered it with a lot of excitement and ultimately, it just did not deliver out on the field.”

Now, Weber will have to make the most consequential hire of his tenure. 

When he took over as athletic director last year, he inherited Norvell. He made a bold move a few months later, departing the Mountain West for the new-look Pac-12 (a move that will be official next summer), and has since had to make a hire in men’s basketball — although the promotion of Ali Farokhmanesh seemed like a foregone conclusion as soon as Niko Medved left for Minnesota.

This is a move — even more so than the move to the Pac-12 — that will likely define his tenure, regardless of who it is.

He could go with someone like Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein, a 36-year-old Loveland native who is rumored to be interested in the job.

He could go for a different hot-shot coordinator with no head coaching experience, in Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, a former Louisville quarterback regarded as one of the game’s best young offensive minds.

He could go with a pair of proven winners currently dominating the FCS level, North Dakota State’s Tim Polasek or Montana State’s Brent Vigen, or go after the interim with a lot of buzz, UCLA’s Tim Skipper (also a former CSU assistant).

He could really take a swing and try to get CSU alum Klint Kubiak away from the NFL and his current role as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. 

Regardless of who it is, they’ll be tasked with one big goal: making the College Football Playoff.

Since taking over, it’s what Weber hasn’t stopped talking about. He hasn’t wavered in his stance that CSU can be a place where that happens.

“This is a program that has seen record crowds for the last year and a half,” Weber said. “The engagement with Ram Country is unparalleled. It’s a program with top-tier facilities. It’s a program that represents an outstanding academic and research institution. It’s a program backed by 270,000 alumni and powered by 34,000 students. It’s a program located in a phenomenal city and an outstanding state.”

As a 1991 CSU graduate, Weber witnessed exactly what he believes the Rams are capable of under Sonny Lubick — in an era where the university wasn’t nearly as invested in winning as it is now.

Among teams in the new-look Pac-12, CSU is as competitive as any in terms of coaching salaries and NIL. It’s also a place that’s never failed to recruit in hotbeds like Southern California and Texas, as well as locally. But Weber also knows that money and players aren’t everything. This season has proven that.

“A program is more than its head coach and it’s more than a stadium,” Weber said. “It involves everything around it and that’s everything from recruiting to how we scheme to how we coach, who we put on the field, decisions that we make.”

It’s now about finding the right coach who can combine all of that into a consistent winner, which is easier said than done. But the good news for the Rams is that, as of now, there won’t be much competition in the pool they’re swimming in.

Powerhouse programs like Penn State and Florida will dominate the headlines in this year’s coaching carousel, while smaller Power 4 programs like Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and UCLA will also draw interest. But the only job opening comparable to CSU’s so far is the one at fellow Pac-12 foe Oregon State. 

That will change over the next month or so, of course. But that’s part of the reason Weber made this decision when he did. For now, he’s got an intriguing group of candidates all to himself and Weber’s words alone could make this a difficult decision with the amount of interest in the job.

“The opportunity for Colorado State is very, very, very real,” Weber said. “When you look at all the attributes here at CSU, it is all here for us to be wildly successful as we move into the Pac-12.”

King’s 5 Games to Watch

No. 13 Oklahoma vs. No. 8 Ole Miss (10 a.m. ABC)

The nation’s best defense meets one of the nation’s best offenses. It’s two head coaches (the Sooners’ Brent Venables and the Rebels’ Lane Kiffin) that are two of the best at scheming things up for their teams. Both teams desperately need this game after both recently suffered their first loss of the season. This one could go a long way toward deciding a crucial College Football Playoff spot out of the SEC.

King’s pick: Ole Miss +5.5

No. 10 Vanderbilt vs. No. 15 Missouri (1:30 p.m. ESPN)

Nashville is a college football town, once again. ESPN’s “College GameDay” returns to Vanderbilt for the first time since 2008 as the Commodores are rolling — outside of one loss at Alabama — with another ranked opponent coming to visit. The Tigers are another SEC team whose only loss is to the Crimson Tide, and eager to prove they belong in the conference title race.

King’s pick: Vanderbilt -2.5

Iowa State vs. No. 11 BYU (1:30 p.m. FOX)

Another big week in the Big 12 begins in Ames, where the Cyclones are back from a bye week and looking to bounce back from back-to-back losses, the most recent at the hands of Coach Prime and Colorado. BYU, on the other hand, is riding high after a rivalry win over Utah in the “Holy War” and just like a year ago, the Cougars are still desperate to prove they’re contenders and not pretenders by taking an unbeaten record into November.

King’s pick: BYU +2.5

No. 21 Cincinnati vs. Baylor (2 p.m. ESPN2)

Staying in the Big 12, there’s a surprise contender in Cincinnati as the Bearcats are tied with BYU atop the standings at 4-0 in conference play. Scott Satterfield’s team has won three of those games by single digits, however, and the offense, led by QB Brendan Sorsby, is going to need to be at its best against a Baylor attack led by the nation’s leader in passing yards, Sawyer Robertson. 

King’s pick: Cincinnati -3.5

No. 20 LSU vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (5:30 p.m. ABC)

We’ve already seen one unexpected firing among top programs in James Franklin at Penn State and it feels like Brian Kelly’s job at LSU could be in jeopardy if the Tigers continue to slide. After last week’s loss at Vanderbilt, it doesn’t get any easier as SEC leaders Texas A&M come to Death Valley. The Aggies are scoring over 36 points per game over the last three weeks and will cause the LSU defense fits. 

King’s pick: Texas A&M -2.5 

King’s YTD record ATS: 21-19 (4-1 last week)

King’s Top 5 Heisman Candidates

1. Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana

The train keeps rolling in Bloomington, a town in the midst of arguably the best football season it has ever seen. While coach Curt Cignetti is the biggest star, Mendoza is the straw that stirs the drink for the Hoosiers. In yet another dominant win, the veteran quarterback threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns as Indiana improved to 7-0 with resurgent UCLA coming to town this week.

2. Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama

It wasn’t flashy, but that’s what the Crimson Tide need from Simpson at this point of the season. Alabama continues to grind out wins in the SEC as Simpson threw for over 250 yards and two touchdowns in his team’s win over Tennessee last week. A 70% completion rate with an 18-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio shows just how good the ‘Bama QB has been.

3. Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State

All Sayin needed was one big performance to get him on this list. The Ohio State QB delivered it last week in his team’s latest blowout victory. The Buckeyes have destroyed just about everyone in their path so far this season, but their sophomore quarterback had yet to put up a truly impressive stat line. His 393 yards and four touchdowns on nearly 86% completions last week against Wisconsin certainly qualifies.

4. Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M

The Aggies needed everything Reed had last week as the Texas A&M defense wasn’t at its best against an explosive Arkansas offense. The sophomore QB delivered another signature performance this season, though, as he threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns on over 71% completions to go with 55 yards and another score on the ground.

5. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

Nice to see you, Jeremiyah. The nation had been waiting for a breakout performance from arguably the country’s best running back and the Notre Dame star delivered one in an epic win over rival USC. Love carried the ball a season-high 24 times for a career-high 228 yards and a touchdown.