FORT COLLINS — The Colorado State defense believes it unlocked a new level this summer in a river in Mullen, Nebraska.

There, on July 19, four leaders of the Rams defense — safeties Jack Howell and Henry Blackburn, nickelback Ayden Hector and linebacker Chase Wilson — were baptized on Howell’s family farm by CSU chaplain Johnny Square. The weekend trip culminated with a visit from CSU boss Jay Norvell and two assistants, with the players and coaches sitting fireside to delve deep into the upcoming season.

That quartet of players hopes the Rams’ newfound connection over the past year, underscored by the group leading Bible studies in the players’ lounge of Canvas Stadium, will make a chemistry difference in CSU’s efforts to close out games in ways the Rams failed to last season.

“(The defense) really didn’t show up when we needed to there at the end of games last year,” said Hector, who only played four games in 2023 before season-ending shoulder surgery. “The good news is those games were close. The bad news is we didn’t finish the job. This extra edge we’ve created in the offseason is going to take us over that hump.”

Amid a 5-7 campaign in 2023 that saw the Rams squander multiple games en route to missing out on bowl eligibility, the defense failed to make a clutch stop on multiple occasions.

In the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Boulder, the Rams allowed CU to drive 98 yards in the waning minutes of regulation to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion that forced overtime. CSU eventually lost 43-35.

Against UNLV, CSU allowed two field goal drives in the last 3:44 of the game, including the Rebels marching 56 yards in 40 seconds to kick the game-winner with three ticks left in a 25-23 loss.

And in the gut-punch close to the season in Hawaii, a 27-24 defeat, CSU tied the game with under a minute left only to watch the Rainbow Warriors go 41 yards in 54 seconds to kick the game-winning 51-yard field goal at the buzzer.

“That was painful last year (in Hawaii), but we’re better physically, mentally and spiritually since that moment,” Blackburn said. “… We’re really a different team spiritually than we were in the past, and that’s lit a fire under us.”

The Rams hope that fire will propel them forward in the critical third season under Norvell, who has yet to make a bowl game or beat a rival in his time in Fort Collins.

“I feel like I would be a failure to this school if we didn’t accomplish beating CU, beating Wyoming and beating Air Force while I’m here and also making a bowl game and the conference championship game,” Howell said.

“… We don’t want to run from (last year’s close losses) or hide from it. We want to embrace it because that’s how you get better. You look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself where you went wrong. (As a defense) we definitely have a chip on our shoulder, and we’ve never stopped having a chip on our shoulder.”