Livingston Paogofie • Defensive Line • Senior • Arlington, TX

So far: Paogofie is a bit of an unsung hero on the d-line, spending his first three seasons as a rotational guy. He usually comes in at the tackle spot, occupying blockers 50 pounds heavier. It’s a bit of a role change compared to his high school career where he played DE/OLB, was more of a disrupter, and was named his district’s defensive player of the year. He’s been extremely durable, playing in at least 11 games his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons.

What’s ahead: Probably more of the same in 2020. Not sure what Coach Heater has in store, but Paogofie can rotate in as a 4-3 DT or a 3-4 DE so he’ll see the field quite a bit either way.

Brewery nearest Arlington, Texas: Legal Draft Beer Company

(I’m going to pretend I’m Coach Thorson on Twitter real fast…)

Take Note Ram Nation: Legal Draft Beer Company is less than a mile from AT&T Stadium. Keep that in mind for the Rams semi-final matchup in the Cotton Bowl. #grinderswin

Lowest Yelp Review for Legal Draft:

“Everything was going fine until the manager made my friend cry on her birthday” is probably not the type of review you’re hoping for. I’ve never ran a business though, so I dunno.

---

Ranking Every Game of the Mike Bobo Era, #58

2015 Colorado, The Overtime Game

• Final Score: Colorado State 24, Colorado 27
• Line: Colorado -3.5
• Venue: Sports Authority Field at Mile High

In Coach Bobo’s first Rocky Mountain Showdown, he picked up on a habit that some previous coaches had made routine: bewildering losses to unbelievably shitty Colorado teams.

And no doubt about it, this Colorado team was god awful. 64th in scoring offense, 111th in total defense, 104th in penalties per game, 112th in turnover margin. A 4-7 team whose only wins were Colorado State, UMass (3-9), Nicholls State (3-8), and Oregon State (2-10).

I had to get up and take a walk around the room after typing that last paragraph.

The Rams got out to a 14-0 lead. At this point, CSU had scored 38 unanswered points against CU going back to the 2014 Rocky Mountain Showdown. “We finally did it,” I thought to myself, “we finally figured out that we’re the better team.” So this was probably all my fault.

If CSU weren’t their own worst enemy, they essentially could have ended the game in the 1st half. But thier next drives were: turnover on downs on the CU 24, missed field goal, interception, halftime. CU scored on their opening drive of the 3rd quarter and suddenly had a three point lead.

Fast forward to the 4th quarter with the game tied at 17, CSU driving in CU territory, 3rd and 8. Through a FOIA request, I was able to get the transcript of what was said between Coach Bobo and the $500,000 offensive coordinator:

Bobo: Big play here, what do you think?

OC: How about that play from last week against Minnesota that lost us the game?

Bobo: My god, that’s perfect.

Fast forward to CSU’s opening drive in overtime. CU is called for a targeting penalty, but CSU can’t move the ball from the 12 yard line. Field goal gets blocked when no one on the left side of the line decides to block anyone. I’m done talking about this game

Now that I think about it, I ranked this game wrong. This might be the worst loss of the Bobo Era. We outgained them and dominated time of possession, but -2 on turnovers (including a pick-6) and three missed field goals. And that Sefo guy was involved. Yep, this was the worst.

The game is here if you hate yourself and want to watch it: