FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Former UConn football coach Jim Mora says the prospect of coaching at Colorado State first piqued his interest six years ago.

The Rams' new coach said he went back through his texts and found one from 2019 expressing interest in the job that went to Steve Addazio following Mike Bobo's departure.

“So, that's when it got on my radar initially,” said Mora, who takes over the Rams program following the midseason firing of Jay Norvell.

“I have a relationship with Jay Norvell. Jay worked for my dad,” Mora said. “... When the program decided to move on from Jay, I was immediately interested. It renewed the interest that I had in 2019.”

Augmenting that interest is the Rams' move next summer to the newly configured Pac-12 along with Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State from the Mountain West Conference. They'll join Gonzaga and Texas State along with holdovers Oregon State and Washington State.

“Brand recognition is huge,” said Mora, who coached in a Pac-12 that looked dramatically different during his tenure at UCLA. "I've been associated with the Pac-12 since it was the Pac-8 and then the Pac-10 and then the Pac-12 at all levels whether it was my dad as a coach, me as a player or me as a coach.

“The Pac-12 represents excellence. It always has. Now, this may be a new community of members in the Pac-12, but it's still the Pac-12 and this new community of members is going to make the Pac-12 Conference powerful once again.”

The Rams are coming off a 2-10 season, including 1-7 in the Mountain West.

“I like challenges,” said Mora, who led UConn to nine-win campaigns each of the last two seasons. “I like the thought of jumping in head-first and trying to build something that can be lasting and special.”

Mora said he was glad to be back in Colorado where he spent part of his youth and he asked how many 14ers there were in the state because he aims to climb the mountain peaks in between building the program.

Told there were 54 of them, Mora said, “We're going to win a Pac-12 championship, we're going to compete for a national championship and I'm going to scale 54 14,000-foot mountains.”

All appear to be tall tasks for a program that has had just one winning season since 2017.

The 64-year-old Mora, who spent four seasons as an NFL head coach with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, produced a 27-23 record in four years at UConn. The Huskies are 9-3 this season, and each of their three losses went to overtime, making them the only school that hasn't lost in regulation this year.

Mora, whose five-year contract at Colorado State starts with a base salary of $2.4 million and includes yearly increases, flew back to Connecticut on Monday night to meet with his former players and staff.

“Because of the way our calendars fell at the University of Connecticut, I have not had the chance to address the team that I coached and I need to look them in the eyes and tell them thank you and that I love them and I appreciate them for all of the things that they did,” Mora said.

Mora will return to Fort Collins for signing day.

“I've had an opportunity to talk to every one of the commits,” he said.

Colorado State fired Norvell on Oct. 19. Norvell was in his fourth season and owned an 18-26 record, including an 8-5 mark and an Arizona Bowl appearance last year. The Rams were 2-5 when Norvell got fired and lost their final five games with defensive coordinator Tyson Summers serving as interim head coach.

Mora’s stint at UConn represented a career comeback. He posted a 46-30 record at UCLA from 2012-17 and then was out of coaching and working as a television analyst until UConn hired him.

UConn went 6-7 and 3-9 in Mora’s first two seasons before going 18-7 over the last two seasons. The Huskies went 9-4 and won the Fenway Bowl last year for their first bowl victory since the 2009 season.

Mora, who expressed confidence this will be his “last step” in coaching, will make his Colorado State debut on Sept. 5 when the Rams host Wyoming.

Fortunate flags: How the Broncos extended their win streak to 9 with a little help from officials

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos won another close one, and this time they had some major help from the officials.

The Broncos (10-2) stretched their winning streak to nine games with a 27-26 overtime thriller at Washington on Sunday night, but they were aided by three calls and one non-call that went their way in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Commanders (3-9) overcame a pair of penalties on back-to-back snaps that raised eyebrows on their final drive of regulation, which ended in a 32-yard field goal by Jake Moody as time expired.

Trailing 20-17 with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota appeared to scramble for 7 yards on second-and-9 from his 37.

Expedited review showed Mariota was indeed down by contact 19 yards earlier but it was because edge rusher Dondrea Tillman had tripped him, which should have been a 15-yard flag on Denver.

“That's tripping,” NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay said on the broadcast. “Should have been a 15-yard penalty from the previous spot.”

But replay can't interject a penalty that wasn't called on the field. So, Washington instead faced third-and-21 from its 25-yard line and had to punt after Alex Singleton broke up Mariota’s deep pass to tight end Zach Ertz that would have given the Commanders a first down.

The Commanders got the ball back at their 15 with 3 minutes left after Denver went three-and-out, and more officiating drama ensued.

On second-and-10 from the Washington 26, Commanders star receiver Terry McLaurin was interfered with by the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Patrick Surtain II, who wrapped his right arm around McLaurin's neck before the ball arrived. But no flag was thrown and no mention of it was made on the broadcast.

That wouldn't be the case moments later.

The Commanders reached the Broncos 49 after the 2-minute warning when McLaurin was whistled for a phantom false start that stumped NBC's broadcast crew.

“Is he not set for a second?” play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico asked as the replay was shown. “No, he is. Wow! I don't know about that.”

“That's not a foul,” color commentator Cris Collinsworth added. “It's really not.”

Tirico suggested that maybe referee Land Clark announced the foul on the wrong player.

"No, it’s right in front of the official who blew it dead,” Collinsworth said. “You could see him running in. And yes, there was a moment where he got set, but I don’t think at this point in the game that’s a foul.”

So, the Commanders faced first-and-15 from their 46.

Mariota airmailed a pass over the head of McLaurin and was flagged for intentional grounding. The 10-yard penalty moved the ball back to the Washington 36, and the 10-second clock runoff had the Commanders facing second-and-25 with just over a minute remaining in regulation.

McAulay, a former longtime NFL official, couldn't believe the call.

“So, this is absolutely not grounding, guys,” McAulay said. "He throws it over the head of No. 17, who is outside the numbers. By rule, that is not intentional grounding.”

Unruffled, Mariota hit Ertz for 8 yards on fourth-and-6 from the Denver 45, then connected with Deebo Samuel for gains of 10 and 7 yards to help set up Moody's tying kick as the clock hit zeros.

Washington won the overtime coin toss but Commanders coach Dan Quinn may have blundered by electing to kick off rather than receive.

That choice is now customary in the new overtime format where both teams get a possession even if the first team scores a touchdown.

But Denver's defense was gassed, having just spent 18 plays on the field at the end of regulation and getting no help from the Broncos offense, which punted on its final three drives of regulation.

While the Broncos defenders caught their breath on the sideline, Bo Nix hit tight end Evan Engram for a 41-yard gain to the Washington 11 that set up RJ Harvey's short touchdown run.

After Wil Lutz's extra point made it 27-20, Mariota responded with a touchdown drive of his own. But on the 2-point conversion attempt to win it, Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto was left unblocked and batted down Mariota's pass to wide-open running back Jeremy McNichols to secure Denver's ninth straight victory, all of which have required comebacks.

“I mean, we’ve been battle tested all year,” Bonitto said. "There’s no situation that we’re new to. It was just a matter of just finding another way to win the game, and we did that.”

The Broncos, who have won their last four games by 10 points total, insist luck has nothing to do with their winning streak, their longest in 13 years. But they sure got a few fortunate flags Sunday night as they made it nine wins in a row.