Wyoming scored first, but many turnovers and six straight touchdown drives by Oregon later, the Cowboys found themselves defeated, 48-14 in Eugene, Ore.
“There are definitely some good things to take away from this,” said head coach Craig Bohl. “We knew it was an uphill battle. We are disappointed in the loss. Its a learning experience for us.”
Wyoming opened the scoring late in the first quarter on an 18-yard TD pass from redshirt senior quarterback Colby Kirkegaard to sophomore wide receiver Tanner Gentry. This touchdown was a part of a 98-yard drive that included many big plays by the offense. Running backs Shaun Wick, a junior, and DJ May, a redshirt sophomore, both had runs of 21 and 25 yards, respectively. Kirkegaard on the drive had completions to sophomore Jake Maulhardt for 25 yards on a third and 19, senior Jalen Claiborne for 15 yards and the eventual TD pass to Gentry.
Kirkegaard finished 19/33 for 284 yards, with two TD passes and two interceptions. Both of Kirkegaard’s picks led to Oregon TDs and the second occurred deep in Oregon territory in the midst of a long drive.
“For a guy who hasn’t played a lot of football to come in this environment, he did some good things,” said Bohl. “We believe in Colby. He is a joy to coach. He did a lot of positive things.”
After Wyoming took a 7-0 lead, the Ducks came back quickly behind Heisman hopeful redshirt junior Marcus Mariota. Oregon took a 27-7 lead into halftime.
Mariota finished the day with just four incompletions, going 19/23 for 221 yards with two TDs while adding 71 yards on the ground and two more TDs.
Oregon stayed hot into the second half, scoring on their next two possessions to take a 41-7 lead with 9:59 to play in the third quarter. Oregon then proceeded to pull their starters.
“They are a good football team,” said Kirkegaard. “Its no wonder they win so many games.”
Wyoming would find the end zone again early in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard screen pass to May, making the score at 41-14, with 14:03 to play in the game.
Oregon, led by their offensive back-ups, scored once more to make the score 48-14 with just 8:30 to play in the game.
Late in the contest, the Cowboys drove deep into Oregon territory but its drive stalled inside the Duck’s 10 yard-line on a failed fourth down conversion.
Wyoming, despite what the score may indicate, moved the ball successfully on Oregon, racking up 439 total yards. Oregon’s opponent last week, #7 Michigan State, had a very similar 466 total yards of offense. The Cowboys gained 284 yards through the air and 155 yards on the ground. Wyoming also improved 9/17, on third downs.
Wick finished the day off with 122 yards on 16 carries. His backfield partner May gained 42 yards on eight carries, but also had 101 receiving yards, mostly off of screen plays.
“I thought once we got the running game going, that started to change some of the dynamics of the game,” said Bohl. “We were encouraged that the running game got going.”
Claiborne led the receiving game with 53 yards on five catches. Senior wide out Dominic Rufran extended his streak of games, with at least one reception to 40. He had three catches for 37 yards. Gentry added two catches for 35 yards, one being his TD reception, which was the first of his career.
Senior Mark Nzeocha led the Cowboy defense with 11 tackles.
The Wyoming defense struggled to get pressure on the QB, as they recorded zero sacks and forced just one rush for loss.
“Losing is not fun,” said Bohl. “We will learn from this and move forward,”
Wyoming will be back in action this Saturday at 2 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium as they take on Florida Atlantic.
