Wyoming Cowboy’s football team ending off pulling another late win this time against the Florida Atlantic Owls with a score of 20-19.
With 2:09 left on the clock, Wyoming had given up
possession of the ball, along with only having one timeout remianing. The Cowboys had just turned the ball over on downs at their own 11-yard line. On the first play of the Owls’ drive, lineback Mark Nzeacho burst through the line of scrimmage and forced a fumble. Wyoming recovered, looking to drive down the field to win the game.
The very next play senior quarterback Colby Kirkegaard hit senior wide receiver Dominic Rufran for an 88-yard play. Rufran was caught from behind at Florida Atlantic 4 yard line.
Rufran said once he caught the ball and looked up field he thought, “Run, run, run, run! This is crazy just run!”
Once at the four yard line, the offense ran the ball to try to burn a little clock before sending out senior kicker Stuart Williams to kick the go ahead field goal.
When asked about where this field goal ranks on the one’s he has made Williams said, “This ranks probably number one.”
“You got to keep trucking and you have got to keep believing,” said head coach Craig Bohl after the game. He had his team still believing that they could win even after it looked like there was much of chance in it happening.
Wyoming started the game off with a score, taking their first drive 80 yards for the touchdown. This drive included Kirkegaard going three for three on his passes, and a 40 yard run from junior running back Shaun Wick. Wyoming was able to move the ball best on the ground with their two predominant running backs Wick and redshirt sophomore D.J. May who combined for 182 yards rushing, averaging 6.3 yards per attempt.
Outside of the 88 yard pass to Rufran at the end, Kirkegaard was 9-22 for 73 yards and his longest pass was only for 18 yards.
The Owls were able to move the ball but the Wyoming defense was able to hold them to field goals. The Owls did get a touchdown that came off a punt return that was downed at the Wyoming 14 yard line. The Owls punched it in on the next play with a read option keep from FAU quarterback Jaquez Johnson.
The Wyoming defense also was able to force three turnovers, including the fumble from Nzeacho, recovered by linebacker Jordan Stanton. In the end, Wyoming was able to pull out the win and is now 3-1 on the season. Wyoming will head to East Lansing, Michigan to face off against the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans. It will be Wyoming’s final non-conference of the year, before resuming conference play with Hawaii. The game against Michigan State will be at noon on September 27th and will be televised on an ESPN network.
