Matthew Fabian
mfabian1@uwyo.edu
After another Mountain West loss at the Air Force Academy, the Wyoming Cowboy football team returned to Laramie in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and stands half way to an imperfect season.
“I thought they had a good defensive front and collapsed the pocket,” Wyoming head football coach Craig Bohl said in a Wyoming Athletics press release. “We are seeing a lot of young guys out there and I believe they are getting better.”
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, getting better came in the form of another loss, 31-17 and now sit at 0-6, and 0-2
in Mountain West play.
“It may not show on the scoreboard, but we keep on encouraging these guys,” Bohl said.
The Cowboy defense continues to point in the right direction. Wyoming forced the Falcons to punt on three of their first four possessions – and the other possession ending in a field goal – bringing a scoreless draw at the end of the first quarter.
Only 39 seconds into the second quarter, Air Force broke the seal with a Shayne Davern six-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons ahead, 7-0. The Cowboy offense found themselves unable to respond, as would be the case most of the night.
Brian Hill fumbled twice in the game and lost both, an unusual fate for the sophomore running back.
“When Brian Hill is not fumbling the ball, he’s having an exceptional year,” Bohl said with a tongue-in-cheek comment.
Cam Coffman threw two interceptions, along with two touchdowns, to bring Wyoming’s turnover count to four. The Wyoming defense forced a fumble and an interception as well, but the offensive unit did not capitalize on either opportunity.
The Cowboys found the end zone for the first time with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter, on a Coffman touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jake Maulhardt from 17 yards out. The Cowboys tacked on another touchdown from the Coffman-Maulhardt connection nine minutes later, this time from 31-yards out.
The Wyoming defense still remains plagued with big play touchdowns, allowing two touchdowns of 46 yards or more within 19 seconds of each other. The Falcons’ Garrett Brown threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Jale Robinette, and then the Falcons struck with another Daven score, from 46 yards out.
The Cowboy effort now turns to the Nevada Wolfpack, coming off of a 35-17 over the New Mexico Lobos.
“The thing they’ve done very well offensively is gotten good quarterback play,” Bohl said.
The game will be at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday with kick off set for 2 p.m. Nevada sits at 3-3 on the season, 1-2 in Mountain West play.
