The time finally came, and Wyoming faced off with the Ohio Bobcats in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl. They battled hard, but came up short with a score of 30-27.
As the pregame activities came to a close, the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl was underway. Barstool personality Big Cat performed the national anthem, and players were ready to kickoff in Tucson.
The Cowboys started strong as Coach Bohl called a classic methodical drive that ended with a touchdown from the freshman running back (RB) Jordon Vaughn, this being his first collegiate touchdown.
It was Vaughn’s time to shine this time around, as many of his running back counterparts had either left the team or became inactive. He ended the game with 67 rushing yards and 4.2 yards per carry on top of his two touchdown debut.
As Kolbey Taylor was ejected with a penalty for targeting on Ohio’s first drive, the Pokes available cornerbacks (CB) dwindled.
The Bobcats then capitalized on that penalty and got into the endzone themselves. They opted for a two-point attempt rather than an extra point, and took the lead 8-7 on the Cowboys.
Soon after, the Cowboys found themselves punting, but it was muffed by the Bobcats returner.
Quarterback Andrew Peasley, had the ball in the red zone and took a chance on a covered Treyton Welch. The big tight end went up and grabbed the football overtop of a Bobcat defender’s head. A ridiculous play to put the Pokes back in the lead, 14-8.
Ohio punched in a field goal to make it 14-11.
CB Wrook Brown was an interesting player to watch this game. He put himself into the right places all afternoon, and despite dropping an interception, looked promising for Wyoming’s depleted secondary.
After that, Ohio attempted to tie the game up with another field goal, but came up way too short.
Towards the end of the half, Peasley broke out for a big run, breaking three tackles, en route to a score in the closing moments of the first half.
Kicker (K), John Hoyland, would then hit his first field goal of the day to extend the lead to 17-11.
The two teams traded off punts to start the second half, following an eventful opening frame.
After a long stretch of dominant defense from both teams, Ohio’s RB Bangura broke free for a 40 yard run, which came up just short of the endzone thanks to middle linebacker Gibbs catching him from behind.
Bangura followed that run up with the last few yards for the score. He found himself being Cowboy kryptonite, as he ended with 138 rushing yards and 5.5 yards per carry.
The Bobcats regained the lead 18-17 with 5:14 to play in the third quarter.
Cowboys early success seemed to be falling off entering the fourth quarter, the Pokes looked to regain some of that confidence that they opened this game with.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Peasley threw an interception to an Ohio defender, looking for his wide receiver, Alex Brown, deep downfield.
From dropped interceptions to bad sacks being let up, this team pulled a full 180 after halftime. Pokes struggled to get anything going on offense, having only 19 passing yards after halftime with five minutes to play. Ohio is ranked 130th out of 131 FBS teams in pass defense.
It was an embarrassing second half for the Wyoming Cowboys.
The Bobcats scored another field goal, making their lead 21-17 with 4:17 left in the Arizona Bowl.
In the final minutes of the game, things started to look up for the Pokes, Peasley connected with Welch to enter the red zone for the first time in the second half.
The Cowboys showed up when it mattered, as the freshman RB Vaughn got into the endzone for the second time, putting the Pokes in the lead, 24-21 with 2:09 left in the game.
Finding themselves in field goal range, the Bobcats took a shot to tie up the game in an attempt to send the game into overtime.
The kick to close out regulation was good with four seconds left, and the Bobcats and Cowboys entered overtime, tied 24-24.
On Wyoming’s opening overtime drive, they came up short for the touchdown, but K Hoyland kept them alive with a field goal, hoping the Bobcats would stay out of the endzone.
They did exactly the opposite, and scored an incredible touchdown to send the Cowboys home.
After a valiant effort, the Pokes season is over. They are deemed the runners up of the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.
