Head coach Jay Sawvel set the narrative for the Cowboys’ road matchup against the North Texas Mean Green in his weekly Monday presser: it was going to be a battle between one of the worst offenses in the nation against one of the worst defenses in the nation to see who would come out on top of the Cowboys’ final non-conference game of the season. The Mean Green had the 126th of 133 ranked defense heading into the contest, compared to the Cowboys’ 132nd ranked offense.
One team didn’t meet that narrative, and it certainly wasn’t the Cowboy offense.
The Cowboys defense certainly looked much more like the 126th nationally ranked defense in this one as well, allowing the Mean Green to amass an impressive 534 yards of total offense in a 44-17 rout. The Mean Green also scored on every single offensive possession they had in the first half.
“I’m frustrated with our defense right now,” head coach Jay Sawvel said postgame. “…I thought there were a couple of things that we’re going to address and get cleaned up a little bit defensively. We got a lot of stuff to fix.”
Many narratives would stay the same for the Cowboys, another being a multitude of self-inflicted wounds and third quarter struggles that would ultimately cost them the game.
The Cowboys had a golden opportunity in the third quarter to make things a one possession game after their defense finally showed signs of life after forcing a three and out for the first time on the opening possession of the second half. Nofoafia Tulafono, as he’s done several times this season, misfired a snap on the Cowboys’ second play of their first second half drive. What was a manageable 2nd and 4 quickly turned into 3rd and 14 that would result in a three and out.
To rub salt in the wound, another errant snap, this time from long snapper Carson Yark, would force punter Jack Culbreath to shank his punt out of bounds. The 12 yard punt would set the Mean Green up at the Cowboy 35 yard line, where they’d easily find the endzone.
Another three and out for the Cowboys and another touchdown by the Mean Green was making this one an absolute laugher to that point.
That series of events practically put a bow on the evening, as the Cowboys were buried deep by a score of 41-17, and they were the ones holding the shovel.
“I mean, we just did enough things that losing teams do, and we got to get it corrected,” Sawvel said.
The third quarter has been a serious point of contention for the Cowboys all season. The Cowboys’ were outscored 14-0 in this one, and have constantly come out flat after halftime throughout every single game this season.
The Cowboys were completely buried against Arizona State, with all hope of a 27-0 comeback after halftime squashed after the Cowboys conceded another 21 unanswered points in the third quarter in that one. They also would be unable to score in the third quarter against Idaho, despite shutting them out for the entire second half on their way to an eventual 17-13 loss in that one. The Cowboys were also recently outscored 17-0 in a rivalry matchup against BYU at home. After four games, the Cowboys have been outscored 58-0 in the third quarter.
Something, anything, really, needs to budge coming out of the locker room in the second half for the Cowboys.
“I’m having a hard time with that one,” Sawvel said when asked about the third quarter struggles. “Say, well, we’ve been outscored coming out of the third quarter. Well, why is that? …when you’re 0-4, you can probably name a list of stuff that’s not right.”
Missed in what was a rather poor performance by the Cowboys were a few crucial individual performances that kept this one close early.
Running back Sam Scott, who has been buried in the depth chart below DJ Jones and Jamari Ferrel had a good outing on both the ground and receiving after receiving most of the touches in the backfield in this one. He had 39 yards on 11 carries, along with 52 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.
John Michael Gyllenborg was a bright spot in his second game returning from injury, leading the Cowboys in receiving yards and catches. Tyler King also impressed with a kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter that made things 24-17, but even that play couldn’t spark any momentum for the Cowboys.
With Air Force coming to town next weekend to kick off Mountain West play for the Cowboys, they need to take a long hard look in the mirror to find their identity. Because right, nobody, not even themselves, knows who this team is.
“We got a lot of stuff to correct within the program right now,” Sawvel said. “We got to redefine ourselves, in terms of maybe who we wanted to be and what we can best be is going to be completely different.”
