Despite the eruption of applause from fans and students rushing the field for Wyoming football head coach Jay Sawvel’s first win of his career, a bitter taste still lingered in the head coach’s mouth. Beating their front range rival the Air Force Falcons to open up Mountain West play with a win was huge for the team, but still rather bittersweet after losing a trio of rather lopsided games as well as dropping their home opener to an FCS (Football Championship Series) school, giving them an 0-4 mark to start the season.
“It’s hollow a little bit, in the fact that the way it all started,” Sawvel said after his first win.
Despite how it all started, the Cowboys’ first win of the season gives them an opportunity to start anew, as the win gives them a 1-0 record to start conference play, allowing them to put their 0-4 start to the season in the past.
The Cowboys’ offense, which struggled immensely during their four game losing streak, had by far and away their best performance to date against the Falcons, racking up an impressive 361 yards, over a hundred more yards than their current season average of 242 yards.
“We played Cowboy football tonight…and we stayed in it the whole time. We didn’t have a lapse, and the lapses have hurt us in previous games” Sawvel also said after the win.
However, it was the Cowboys’ youth on the offensive side of the ball that pushed them over the losing hump, a surprise to many with the amount of experience that’s littered throughout this roster. Touted freshman wideout Chris Durr Jr. led the Pokes’ receiving corps, making three grabs for 71 yards against the Falcons. Junior running back Sam Scott, who was buried on the depth chart to begin the season, had the best performance of any Cowboy running back this season with 97 yards and a touchdown. Backup offensive lineman Rex Johnsen and Alex Conn both played huge parts in establishing the run game against the Falcons as well.
Most importantly, though, we finally saw flashes of the quarterback that Evan Svoboda has been praised to be by his head coach.
“Look, I’ve said it, I’ll say it again. I’m firmly convinced [Svoboda is] going to be a really good player and he started to see flashes of it,” Sawvel said.
The Cowboy defense, despite the multitude of injuries to their already underhanded secondary, had an excellent second half against the Falcons as well that saw team captain and veteran linebacker Shae Suiaunoa have a career day, as the senior tallied a career high 13 tackles to help the Cowboy defense hold the Falcons to just 21 yards in the second half of that game.
“The second half response defensively was a critical factor, because we got in a rhythm offensively and we were able to stay in that rhythm offensively,” Sawvel said.
The question of consistency still remains after the performance the Cowboys had on both sides of the ball against the Falcons. Can the Cowboys duplicate that performance against a San Diego State team coming to Laramie for the first time since 2016? The team, at the very least, is confident that they can.
“Tremendous amount of confidence,” Scott said. “I think we will see that in the weeks to come, just the will and the fight to be able to win games.”
