Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LARAMIE — The weather forecast predicted a gusty autumn wind blowing all day Saturday across the high plains in Wyoming. It was to settle down prior to the evening's Mountain West showdown at War Memorial Stadium.
While mother nature complied, providing a chilly but calm setting for Wyoming's homecoming crowd of 21,420, a new storm soon ushered in. This one, led by the brown- and gold-clad Cowboys, pushed Utah State around like a tumbleweed on the highway, and blew the Aggies back across the state's western border with a 28-14 defeat.
The Aggies were dominated physically on both sides of the ball, and Wyoming outgained the Aggies 529-217 in total yards. The Bridger Rifle will stay in Laramie for the second consecutive year as Utah State's conference championship aspirations — and bowl eligibility hopes — took a major blow.
Despite being dominated for stretches of the game, Utah State stayed competitive and trailed just 20-14 in the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, however, the offensive cohesiveness spurred its demise.
In the hand of true freshman quarterback Bishop Davenport, the offense put together just one scoring drive that began in its own territory. The Aggies were stuffed on the ground and averaged just 3.1 yards per carry. Davenport threw for 104 yards and an interception on 17-of-26 passing.
A handful of quality deep balls from Davenport were dropped by receivers, and he reminded everyone that he was fourth on the depth chart month ago with a handful of critical missed throws and poor pocket reads that resulted in five sacks for the Cowboys.
Utah State's defense did what it could to keep the team in the game, but as a squad that relies on speed and creating havoc, it was ultimately swallowed up by Wyoming's physically imposing pro-style offense. Cowboys running back Titus Swen rushed for 160 yards and had three touchdowns on 28 carries, including the game-sealing 6-yard run with 4:11 left to play to ice the game.
"Proud of the fight, disappointed in the execution and the outcome," Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said. "(We) put ourselves in a position in the second half to have opportunities to drive down and go ahead, just couldn't make enough plays to get it done."
The Aggies, who were shorthanded defensively — the team was without cornerback AJ Carter, defensive end Byron Vaughns, and linebacker MJ Tafisi after the second quarter — kept Wyoming out of the end zone for the majority of the second half. But even when Utah State trailed by one score, the Aggies offense failed to put together a scoring drive.
With 11:13 left in the game, trailing 20-14, the offense began a drive at the 8-yard line and started to move the chains. With 7 yards needed on third down on the 45-yard line, Davenport overthrew wide-open tight end Josh Sterzer, and Utah State was forced to punt. Wyoming leaned into the Aggies from there with a nine-play, 83-yard touchdown drive to seal the win.
"When (the score is) 20-14 and you've got several opportunities to go down and score, you've got to find a way," Anderson said. "We just couldn't do that and eventually the defense ran out of juice and out of bodies, as well."
The Aggies, who fell to 3-5 on the season and just 2-2 in conference play, arrive at a much-needed bye week where the team will have ample time to sit on the loss.
To their credit, though, the Aggies made a game of it, because the result could have been a lot worse. Utah State was outgained 289-75 yards in the first half but only trailed by 10 points.
Swen got the scoring going for Wyoming with a 31-yard touchdown run in the first quarter; and then early in the second quarter, the Cowboys rumbled down for an eight-play, 67-yard drive to go up 14-0.
The Aggies couldn't stop the run, and Tafisi was knocked out of the game. The game looked like it was headed for a blowout, similar to last year's game between the two schools. But like the cross winds hitting the high plains and shifting the direction of the storm, the Aggies rallied.
With 5:53 left in the half, Cowboys receiver Wyatt Wieland muffed a punt and the Aggies recovered it at Wyoming's 17-yard line. Davenport later shuffled it in for a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to seven. Early in the second half, the run game began to gain some momentum and Calvin Tyler Jr. found the end zone to make it a 3-point game, 17-14.
Utah State's defense, too, refused to quit, and from the end of the second quarter to the start of the fourth, it held the Cowboys to a punt, field goal, missed field goal, and punt.
"I thought they battled all night," Anderson said. "We struggled with throwing enough bodies at the problem. They're physical, and we're just not as big, we're not built as big right now. We're working on that with recruiting and development, but we played them a lot better than we did a year ago."
The Cowboys' storm of physicality, however, was hard to quench. The Aggies offense failed to muster a third scoring drive and Wyoming rolled Utah State out of Laramie empty-handed.
