Utah
Wyoming bullies overmatched Utah State in chilly setting victory
Wyoming working again Titus Swen (2) reaches for the ball in the course of the first half of an NCAA faculty soccer sport in opposition to BYU Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, in Provo, Utah. (Rick Bowmer, Related Press)
Estimated learn time: 4-5 minutes
LARAMIE — The climate forecast predicted a gusty autumn wind blowing all day Saturday throughout the excessive plains in Wyoming. It was to calm down previous to the night’s Mountain West showdown at Struggle Memorial Stadium.
Whereas mom nature complied, offering a cold however calm setting for Wyoming’s homecoming crowd of 21,420, a brand new storm quickly ushered in. This one, led by the brown- and gold-clad Cowboys, pushed Utah State round like a tumbleweed on the freeway, and blew the Aggies again throughout the state’s western border with a 28-14 defeat.
The Aggies have been dominated bodily on either side of the ball, and Wyoming outgained the Aggies 529-217 in whole yards. The Bridger Rifle will keep in Laramie for the second consecutive 12 months as Utah State’s convention championship aspirations — and bowl eligibility hopes — took a serious blow.
Regardless of being dominated for stretches of the sport, Utah State stayed aggressive and trailed simply 20-14 within the fourth quarter.
Finally, nonetheless, the offensive cohesiveness spurred its demise.
Within the hand of true freshman quarterback Bishop Davenport, the offense put collectively only one scoring drive that started in its personal territory. The Aggies have been stuffed on the bottom and averaged simply 3.1 yards per carry. Davenport threw for 104 yards and an interception on 17-of-26 passing.
A handful of high quality deep balls from Davenport have been dropped by receivers, and he reminded everybody that he was fourth on the depth chart month in the past with a handful of essential missed throws and poor pocket reads that resulted in 5 sacks for the Cowboys.
Utah State’s protection did what it might to maintain the workforce within the sport, however as a squad that depends on pace and creating havoc, it was finally swallowed up by Wyoming’s bodily imposing pro-style offense. Cowboys working again Titus Swen rushed for 160 yards and had three touchdowns on 28 carries, together with the game-sealing 6-yard run with 4:11 left to play to ice the sport.
“Happy with the combat, disenchanted within the execution and the result,” Utah State head coach Blake Anderson mentioned. “(We) put ourselves able within the second half to have alternatives to drive down and go forward, simply could not make sufficient performs to get it executed.”
The Aggies, who have been shorthanded defensively — the workforce was with out cornerback AJ Carter, defensive finish Byron Vaughns, and linebacker MJ Tafisi after the second quarter — stored Wyoming out of the top zone for almost all of the second half. However even when Utah State trailed by one rating, the Aggies offense did not put collectively a scoring drive.
With 11:13 left within the sport, trailing 20-14, the offense started a drive on the 8-yard line and began to maneuver the chains. With 7 yards wanted on third down on the 45-yard line, Davenport overthrew wide-open tight finish Josh Sterzer, and Utah State was pressured to punt. Wyoming leaned into the Aggies from there with a nine-play, 83-yard landing drive to seal the win.
“When (the rating is) 20-14 and you have got a number of alternatives to go down and rating, you have to discover a approach,” Anderson mentioned. “We simply could not try this and finally the protection ran out of juice and out of our bodies, as properly.”
The Aggies, who fell to 3-5 on the season and simply 2-2 in convention play, arrive at a much-needed bye week the place the workforce can have ample time to take a seat on the loss.
To their credit score, although, the Aggies made a sport of it, as a result of the outcome might have been loads worse. Utah State was outgained 289-75 yards within the first half however solely trailed by 10 factors.
Swen bought the scoring going for Wyoming with a 31-yard landing run within the first quarter; after which early within the second quarter, the Cowboys rumbled down for an eight-play, 67-yard drive to go up 14-0.
The Aggies could not cease the run, and Tafisi was knocked out of the sport. The sport regarded prefer it was headed for a blowout, just like final 12 months’s sport between the 2 faculties. However just like the cross winds hitting the excessive plains and shifting the path of the storm, the Aggies rallied.
With 5:53 left within 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 landing run to chop the result in seven. Early within the second half, the run sport started to achieve some momentum and Calvin Tyler Jr. discovered the top zone to make it a 3-point sport, 17-14.
Utah State’s protection, too, refused to give up, and from the top of the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth, it held the Cowboys to a punt, area aim, missed area aim, and punt.
“I assumed they battled all night time,” Anderson mentioned. “We struggled with throwing sufficient our bodies on the downside. They’re bodily, and we’re simply not as massive, we’re not constructed as massive proper now. We’re engaged on that with recruiting and improvement, however we performed them loads higher than we did a 12 months in the past.”
The Cowboys’ storm of physicality, nonetheless, was arduous to quench. The Aggies offense did not muster a 3rd scoring drive and Wyoming rolled Utah State out of Laramie empty-handed.