Sandvik Earns Mountain West Weekly Honors After Perfect Outing

LARAMIE -- "I love that," Jay Sawvel beamed last Friday after the Cowboys knocked off San Jose State 16-13 overtime. "Erik's been really, really, really good."

Wyoming's third-year head coach was referring to his junior placekicker who just boomed through a 21-yard game winner inside CEFCU Stadium. Erik Sandvik drilled all three of his attempts against the Spartans, including a 38-yard kick and a 29-yarder, and was rightly named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week.

"I mean, Erik's pretty automatic," tight end Jake Wilson said. "So I was like, 'Come on!' I mean, I was sure he wasn't gonna miss it, but then once it went through it, I was like, 'Let's go!'

After splitting the yellow pipes in the extra frame, Sandvik's teammates exploded off the visiting sideline and surrounded him. The smile that was still visible despite being behind a facemask, told the story of redemption.

The Steamboat Springs, Colo., product struggled mightily during the 2025 campaign, his first as a starter. He was successful on five of his first six attempts, but the latter half of the year was a completely different story.

Sawvel would often spread the blame as Sandvik missed on 5-of-6 tries, saying the snaps were throwing off the rhythm. The youthful kicker, though, pointed the finger directly at himself after missing both of his kicks in a 24-7 loss at San Diego State.

That's just part of what made Friday night in the Bay Area so special.

"It's a great feeling," Sandvik said with a smile. "The team made my job easy. They basically made it like an extra point, so that's routine. So, yeah, all credit goes to them."

Always humble, he is now a perfect 8-for-8 on the season and has made all nine of his extra points. Sandvik is tied for the national lead with 15 other FBS kickers in field-goal-kicking percentage.

Sandvik is the first Wyoming kicker to walk-off a game since his predecessor John Hoyland booted through a 24-yard field goal to win the 2023 Arizona Bowl. The Colorado native was named the game's Most Valuable Player, scoring 10 of the Cowboys' 16 points in that victory over Toledo.

Sandvik grinned and said those types of nerves late in a game are "good." He certainly didn't appear to be rattled.

"It's amazing," he said, speaking about the feeling of winning a game for his team. "They they all have my back and I have their back. We all support each other, and we all love each other. The team chemistry is really good this year."

Sawvel, who oversees the kicking battery, has so much faith in Sandvik that he was ready to let him attempt a 58-yarder at the end of regulation. Long snapper Nathan Curry and holder Gavyn Helm also have the coach's full confidence. That opportunity never came to fruition because of a holding penalty that Monday he called "egregious."

"I was kind of interested to see if Erik would hit that because he missed one wide left in practice on a two-minute drill on Tuesday from 57," Sawvel added. "He had plenty of length, so I was like, 'OK, we're going to have this again -- and he'll stick it."

It never came to that.

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