Turning Point, Unsung Hero and What’s Next For UW Football

LARAMIE -- "Is that what happened? It hit off a helmet?"

Evan Eller put the wheels in motion, but he didn't see what directly transpired.

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The senior linebacker, screaming untouched off the left edge, threw his hand straight in the air, hoping to get a hand on a Xavier Ward throw. He did just that. The ball briefly floated in the air before bouncing off the helmet of defensive tackle Lucas Samsula.

The ricochet couldn't have worked out any better.

Brayden Johnson, who was also in hot pursuit of San Jose State's back-up signal caller, snagged the ball and immediately turned up field. The Oklahoma Baptist transfer, all 248 pounds of him, rumbled into the end zone all alone thanks to the aid of a three-person convoy.

"We stayed in the fight," Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said. "Then, all of a sudden, there's an interception return for a touchdown and then the whole game changed. All we had to do is figure out a way to get it back to a one-score game. And for a long time, we had to figure out a way to keep it from getting to a three-score game."

Ken Niumatalolo could only shake his head during his postgame press conference.

"Obviously, that was a huge play," SJSU's veteran head coach said. "That's the play of the game right there."

On the ensuing possession, Kaden Anderson fired a strike to walk-on wideout Charlie Coenen, who hauled in the pass between two Spartan defenders and was off to the races. The 45-yard pitch and catch evened up the score with just 2:44 remaining in regulation.

"That was all Charlie," the sophomore signal caller said with a grin. "Just got the ball to the playmaker, playmaker made a play."

Coenen, a junior from Minnesota, said he had a touchdown celebration all planned out.

"Had."

"All went out the window, but, yeah, just blacked out," he joked. "But I was just so happy that we were able to battle back, as a team."

Could the Cowboys really pull this one off?

This offense once again was spinning its collective wheels throughout this outing, especially during the first and third quarters where it rolled up a grand total of 63 yards, 25 of which came on the ground.

The run game was all but abandoned when San Jose State quarterback Walker Eget connected with the nation's leading receiver, Danny Scudero, on four touchdown tosses over the first 20-plus minutes.

Yes, four.

Anderson threw a pair of interceptions. The bad kinds, too. Both came in the second half. He has been way too generous with the ball of late, turning the ball over eight times over the previous four games.

All of that would be left on the scrap heap of history if Anderson and Co. could pull this one off.

That's exactly what happened, too, thanks to a defensive effort that limited the visitors to just 171 yards of total offense -- and two turnovers: the pick-six above and a strip-sack, courtesy of edge rusher Tyce Westland -- over the final three quarters.

That early third-quarter takedown in the backfield also sent SJSU's starter to the medical tent. He wouldn't return to action until the final drive of the night.

Keep in mind, the Spartans rolled up 212 yards, with ease, over the first 15 minutes.

Lined up at their own 15 with 4:42 on the game clock, Anderson connected with running back Samuel Harris on a perfectly timed screen pass. The speedy rookie they call "Tote" turned up field for a 52-yard gain.

Sawvel said the next three plays were called with a game-winning field goal in mind. He wanted to get to the middle of the field or off to the right hash for young placekicker Erik Sandvik.

That attempt never came.

Terron Kellman, a Charlotte transfer, took a third-down handoff and did this instead:

"I mean, honestly, I was just trying not to do anything dumb and put the team in the best situation," Kellman said postgame, referring to that 28-yard highlight reel run. "But when I broke the first few tackles, my eyes got big and I saw the end zone. So I just had to go, man. I just had to go long."

The Cowboys' defense, like it did over the final 45 minutes, suffocated Eget and the Spartans over the last 40 seconds. His last desperation heave landed harmlessly on the turf and the home sideline exploded to midfield.

This win snaps a forgettable three-game skid. It also gets the Cowboys in the win column in Mountain West play.

Sawvel stepped behind the podium and said he was going to keep it short and sweet. He wanted the bulk of the questions reserved for the players. Why? They won the game. He wanted them to tell their own story and share the family type atmosphere that makes comebacks like this possible.

"Great fight from our team for 60 minutes," Sawvel said. "It was pretty ugly for 47 of it, and pretty beautiful for about 12 of it. Credit goes to the players."

Wyoming 35, San Jose State 28

UNSUNG HERO

San Jose State rushed for just 43 yards on 27 carries. That's an average of just 1.6 yards an attempt.

That program isn't exactly known for chewing up yardage on the ground, ranking 113th in the nation out of 134 FBS teams. The visitors were also without leading rusher Jabari Bates (injury) and Floyd Chalk (left the team).

The Spartans aren't afraid of being one-dimensional, but they tend to at least keep the opposition honest, especially with a two-touchdown lead for the majority of this one.

That didn't happen.

A main reason why is Jayden Williams.

Westland was the best of the bunch on the Cowboys' front, tallying seven tackles and that aforementioned strip-sack that not only thwarted a sure score but sidelined Eget, but Williams was immovable up the middle.

The 303-pound sophomore capped his outing with four tackles, including 1.5 of the team's eight tackles for loss. It was the most production this season from the big Texan, who has been challenged of late by his position coach Deonte Gibson.

Along with Ben Florentine, who racked up his team-leading fifth sack of the year, and Samsula, the defensive tackles set the tone in this win.

QUOTABLE

"That's a tough one. That's a hard loss. We gotta play better, coach better and gotta finish the game better. (We had) foolish penalties and have to take care of the ball. Tip your hats to those guys, but in my mind, we should've closed the game out way earlier than that."

-- A dejected San Jose State head coach Ken Niumatalolo on his thoughts after the road loss in Laramie.

"They're a good football team. They're tough. That's what you know Wyoming as. I think they made some good calls, but I still think we could've got them. It just didn't go our way tonight."

-- Spartans' senior QB Walker Eget on his thoughts about facing the Cowboys and what went wrong.

"You guys get me every Monday. You can ask me a bunch of questions. I'm going to hit a handful of them tonight, and then I want you to talk to as many players as you can tonight, because I want you to talk to them about who they believe in -- with each other, how much they have faith in each other, how much of a family they are together and how they never gave up. That's what I want you to talk to them about. So, I'll answer a few questions and I want to just get out of here."

-- Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel's opening statement following the third victory of the season, matching all of last year's win total.

"Yeah, it was special, man. I mean, he's a great guy. I love him to death, man. He's a walk-on. Tough guy, you know? Hardly ever drops the ball. It was awesome to see him get in that end zone. Man, it was awesome. Little connection going on, for sure."

-- Wyoming QB Kaden Anderson talking about wideout Charlie Coenen, who caught a 45-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter, the first of his college career.

"Happy, excited, just knowing that we really fought, like you guys said. I mean, it was an uphill battle the whole game, faced a lot of adversity, but we never lost faith in each other. So, I mean, we could really look at this game and build off of it going into next week."

-- Cowboy running back Terron Kellman on the atmosphere inside a victorious locker room after suffering three straight losses.

"If you've never called a play in a stadium with 50,000 people, or called a play or a defense in a tie game with a minute to go, then I'm not going to listen to your opinion ... This ain't Madden. If the s--- don't go right, you hit a reset button."

-- Jay Sawvel on outside noise directed at his quarterback, players and coaches.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Cowboys will travel down Interstate-25 next Saturday to take on Front Range rival Air Force. These two will meet for the 63rd time in history. The Falcons hold a slim 31-28-3 edge in the series and have won three of the last five meetings. Wyoming, led by then-quarterback Evan Svoboda and his two touchdown runs, knocked off the visitors 31-19 last September inside War Memorial Stadium. Air Force enters this one at 1-5 overall and 0-0 in Mountain West play after a heartbreaking 51-48 loss Saturday at UNLV.