Wyoming Legends Recall ’93 Barnburner Against Northern Iowa

LARAMIE -- "F--- that, throw me the ball."

That was the unofficial name of that fourth-down play call. Ryan Yarborough emphatically vetoed the original one in the sideline huddle.

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Lined up at the 17-yard line and just 1:22 flashing on the game clock, quarterback Joe Hughes took the fourth-down snap, rolled toward the home sideline and heaved a throw into the north end zone.

Yarborough, still Wyoming's only two-time All-American in program history, ran right into the teeth of a Cover-2 defense, bracketed by safety JJ Wallace and cornerback Myron Glass.

It didn't matter.

The 6-foot-2 wideout skied to high-point the ball between the two Northern Iowa defenders and managed to get one foot down in bounds for the go-ahead score.

Disaster averted, right?

Not quite.

After that touchdown snag, one that put Yarborough over the 3,000-yard receiving mark for his career, the celebration that ensued cost the Cowboys 15 yards. The future second-round NFL Draft pick was tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing the football into the stands inside War Memorial Stadium.

In the blink of an eye, trailing by just three, the 10th-ranked Panthers, led by back-up quarterback Brett O'Donnell, were setting up shop at the Wyoming 10-yard line. If Scott Obermeier drills the last-second chip shot, this wild-west shootout would go down as a tie in the record books. There was no overtime period in 1993.

It didn't get that far.

Obermeier, an All-American himself, rushed that pressure-filled kick, pushing it past the yellow pipe and causing an exhale amongst the 17,827 in attendance.

Final: Wyoming 45, Northern Iowa 42.

"That was something I remember vividly," Yarborough said last June on an episode of the Roaring Repeater Podcast, recalling that windy September day and the chaos that followed the frantic finish. "Coach (Paul) Roach came up to me on the sideline. He didn't tell me 'good catch' or anything. This time, he was just the (athletics director). He said, 'You know, you almost lost the game for us by throwing that ball in the stands.' I said, 'Coach Roach, I had no worries about that, I knew my defense -- my guys -- were going to hold it down for me.

"Fortunately things worked out."

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"It's a shame," UNI head coach Terry Allen told the Waterloo Courier. "You're
4th-and-17 and you throw it to a first-team All-American who makes a great catch. That's just a tribute to the guy's athletic ability. Give him credit."

Yarborough capped his Wyoming career as the NCAA's leader in receiving yards with 4,357. He still sits 10th overall more than three decades later and just last year was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

With that Houdini act, Wyoming avoided an 0-2 start and the always memorable blemish of losing at home to what was then known as a Division 1-AA school.

Kurt Warner, UNI's senior signal caller that afternoon in Laramie, would go on to become the ultimate underdog story, going from stocking shelves in a local grocery store to unveiling his bronze bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Warner didn't finish that game. In fact, he was sidelined before halftime, the victim of a separated shoulder.

The Cowboys would go on to knock off two other future NFL quarterbacks -- San Jose State's Jeff Garcia and Trent Dilfer of Fresno State -- during that magical season.

There was also a deep red-zone stand to stave off San Diego State and its Heisman hopeful in the backfield. Marshall Faulk would eventually team up with Warner in St. Louis, becoming two key cogs in the "Greatest Show on Turf," claiming a Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXXIV.

That victory in southern California also ensured Wyoming would share at least a piece of the WAC title, finishing with an 8-4 record in conference play. Fresno State and BYU were co-champions.

The Cowboys eventually accepted an invite to the Copper Bowl where they ran into a Kansas State buzzsaw led by quarterback Chad May and the game's MVP Andre Coleman. The director of that 52-17 rout was a young offensive coordinator making his play-calling debut, future Wyoming head coach Dana Dimel.

Ryan Christopherson, admittedly, doesn't recall a lot of specifics from that nail biter with the Panthers. That's probably not a bad thing, on a personal level.

The future rushing leader in program history was limited to just 43 yards on 13 carries. Though he did plow his way over the white stripe from a yard out in the third quarter, he also fumbled once.

That turned into immediate first-half points, Warner finding his favorite target Tim Mosley from 24 yards out.

The postgame come-to-Jesus meeting with head coach Joe Tiller, though, was unforgettable. It would ultimately pay major dividends for the Cowboys.

"Tiller was pretty direct with me after the game: If you can't hold onto the ball, you're not going to see the field," Christopherson said Thursday over the phone from his home in California.

Damon Turner, who rushed for a game-high 121 yards against the Panthers, was injured the following week at San Jose State. Christopherson stepped in and rolled up 127 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He would cap his career with a record 2,906.

Talk about a story to tell the grandkids.

Cory Talich not only relived that UNI contest on a Thursday afternoon phone call, the former linebacker from Pine Bluffs can still picture that deflected pass floating in his direction.

He picked off Warner late in the first quarter, hauling in a throw that just glanced off the finger tips of running back Ed Threatt. He galloped 32 yards into the end zone to give the Cowboys a brief 14-7 advantage.

"He had an option route," Talich recalled. "He angled toward the outside of the tackle then he had the option of just hooking it to the outside and running a flat route or cutting back in and running an arrow back across the middle. I remember it vividly, he came out and went to run the arrow and Warner must've gotten pressured. He threw the ball, the running back got his hands up and, by God, tipped it right to me.

"I was on the outside of him and thank goodness Stevie Hendrix was fast enough to get in front of me and lead me."

Talich joked that he should've had a pair of pick-sixes on this day. "It went right through my hands," he added.

Does he tell people he snagged an interception for a touchdown off a future two-time NFL Most Valuable Player?

Wouldn't you?

"He went on to bigger and better," Talich laughed.

About that missed field goal -- Obermeier's third whiff of the day -- to preserve the win and vault the Cowboys to seven straight victories?

"Like I said, just the way we planned it."

Wyoming and Northern Iowa will meet for the second time in history Saturday inside War Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised on Altitude TV.

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