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

LARAMIE -- Jayden Williams kept his eyes in the backfield as he briefly danced with the center after the snap.

Right when it appeared Micah Alejado was about to scramble to his left, the 294-pound defensive tackle shucked his would-be blocker and abruptly dropped Hawaii's sophomore quarterback for his first-career sack.

An animated Jay Sawvel pumped his fist, ripped off his headset and almost immediately made his way deep into the home sideline. There the third-year head coach bounced from position group to position group, barking out some pretty direct marching orders: "Great f------ job! Keep f------ going!"

That message was received -- loud and clear.

While it would be easy to say the turning point of this tilt was the Rainbow Warriors' fruitless 16-play, 74-yard third-quarter drive that milked 9:14 off the game clock and produced zero points -- and that was huge -- something changed after Sawvel's tirade.

On the ensuing second-quarter drive after that momentum-turning sack, the Cowboys never once faced a third down.

Tyler Hughes used his legs and right arm on a pair of explosive plays on that seven-play possession, including a 27-yard dart to tight end Kyle Frendt, which set the Cowboys up inside Hawaii's 6-yard line.

Markell Holman, with the aid of a massive convoy up front, rolled right into the end zone, giving Wyoming its first touchdown of the afternoon and a 13-3 lead.

"I love that guy, man," linebacker Steven Perez said, referring to Sawvel. "Everybody here wants to win for him, and I feel like the past three weeks, we really let him down. So, today, just really being able to come together as one and be able to win for him -- win for our teammates -- I mean, you can't describe it, man. We're ecstatic, but we gotta keep going forward."

Sawvel shied away from taking any credit in this one. He praised the players and his assistant coaches, whom he challenged last Sunday night, less than 24 hours after an embarrassing outing at Central Michigan.

That group did some soul searching during the week, including holding a players-only meeting on Thursday. Team leaders even made their way to Sawvel's office to let him know they wanted to rid the locker room of cell phones during pregame.

What you witnessed on this sun-spanked Saturday on the high plains, they say, was a product of those alterations.

"When you're on your phones, it's easy to let the outside noise creep in," said Hughes, who finished his day 17-of-23 through the air for 204 yards. Most importantly, his final stat-line featured zero turnovers. "I think it's the right thing to do: put down the phones and just worry about Cowboy football. Then, you go handle business.

"... Just play for your brother and don't worry about everything else, because, opinions, you can't satisfy everybody. Just go play your game."

Samuel Harris looked like his old self, gashing the Rainbow Warriors for 94 rushing yards on just 11 carries. "Tote" also blew through the teeth of the visiting defense for the late fourth-quarter dagger, an 18-yard jaunt to the end zone.

His running mate, Holman, also finished the day with 87 yards on 15 attempts. The Philadelphia product also had an 18-yard touchdown run in the final frame.

This looked right, from start to finish.

"Another thing that we did this week: we set a standard," said safety Jones Thomas, who finished with a team-best seven tackles and three pass breakups. "We had players talk about what we wanted to be the standard. So, before this week, there wasn't like a clear, defined standard for this year. We had talked about that in the past years, but this year we hadn't touched on that. We touched on that.

"... Everybody knows on the team we have a lot of talent, and we just hadn't put it all together and went out and played a complete game yet on both sides of the ball. I think we did that today."

Yes, they did.

Wyoming 27, Hawaii 10

UNSUNG HERO

Welcome back, Dainsus Miller.

The super senior has been in Laramie since September, patiently waiting for the opportunity to join this lineup. He was part of the "5-in-5" injunction, allowing players to return to their respective programs for an additional season. The NCAA fought that, forcing the Georgia product into a holding pattern.

This Tuesday, Sawvel said, he received the news that the 5-foot-10, 170-pound cornerback could indeed suit up against Hawaii. It couldn't have come at a better time with Kendall Griffin and Tyson Shamsid-Deen on the shelf after undergoing hand procedures.

Miller stepped in Saturday and made an immediate impact, registering four tackles, none bigger than a stop on the outside on a 3rd-and-6 in the second quarter.

The visitors needed six.

"It was a good morale boost for the secondary in the corner room, just having a guy back from last year," Thomas said postgame. "We've seen what he can do, we've seen how he plays. He clicks well with the team and he steps up when it's time to step up."

QUOTEABLE

"Great day for the Cowboys. We appreciate our fans. I mean, it's tremendous to see the whole stadium gold like that, as loud as it was. It just helps us, recruiting-wise. We have a lot of recruits here, few on official visits, but then also a bunch of guys are 2028's. When they see that atmosphere -- it was outstanding."

-- Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel on the Homecoming environment against visiting Hawaii

"Not personal at all, honestly. I mean, I don't really get deep into that kind of stuff. I let the outside stuff handle that themselves. I just work on my game, and I continue to just get better and as best as I can. So, it is what it is. I mean, I don't really get fixated on opinions or feelings, I just play my ball and try to be the best leader for this team."

-- Tyler Hughes on the chatter last week that maybe he isn't the right QB for this team.

"It's been talked about every day since we've since last week, obviously, that we need to be more physical up front. That all starts with the linebackers. I thought we had to make a statement today. I thought we did, just shutting down the run game all day and forcing them to pass the ball in the red zone. They didn't want to run the ball. They threw the ball three times in a row. They didn't want to run it."

-- Linebacker Steven Perez referring to a 1st-and-goal at Wyoming's 5-yard line late in the third quarter that turned into a turnover on downs.

"Especially with opening conference play, being at home. No way we were going to lose. So we just kind of came out here and did what we're supposed to do. We just did our job. We played 11-man football. All the coaches talk about it, just playing 11-man football, because we were playing a lot of 10-man football and it was kind of holding back the explosive plays."

-- Wyoming running back Samuel "Tote" Harris when asked about responding to adversity and being challenged by Sawvel after that 24-10 loss in Mount Pleasant.

WHAT'S NEXT?

It's off to Fargo to battle unbeaten North Dakota State (4-0, 1-0) and head coach Tim Polasek, who was the offensive coordinator at Wyoming from 2021-23. Will this be the latest rivalry in the new-look Mountain West? That was certainly the narrative last July at conference media days in Las Vegas. These two programs have met just once. That came all the way back in 2008 when the Cowboys (2-2, 1-0) knocked off future head coach Craig Bohl and the Bison 16-13 inside War Memorial Stadium. NDSU is coming off a bye week.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players