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

LARAMIE -- His words proved to be prophetic.

During a nearly 40-minute lightning delay in the fourth quarter Saturday, Jay Sawvel gathered his team inside the home locker room as dark, ominous clouds formed above War Memorial Stadium.

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Despite trailing 13-7 -- and playing as poorly as that score would indicate -- Wyoming's third-year head coach told his team precisely what he expected from them over the final 12:25 of regulation.

"He came in the locker room and told us exactly what we were going to do -- and we did it," said quarterback Tyler Hughes, who finished the day 18-of-26 for 149 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns. "He said: 'We're going to get a stop and we're going to score two times before the game is ended.'

"We did exactly what we set out to do."

Just before that unexpected break, Markell Holman had a nice gain of 12 yards that ended with a fumble. Just before the officials headed for cover, they reviewed the play, confirming the ball belonged to the visitors. To add a little salt to the wound, that offense would also be setting up shop at the Cowboys' 31-yard line.

The Bears promptly went 3-and-out coming out of the locker room.

Hughes and Co. finally found their groove, driving 82 yards in 14 plays. The graduate transfer from William and Mary found a wide-open Charlie Coenen in the end zone from 15 yards out, giving Wyoming a 14-13 lead.

The ensuing offensive possession for UNC lasted just four plays. Kenny Lueth, rolling to his right, fired a pass in the direction of wideout Evan Morris.

It didn't make it that far.

Baiting him all the way, safety Jones Thomas drifted out to the perimeter where he high-pointed the toss, pulling it in with two hands. The junior's second interception of the day gave the Cowboys the ball at the Bears' 38.

Lueth, who was hammered on the play by linebacker Dash Bauman, never reentered the game and was seen heading to the UW medical office inside the High Altitude Performance Center.

Six snaps later, Hughes found tight end Kyle Frendt in the Tetons where he laid out to snag an 18-yard scoring strike.

"We needed to man up," Sawvel said bluntly. "We needed to play for 12 minutes and realize that in these 12 minutes we have to go win this game. So, they did."

The first 47-plus minutes of this outing were less than inspiring. The Cowboys, playing in front of a near-capacity crowd, bumbled and stumbled it way to five penalties, all on the offense. There was also an 0-for-5 start on third down, extending an unwanted streak to 0-for-14, dating back to last week's loss at Colorado State.

Hughes, for a second straight week, was strip-sacked. That put a halt to a once-promising drive early in the second quarter.

Wyoming's defense is considered the backbone of this program. That unit, though, allowed nine explosive plays, including three on the Bears' final drive of the first half. One was a 45-yard touchdown toss from Lueth to Marcus Mozer.

The Cowboys were booed off the field.

Yeah, it was that bad.

"It was a pretty s--- game," Hughes said. "I mean, just we'll call it what it is. But the entire locker room never stopped believing, and we'll take those last 12 minutes and we'll build off that. We'll get the corrections done, and we'll get back to some Cowboy football."

Sawvel said an entirely different team emerged from that delay. The visuals -- and stats -- bear that out.

Hughes was 8-of-10 for 68 yards in that final frame. Wyoming also rolled up 67 yards on the ground on 13 rushing attempts. Maybe the most important number this side of two -- the number of touchdowns scored -- was a 3-for-3 performance on third down. There was also an average of nearly six yards per play.

It was winning football.

"Give the quarterback a lot of credit on that," UNC head coach Ed Lamb said. "We got them behind the chains once or twice, and they were able to keep the drive going by converting passes against tough, tight man-to-man coverage."

What changed?

Hughes said it was a renewed sense of urgency. Coenen said the offense finally just started doing its job.

"When 10, nine (players) are only executing, that creates an issue," he said. "We didn't play 11-man football throughout the first three quarters."

The defense did its job in the fourth, too. UNC gained a grand total of three yards on 11 plays.

"I feel like our energy was just different coming out the half," said Thomas, who also finished with five tackles and a pass breakup. "We just have to continue that and just come out the gates with the same energy we came out of that delay with. It was a low-energy start from us. We can't have that."

Wyoming 21, Northern Colorado 13

UNSUNG HERO

Another day, another linebacker making plays.

This time it was Steven Perez.

The 231-pound redshirt freshman from Wilmington, Calif., tallied six tackles and half-a-sack. He also had a stop in the backfield during his first extended playing time of his young career. He did that damage on 26 snaps.

Why was he even in the lineup?

"There was a stretch there where Gary (Rutherford) was kind of playing slow, so we put in Steven Perez," Sawvel said. "He is a really good football player ... We had to go to the bullpen on that one. You know we felt like that Gary could have played better.

"... I know Steven Perez is going to play fast."

QUOTEABLE

"It was sweet. It was really great to feel supported coming in. I thought the Cowboy walk was really cool, running out with the horse, singing the fight song after the game, seeing the fans: they always stayed in it even when things were kind of s---. They were still really loud and they helped us. I mean, we scored and there's, what, like a minute and 45 left, and the stadium was as loud as it was."

-- Wyoming quarterback Tyler Hughes on playing his first home game inside War Memorial Stadium

"I would say the biggest thing about today is, we won our first home game and defended the War. So that's the biggest thing. Then, last week, yeah, we didn't play like a Wyoming defense. There were things that we needed to clean up, and even today, there are some things we have to clean up and get better next week. But it was good to get the W."

-- Wyoming safety Jones Thomas when asked about his bounce-back performance from a Week-1 loss at Colorado State

"There's a lot of growth that still has to happen with this football team. We'll go back to work tomorrow and work on that. Christian Taylor's an excellent coach, offensively. Tyler Hughes is a very good player. We've got good players, offensively. We've just have to piece that all together and get working."

-- Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel on having faith in his offense despite scoring only seven points through three quarters on Saturday against UNC

"Yeah, I mean, they played hard. We got told before the game: they're going to come in here believing they can win -- as they should. So, you know, them seeing success early definitely built their confidence up, but we were able to battle back."

-- Wyoming wide receiver Charlie Coenen on facing a feisty FCS program with a chip on its shoulder

"We did not play well enough to win. Sometimes I think we felt like we played well enough to win and did not win. Those are really hard to take. This one, there's plenty to learn from, and I think there are wins out there for the Bears. We just need them to hang in there and hang tough together."

-- UNC head coach Ed Lamb's postgame thoughts after the 21-13 road loss in Laramie

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Cowboys (1-1) will hit the road for a Week-3 tilt with Central Michigan (1-1). This is the fourth meeting all time with the Chippewas. Wyoming holds a slim 2-1 margin in the series. The last time these two hooked up came on the blue turf of Boise when the Cowboys forced eight turnovers and, behind the right arm of Josh Allen, rolled to a 37-14 victory in the 2017 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. In the Cowboys lone trip to Mount Pleasant, the home team claimed a 32-20 victory back in 2002. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. Mountain Time and the game will be televised on ESPN-Plus. CMU dropped its 2026 opener at New Mexico, 38-7, and squeaked out a 13-10 home win Saturday over Colgate.

MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS.COM:

* Rants and Raves: Northern Colorado Edition

* FINAL LIVE FILE: Wyoming 21, UNC 13

* Gear Up For Game Day: UNC Bears

* Wyoming Couldn't Take Bogar Off The Field During Career Outing

* Panozzo Confident Despite 'Welcome to College Football' Moment

* Wyoming Football Lands On-Field Corporate Logos

* Jayden Williams Issues Apology For Altercations With CSU Fans

* PODCAST: Can't Let Border War Hangover Linger

* Know Wyoming's Foe: UNC Bears

* Bohl Says He Got 'Overzealous' With Fourth-Quarter Blitz

* Wyoming Takes on UNC in Home-Opening 'Stripe Out'

* UNC Notebook: Pokes Still Grumbling Over Self-Inflicted Miscues

(Editor's note: The first version of this story stated that Steven Perez was the one who hit Kenny Lueth, forcing an errant throw that turned into Jones Thomas' second interception of the game. It was Dash Bauman. We apologize for the error.)

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players