by staff–20 Sep ’15
After a quick start by the Cowboys gave UW an early 14-7 lead, the Washington State Cougars came back to defeat the Cowboys 31-14 in Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., Saturday evening.
“I thought our guys played more assignment-bound and they certainly gang-tackled. A lot of times the first guy missed the tackle, which is going to happen against a good skills team, but there were good pursuit angles there. I don’t know if there were near as many big plays and we talked about that. Those are some steps to build on. We did see a different demeanor, assignment-conscious and better gang-tackling,” UW head coach Craig Bohl said.
Wyoming (0-3) took a 7-0 lead in their first possession. After a quick three and out forced by the Pokes defense, redshirt senior quarterback Cameron Coffman hit junior wide receiver Tanner Gentry on a 45-yard touchdown pass to give the Pokes the lead.
The Cougars (2-1) tied the contest at 7-7 on a quarterback sneak from Luke Falk. The Cowboys responded with a solid seven play 63-yard drive that ended in a Coffman touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jake Maulhardt to give UW a 14-7 advantage. On the 63-yard drive, the Pokes rushed 58 yards with sophomore running back Brian Hill accounting for 50 yards rushing on the drive.
The Cougars took a 21-14 advantage into the half. After a scoreless third quarter the Washington State scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to seal the 31-14 win.
The Cowboys threw for a season-high 296 yards. Coffman 25-of-36 for a 69.4 percent completion percentage with two touchdowns. Hill rushed 139 yards on 30 carries. He has rushed for 100 yards in six games in his career and six of his last eight contests.
Maulhardt hauled in a career-high 10 passes for a career-high 113 yards. Gentry had seven catches for 127 yards. It is his second 100-yard receiving game of his career and of the season. It is the first time Wyoming has had two wide receivers with 100 yards receiving in the same game since Robert Herron and Dominic Rufran did it in the same game against Hawai’i in 2013.
The Cowboys defense recorded three sacks on the night and seven tackles for loss. Senior Eddie Yarbrough recorded two sacks. He is now second all-time at Wyoming in tackles for loss with 32 in his career. Freshman Andrew Wingard led the Cowboys for the second-straight game with 12 tackles. Redshirt freshman Marcus Epps recorded his first career interception and the first of the season for the Cowboys in the third quarter.
“I liked that the defense in the third quarter did not break, because typically during that time it is when our guys have struggled. I thought they went out on the field and stayed very focused and made some plays and that is something we will build off of,” Bohl said.
Wyoming returns to action next weekend hosting New Mexico in the Mountain West opener in Laramie. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium.
