by staff–25 Oct ’15
An early deficit for the University of Wyoming Cowboy (1-7 overall 1-3 MW) football team was too much to overcome in a 34-14 loss to Boise State (6-2 overall, 3-1 MW) on Saturday evening in Albertson’s Stadium in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos led 24-7 going into the second half on the way to the win. Sophomore running back Brian Hill made history becoming the fastest Cowboy to reach 1,000 yards rushing in a season.
Hill is Wyoming’s first 1,000 yard rusher since Devin Moore rushed for over 1,301 yards in 2008. He becomes the ninth player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. The feat has been accomplished 11 times in school history. He finished the day with 76 rushing yards on 23 carries. He now has 1,061 rushing yards on the season and ranks eighth in single-season rushing yards in school history.
Boise State jumped on the Cowboys early with 17 points in the first quarter. The Broncos went 75-yards on 14 plays scoring on a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brett Rypien to wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck on a third-down-play to take a 7-0 lead. After adding a field goal and forcing a Cowboy turnover Boise State’s Jeremy McNichols scored on a one-yard run.
The Cowboys closed out the first half strong forcing a Boise State punt and adding their first tally of the contest. Wyoming scored on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cameron Coffman to wide receiver Jake Maulhardt. The six play 59-yard drive featured 29 rushing yards from Hill.
Boise State added a touchdown and a field goal in the third quarter to take a 34-7 lead. The Cowboys cut into the lead to open the fourth quarter on a six-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman Nick Smith. He took over for Coffman, who suffered an injury and led the Pokes on an 11-play 83-yard drive. Neither team could add a score after that with the Broncos taking the contest 34-14.
Coffman finished his day 8-for-13 for 70 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Smith threw for a career-high 53 yards on 4-of-8 passing. He also rushed for 18 yards. Maulhardt had six catches for 76 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, junior D.J. May led the Cowboys with a career-high 14 tackles. He also added a tackle for loss. Redshirt freshman Andrew Wingard added 11 tackles for his fourth double-digit tackle contest of the season.
The Cowboys return to action next Friday visiting Utah State for an 8:15 p.m. MT kickoff on ESPN2.
