Jeff Choate Recalls Wyoming Giving Texas a Scare in 2023
- Jeff Bugher
- Jul 20
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 22
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - For second-year Nevada head football coach Jeff Choate, mentioning the 2023 battle between the University of Wyoming and the University of Texas brings back vivid memories. It was Saturday, September 16th, 2023 when the Wyoming Cowboys came into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to face the heavily favored and ranked Texas Longhorns… yet Wyoming gave them a serious scare.
Choate served under Longhorn head coach Steve Sarkisian as the team’s co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Choate remembers when Craig Bohl’s Wyoming Cowboys came out of the tunnel during warmups with a backup quarterback in Evan Svoboda, who played in place of injured starting quarterback Andrew Peasley.
Regarding the QB change: “That was a game-time deal. Once we went out and [saw it] in pregame,” Choate said.
Wyoming’s lone touchdown came on a 62-yard run from Harrison Waylee on the fifth play of the first drive in the first quarter. The Cowboys held the Longhorns to a 10-10 tie heading into the fourth quarter under the lights in Austin. Choate said it was anything but a comfortable ride.
“They [Wyoming] were ready to play that night for sure,” Choate said. “I can remember defensively - we played a couple of young guys and our philosophy at that time was, hey, let the young guys [play] early in the year, so that when we need them later in the year, they’ll play better.”
One of those young players was linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., who would go on to earn Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors that year. But in that game, the Wyoming offense caught the freshman off guard.
“We misfit a pin-pull into the boundary with Anthony Hill Jr., who will end up being a first team All-American, and that was his indoctrination. That was one of the first snaps he played in college,” Choate said. I think that thing popped for about 50 yards and a touchdown, and we knew the Cowboys were there to play that night.”
What was the mood like at halftime with the game still in the balance? Choate described a calm, focused environment.
“Let’s go to work. Football’s a long game, and it’s a game of momentum. Those swings are going to be there,” he said. “We felt like if we just did our job and, kind of tighten some things up that we would be fine.”
The Cowboys hung tough, had the game tied at 10-10 into the fourth quarter, but in the final quarter, the Longhorns' depth and talent took over.
Texas outscored Wyoming 21-0 in the fourth quarter for a final score of Wyoming 10, Texas 31, but Choate said the Longhorns learned a valuable lesson about Craig Bohl’s team that night.
“I kept telling everybody all week - these guys are going to come in here ready to go. And I don’t know that we gave the Wyoming team the full respect and attention they deserved,” he admitted. “And they got our attention as the game went on for sure.”
For Choate, the memory of that evening in Austin still resonates.
“I think it was kind of a workmanlike attitude,” Choate added, looking back. “I don’t know that there was nervousness - but we definitely knew we were in a ballgame.”
Choate and his Nevada Wolf Pack will meet Wyoming in Laramie on November 22nd, 2025 - his first game on the visitor sideline at War Memorial Stadium as a head coach.
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