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Wyoming Delivers Complete Performance in 27-10 Win Over Hawai‘i
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Wyoming needed a response after last week's loss at Central Michigan, and the Cowboys delivered on Saturday.
Wyoming controlled much of the afternoon on both sides of the ball and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 27-10 win over Hawai‘i at War Memorial Stadium in front of 20,999 fans. The victory moved Wyoming to 2-2 overall, and 1-0 in Mountain West play.
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Wyoming finished with 387 yards of offense, including 183 on the ground, and didn't turn the ball over. The Cowboys held Hawai‘i to 328 total yards and 10 points.
“We weren't connected enough. We weren't playing for the love of playing with our teammates. And we found that today,” third-year head coach Jay Sawvel said.
Wyoming took the opening kickoff and immediately put together one of its better opening drives of the season. Erik Sandvik finished it with a 28-yard field goal, giving the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.
Hawai‘i answered with a 28-yard field goal from Sean Olvera-Harle, but Wyoming went back in front early in the second quarter when Sandvik connected from 23 yards.
The Cowboys finally found the end zone late in the half.
Markell Holman scored from a yard out with 3:05 remaining, giving Wyoming a 13-3 lead heading into halftime.
“Here's the deal. The difference was we lived it today,” Sawvel said of Wyoming's fast start.
The Cowboys carried that lead into the fourth quarter thanks in large part to their defense.
Hawai‘i took the second-half kickoff and put together a long drive that ate up nearly 10 minutes. The Rainbow Warriors drove all the way to the Wyoming 1-yard line, but the Cowboys kept them out of the end zone and stopped Hawai‘i on fourth down.
Wyoming then put together the drive of the game.
Starting at its own 1-yard line, the Cowboys went 99 yards for a touchdown. Deion DeBlanc and Jake Wilson made third-down catches to extend the drive before Holman broke free for an 18-yard touchdown run with 13:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Wyoming suddenly led 20-3.
“The 4th down stop was huge,” Sawvel said. “That’s the turning point of the game. All of a sudden you come out of halftime, and they keep the ball for 10 minutes, and it turns into 13 to 10. It's a whole different ball game.”
Hawai‘i responded when Micah Alejado connected with Devon Tauaefa for a 20-yard touchdown with 12:11 remaining, cutting Wyoming's lead to 20-10.
That was as close as the Rainbow Warriors would get.
Wyoming's running game helped put the game away.
Samuel “Tote” Harris rushed 11 times for 94 yards, rushed for a touchdown, and caught four passes for another 36.
Markell Holman added 87 yards on 15 carries and scored twice.
The two combined for 181 rushing yards, giving Wyoming a one-two punch out of the backfield that Hawai‘i struggled to contain.
“Those guys are studs,” quarterback Tyler Hughes said. “Those guys are two really good football players. They love it, and they give the team their best, and they showed up in a huge way today, and we really needed them.”
Hughes also had his cleanest game of the season, completing 17 of 23 passes for 204 yards.
“Now that we see it, we can continue to do it,” Hughes said. “We felt like the past three weeks we would do 2 good things and a bad thing, and today we just put it together and we played a consistent football game.”
Wyoming's defense kept Alejado and Hawai‘i's passing attack from taking over the game. Alejado finished 28 of 44 for 226 yards and a touchdown, while the Rainbow Warriors were held to 102 yards rushing.
The Cowboys added to the score with 1:46 remaining when Harris broke loose for an 18-yard touchdown, giving Wyoming its final 27-10 score of the game.
Wyoming appeared to be firing on almost all cylinders, but Sawvel wasn't ready to make any larger declarations afterward.
“I think we can be a good football team,” he said. “I'm not going to stand here and tell you right now that we are. I think we can be a good football team.”
After a week of pressure and adversity, they got off to a 1-0 start in Mountain West play and delivered their most complete performance of the season.
The Paniolo rivalry trophy resides back in Laramie once again.
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