Turning Point, Unsung Hero and What’s Next For UW Football
FORT COLLINS, Colo., -- Tyler Hughes eluded an oncoming blitz as he rolled toward the west sideline.
Keeping his eye downfield, Wyoming's quarterback threw his most impressive ball of the night. Charlie Coenen took care of the rest, snatching that low laser just before sliding out of bounds.
The visitors, with roughly four minutes remaining in the third quarter, finally connected on a third down, their first of the afternoon. Making that hook up even sweeter, the Cowboys would be setting up shop at Colorado State's 20-yard line, trailing by just one point.
"At that point in the game, when I see Charlie Coenen make that catch, I'm 100% convinced: we're winning this game," head coach Jay Sawvel said.
That didn't happen.
That 21-yard pitch and catch was all for naught. Behind the play, yellow hankies littered the turf inside Canvas Stadium. A near-capacity crowd again began to roar. Wyoming was flagged for an illegal man down field. Starting right tackle Braylon Jenkins was the guilty party.
"It wasn't like it was a (run-pass option) or anything," Sawvel added postgame. "It was a pass play, and the lineman just kept meandering downfield."
On the following snap, a 3rd-and-21 from near midfield, Hughes quickly surveyed the field before throwing a harmless-looking dump pass over the middle to Nico Hamilton. Before securing the grab, the sophomore running back briefly took his eyes off the floater.
The throw skipped off his hands and landed right into the chest of linebacker Oumar Diomande. It was Hughes' third interception of the day. They were all costly, but this one almost immediately turned into the dagger.
Hauss Hejny connected with Reginald Vick Jr. on a 57-yard touchdown strike two plays later. The Wake Forest transfer caught the ball in stride and coasted into the end zone. Adding to the frustration, he was all alone in Wyoming's secondary.
There was a reason for that.
"We blew a check on the formation and gave up a post for a touchdown," Sawvel said. "That changed the game."
The Cowboys would roll up just 17 yards of offense after that point. Hughes, who completed just one pass over the final two quarters, was strip-sacked on the final possession.
The graduate transfer from William and Mary called this outing a learning experience.
"Every play really matters," said Hughes, who finished the night 12-of-19 through the air with three picks. "Just we have to be super focused, as a unit, every play and every down. But it's not something to where I'm like super discouraged or anything. We have to get back to work. We have to take every day seriously. We have to do extra work, and we have to just keep going."
How deflating was that third-quarter interception?
"It obviously sucks, but you have to just move on to the next play," Coenen added.
Tonight, in the 118th meeting between these two Border War rivals, the mistakes were too much to overcome.
Colorado State 35, Wyoming 13
UNSUNG HERO
Ethan Stuhlsatz had a career performance in his first game as the Cowboys' starting middle linebacker, tallying 15 tackles, including half-a-tackle-for-loss. The senior from Wichita also finished with a quarterback hit.
He was in no mood to celebrate postgame.
Instead, he was focused on a 24-yard fourth-quarter touchdown his defense allowed.
"We did not have an alert check," Stuhlsatz said. "I probably could have done it. I should have."
What he is referring to is staying in an all-out blitz despite Hejny obviously changing the play at the line of scrimmage.
CSU made adjustments, Aaron Bohl and the Cowboy defense did not.
"I wasn't happy with our defensive staff on certain things," Sawvel added. "But, as the head coach, that's my fault, right? So we will get that part fixed, and we'll get those things corrected."
QUOTEABLE
"What you do is, you stick together, No. 1. We talked to the team about, fundamentally, we beat ourselves in certain situations, right? So those are things that, as a collective -- players and coaches -- we have to own in those situations, right? The second thing to it is that you don't flinch, as a football team. Week 1 is the biggest overreaction week in college football, so everybody's going to say that we're not going to be any good, or that we're going to whatever this, that and the other. In three weeks, it could be completely erased, right? So, you know, we have to do that. We have to get better from it. We're not going to fracture as a football team, at all. They're going to stick together."
-- Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel on making sure this emotional loss in Fort Collins doesn't turn into multiple setbacks.
"They didn't know what we were going to be running and we didn't know what the hell they were going to be running. It's just one of those things. So many people say so much stuff about the first game. I have faith in my guys. We're going to keep fighting. We're going to go back to work tomorrow. Once midnight hits, it's over with. Just based on everything I've seen this offseason with this group of guys, I have no doubt what we're going to do this season. Our goals are still intact."
-- Starting middle linebacker Ethan Stuhsatz on his belief level in this team despite dropping the opener at CSU.
"Absolutely. That's not fun to see. We fully had 100% confidence we'd come in here to retain the boot. It's fuel to the fire. We've got to start tomorrow, and we've got to focus up and be a better unit."
-- Quarterback Tyler Hughes on watching the Rams run to the visiting sideline to grab the Bronze Boot, the coveted traveling trophy that goes to the winner of the Border War.
"We just have to focus on the next game. We have a game in a week, so not hanging our heads about this one. This one's over. Like, we'll watch the film and see what we need to improve on, but each week there's a new game, new mission, new game plan."
-- Wide receiver Charlie Coenen on not letting this loss linger into next week.
"We never got too high, never got too low and we stayed steady and kept our eyes on the next six seconds. We started to get some momentum and capitalized on it."
-- CSU head coach Jim Mora on why CSU was so successful in the second half on both sides of the ball.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Wyoming (0-1, 0-0) will open the home portion of its schedule next Saturday against Northern Colorado. The Bears, who compete in the FCS, dropped a heartbreaker in the season opener, missing an extra point that would've led to a tie against visiting Weber State. South Dakota is currently up on UNC 35-17 as of press time. The Cowboys lead the all-time series 19-5-3. The last loss to the Bears came all the way back in 1936. There was also that infamous 103-0 blanking in 1949. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed on MW+.
