Cowboys hold on late for 28-14 homecoming win over Utah State

Oct. 23—LARAMIE — After a night full of celebrating with the University of Wyoming football team, Jim Bridger's Rifle will remain comfortably in its case in Laramie for at least one more year.

The traveling trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Utah State-Wyoming matchup since 2013. The Cowboys took possession of the rifle last season and extended its stay in Laramie with a 28-14 win over the Utah State for homecoming Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.

UW (5-3 overall, 3-1 Mountain West) went into the weekend tied with the Aggies (3-5, 2-2) for second place in the Mountain West's Mountain Division. The Cowboys were able to scrape by with a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to ice the game by two scores.

"We made some good plays tonight and we beat a good football team," coach Craig Bohl said. "There's certainly things that we can do better and I was kind of gnashing my teeth on a couple things that I thought might come back to bite us in the butt, but in the end our defensive guys really rose up and continued to put some pressure on and our coverage guys covered the routes well.

"We had a really good mix tonight of running and passing and mixing up some things. ... Titus Swen had his best ball game and overall it was a real good team win."

Swen dominated the Aggies' defensive front, rushing for 160 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. UW ran for 330 yards total on the ground, which included an additional 120 yards on 10 carries from backup D.Q. James.

"It meant a lot because I put a lot of hard work in and it's paid off," James said. "I just have to trust the process and my time will come."

James' previous season-high was 12 rushing yards. He averaged 12 yards per carry against Utah State, including a long of 29 yards.

"They tackle high," James said about Utah State's defense. "I'm short, and, you know, slow feet don't eat."

James doesn't take all the credit for the Cowboys' rushing attack. Swen helped tire the Aggies' defense out all night before James came in to change up the pace.

"Titus comes with power and speed, and I come with speed and power as well," James said. "You never know. When we're both in the game, you never know what's going to happen."

UW outgained the Aggies 529-217 in total yards. Despite more than 10 minutes more time of possession, Utah State was still within six points with less than 5 minutes to play.

"We moved the ball well all night just a couple plays at the end of drives were killing us," Cowboys quarterback Andrew Peasley said. "We had opportunities to score more and I think that's still one of our areas we need to improve on is just finishing drives. We're moving the ball and we're passing and we're running and it's open and then a couple things go wrong for a couple plays and it kind of screws us over for that drive."

UW moved the ball well in the first quarter but had its first two drives stall and end in punts. The Cowboys took a 7-0 lead on their third drive with a 30-yard rushing touchdown from Swen.

Swen's long run was set up by a 46-yard connection from Peasley to tight end Colin O'Brien to put Wyoming in Aggies' territory. Swen took care of the rest, running the ball on three consecutive plays before eventually breaking off the 30-yard run with 5:02 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cowboys' defense held the Aggies to just 53 yards in 17 offensive plays in the first quarter which resulted in three punts.

The teams traded punts to start the second quarter but Swen was able to find the end zone for a second time on a 5-yard run with 8:01 left in the half. Swen's second touchdown put the Cowboys in the driver's seat but Utah State wasn't out of the game long.

After forcing another Aggies' punt, Wyatt Wieland muffed the kick and Utah State recovered it at UW's 17-yard line. Five plays letter, true freshman Bishop Davenport, who was making his first career start in college, scored on a 5-yard scramble to cut the Cowboys' lead to 14-7 with 3:48 left in the second quarter.

Both offenses stalled on their next drives and UW took back possession at its own 24-yard line with 19 seconds left. The Cowboys called consecutive pass plays resulting in 50 total yards, the latter being a 39-yard strike to Wieland to set the Cowboys up at Utah State's 26-yard line.

Kicker John Hoyland, who went into this weekend with the most field goal makes in the country, drilled a 43-yard attempt l as time expired in the half to put UW up 17-7 going into the locker room.

The Cowboys' defense continued to make big plays in the second half. On the Aggies' third play from scrimmage, safety Wyett Ekeler tracked down a Davenport pass for his first career interception. UW put together a promising eight-play drive but failed to come out of it with points after a 55-yard field goal attempt from Hoyland missed wide right.

Utah State put together its strongest offensive drive of the game after starting at its own 38-yard line. The Aggies strung together nine plays including 56 rushing yards from lead back Calvin Tyler Jr.

Tyler capped the drive by breaking a tackle and finding the end zone on a 31-yard run to make it 17-14 with 7:09 left in the third quarter. The Cowboys responded with another strong 10-play, 52-yard drive that ended in a Hoyland 51-yard field goal to put UW up 20-14 with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

The Cowboys' defense was dominant and pressured Davenport all night to make him leave the pocket. That trend continued into the fourth quarter as the Aggies' final two drives resulted in zero points.

UW was able to put the game out of a reach with Swen's third rushing touchdown of the game with 4:11 remaining in the game. The 6-yard touchdown brought Swen to his game-high 160 rushing yards and brought his career total to 12 touchdowns.

"It was just a testament to myself and what I can do," Swen said. "I owe (my teammates) a lot. These last couple of weeks I haven't been 100% so this week I just really buckled in."

Peasley ended the game 13 of 26 for 199 yards in the yard and added 29 yards on the ground. After muffing the punt in the second quarter, Wieland quietly put together a solid game offensively with six catches for 94 yards.

On the defensive end, the Cowboys totaled six sacks, including three from DeVonne Harris. Easton Gibbs and Jordan Bertagnole led the team with nine tackles apiece.

UW was presented Jim Bridger's Rifle immediately after the game and posed for pictures with it in front of the home crowd.

"It always feels great to win," free safety Isaac White said. "No matter who it is or whether it's a rifle or a boot or whatever trophy we get for Hawaii, it feels good to hold that up in the locker room. Those are some really special moments, for sure."

Bohl doesn't look too much into traveling trophies, but it admits the rifle does look good on UW's campus.

"I know Andrew ran into the locker room with it and guys are taking pictures of it," Bohl said. "It certainly means a lot to us. We're really happy that we're able to have it here again."

Alex Taylor covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net or 269-364-3560. Follow him on Twitter at @alex_m_taylor22