Nick Seeman- Wyoming Sports Information
LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 12, 2024) – The shorthanded Wyoming Cowboys could not close out a late push by the San Diego State Aztecs in a 27-24 loss on Saturday afternoon inside War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. The Pokes took a lead to open the fourth quarter, but the Aztecs used the passing attack to score the final 10 points of the game as UW falls to 1-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play with SDSU improving to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
“The team that makes the least mistakes wins,” UW head coach Jay Sawvel said. ” And we made critical mistakes too often in all phases of the game. You could go on and on and there’s just times that we just didn’t finish the play off like we needed to. We made mistakes you can’t make to win a game like that. We did everything we could to win this game, and we did that in a lot of different ways. The players played hard. There’s no complaint with the effort they gave. We just made the importune and catastrophic mistakes in certain situations.”
The Pokes recorded a season-high 371 yards of total offense in the contest with season-high 190 yards on the ground and 181 yards through the air. The Aztecs added 356 yards of total offense with 254 yards passing and were held to 102 yards on the ground.
The Wyoming offense was paced by running back Sam Scott added 94 yards on the ground with his second rushing score of the season. He had a long run of 27 yards. Quarterback Evan Svoboda threw for 181 yards with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. He rushed for 90 yards on the ground but had a net of 55 yards after being sacked six times. He had a touchdown rush of 51 yards and a pass of 70 yards both the longest of the season for the Brown and Gold. Wide receiver Jaylen Sargent tied a career high with two catches with a career-best 84 yards receiving.
The Wyoming defense, paced by linebacker Shae Suiaunoa with 10 tackles. He has double-digit tackles in back-to-back games but was injured in the second half. Defensive end Sabastian Harsh recorded a career-high four tackles for loss tying a school record. Nickel Malique Singleton added a career-high six tackles along with defensive tackle Dante Drake with five tackles. Wyoming tied a season-high with nine tackles for loss in the game.
The SDSU was led by quarterback Danny O’Neil with 254 passing yards with a touchdown. Running back Marquez Cooper added 87 yards with a score.
SDSU opened up the scoring in the first quarter with a field goal, but Wyoming answered on a flea flicker from Svoboda to Sargent for 70 yards to make it a 7-3 game. After a pick-six by SDSU, Scott found the endzone, but the Aztecs would take a 17-14 lead into the half after a score.
Wyoming tacked on a field goal in the third quarter and added a rushing score by Svoboda from 51 yards to open the fourth quarter, but a passing score by SDSU and field goal gave the Aztecs the win.
Wyoming returns to action next week heading to San Jose State for a matchup with the Spartans on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in a contest on the MW Network.