2003 Week 3

LARAMIE, Wyoming - For three quarters, the Wyoming Cowboys stayed with the Kansas Jayhawks. The Cowboy defense gave up a touchdown and a field goal in each of the first two quarters, and held the Jayhawks scoreless in the third, while scoring two touchdowns themselves. Unfortunately, three quarters was all the defense had in them, surrendering 22 points in the final period, as the Cowboys lost 42 - 28 before a crowd of 14,642 at War Memorial Stadium.

"It's too bad we couldn't have called it after three," a dejected Coach Glenn noted after the game. "Well, not literally, obviously, as we still would have lost, but I was disappointed to see the kids run out of steam at the end there."

Though the Kansas offense put up most of the points, it was the Jayhawk defense that dictated the game.

"Give Kansas credit," quarterback Casey Bramlet said. "They did a great job mixing up coverage, and their defensive front was impressive, pressuring me into some bad throws and bottling up Derek (Armah) and Kit (Bradshaw) all afternoon."

Four different Jawhawks combined for five sacks, and almost constant pressure forced the senior quarterback into three interceptions, two when he attempted to get a throw off while being pulled to the ground. The Cowboy running game was held to four yards on 21 attempts, mainly the result of the five sacks.

As the third quarter came to a close, Wyoming came up short on a third and short in their own territory. The stop seemed to energize the Jayhawk sideline, and they brought heavy pressure from the right side. Cowboy punter Luke Donovan rushed his punt, and the kick went off the side of his foot and out of bounds after only 17 yards. The good field position only further energized the Jayhawks, as they rotated a trio of talented running backs into the game and overwhelmed the already tired Cowboy defense with a pair of long touchdown runs.

Bramlet and wide receiver Malcolm Floyd connected for two scores late in the fourth as the Cowboys tried desperately to rally, but not before Bramlet's third interception of the game was returned for a touchdown by Kansas free safety Rodney Fowler.

As disappointed as he was about the first loss of the season, first year head coach Glenn offered some perspective. "We've got another tough opponent next week in Air Force, and that one is a conference game, so our job now is to let this loss go and get ready for the Falcons. We haven't shown yet that we can win at the line of scrimmage for four quarters, so that's the challenge this week."

And quite the challenge it will be. Air Force is undefeated through three games, and is averaging more that 300 yards a game on the ground. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.