2003 Week 4

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - The Wyoming Cowboys came into Saturday's game against Air Force confident on offense, having scored at least 28 points against each of its three previous opponents. It took only one possession for the Falcons to figure out how to keep Wyoming from doing the same to them; keep the ball out of the hands of quarterback Casey Bramlet.

The Falcons scored touchdowns on consecutive drives that lasted 4:21 and 3:15 respectively, and held the ball for all but 1:27 of the first quarter as the high powered Cowboy offense was held to 6 points at the half. It was more of the same after the break, and the Falcons cruised to an easy 42 - 19 win over the Cowboys, despite a phenomenal second half performance by sophomore sensation Jovon Bouknight.

Bouknight had ten receptions on the day for a total of 129 yards. Seven of those catches came in the second half, and the speedy wide receiver scored Wyoming's only touchdown of the day on a 67 yard punt return. That was pretty much it for the Cowboys on offense.

"We just weren't explosive enough today," quarterback Casey Bramlet suggested. "A lot of that had to do with Air Force holding the ball for most of the game, but we can't make excuses. We didn't make plays when we needed to."

This was especially true when Wyoming was in the red zone. Coming into the game, the Cowboys were nearly perfect from inside the twenty yard line, scoring touchdowns on seven of eight opportunities. They were anything but tonight. Though the Cowboys moved the ball into the red zone four times, they settled for a short field goal each time.

After the game, reporters asked head coach Joe Glenn to play what if. What if some of those had been touchdowns instead? What if the score had been 21 - 14 at the half?

"Yeah, we really failed to capitalize out there, didn't we?" Glenn mused. "If we score a couple touchdowns instead of field goals, it changes everything. Momentum, play calling, everything. Who knows how things turn out. Fact is, we had all the opportunities we could have asked for, we just couldn't take advantage of them. And that shows you we've still got a ways to go with these guys. We're not a good enough team yet to pass up points like that and still win."

Two first half touchdowns would certainly have looked good on the scoreboard, but they probably wouldn't have changed the outcome. Air Force put the game away with 21 points in the fourth quarter, primarily because the larger, more physical Air Force offensive line was able to wear down the Wyoming defense. The front four especially, were essentially a non-factor in the game.

Air Force averaged more than five yards a carry on the day, and the leading tacklers for Wyoming were the three starting linebackers, who combined for 29 stops, though usually not before ball carrier dragged them for two or three more yards.

There wasn't much doubt about the outcome of this game from the start. It was simply a case of the more talented team running over, around and through the opposition. The players seem to recognize that, and appear ready to move on.

"We're going to put this behind us and focus on Boise State in practice this week." Bramlet announced. "Yeah it hurts to lose a conference game, but we can't dwell on it. We've got to get ready for the next one."

Wyoming travels to Boise State next Saturday for a 6:05 kickoff at Bronco Stadium.