MEMPHIS, Tennessee - With more than a month to prepare for the AXA Liberty Bowl, Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn and his staff knew they needed to develop a game plan that would allow the team to find success in the red zone. In the regular season, Glenn's Cowboys had 47 possessions inside the opponent's 20 yard line, but had only converted 22 of those into touchdowns. Saturday, the Cowboys reversed that trend, scoring three touchdowns on three possessions in the red zone on their way to a thrilling 21 - 18 victory over the Louisville Cardinals in the 45th Annual Liberty Bowl.

"Our inability to put the ball in the end zone when we got in range cost us more than once this season," Glenn explained after the game.

"Consequently, our focus these last three weeks has been on giving our offense the best possible chance to succeed inside the red zone. Obviously, I feel that paid off for us today."

With three touchdowns in three attempts, it could not have gone any better for the Cowboys. Still, red zone efficiency wasn't the only thing Wyoming did well today. The Cowboys also held onto the ball, and didn't give Louisville many opportunities to score. Quarterback Kenneth Wingate was an efficient 21 - 31 for 192 yards, allowing the Cowboys to run the ball 36 times and dominate the time of possession. The Cowboys held the ball for 26 minutes compared to only 14 for Louisville.

"Louisville is a very good team, and they have so many weapons on offense," said Glenn.

"We knew we weren't going to win a shootout with them, and we knew that our defense was going to have to play a phenomenal game to give us a chance. The plan all year has been to take pressure off the defense by not putting them out on the field any more than we have to, and the offense did an incredible job making that possible today."

It was the first bowl appearance for Wyoming since the start of the 21st century, and the win pushed Glenn's career mark with the Cowboys to 19-18. Officially, this was the last game for Glenn under his current contract, but Wyoming officials are expected to offer the well-liked coach a substantial extension sometime next week.