Wyoming Suffers First Conference Loss to TCU 31-20

Despite five turnovers from TCU, the University of Wyoming football team was unable to find a win against the Horned Frogs on Saturday, Nov. 5th in Laramie. TCU pulled away in the second half to give Wyoming their first loss in Mountain West play, 31-20.

The Pokes were able to capitalize on a fumble in the 1st quarter by responding with a touchdown and an interception by Blair Burns kept the game tied going into halftime. A 48-yard field goal from Daniel Sullivan to start off the 3rd quarter gave UW a 20-17 lead, but the Cowboys were unable to add anymore points to the scoreboard through the rest of the game.

Quarterback Brett Smith took some big hits throughout the game, but at the beginning of the fourth quarter he took a monster one as he attempted a pass that brought the training staff onto the field and kept Smith on the sidelines the rest of the game. Junior college transfer Colby Kirkegaard filled in behind center. After the game, Coach Christensen said Smith is expected to play next week.

TCU moved the ball effectively almost the entire game. Senior Brian Hendricks sacked Casey Pachall and then provided pass coverage to help force a 3-and-out in the first quarter which then allowed a Wyoming field goal to give UW a 10-7 lead. But that was the only 3-and-out the Cowboy defense could force.

What the Cowboy defense did force though, was turnovers. Five of them, and they kept Wyoming in the game through three quarters. But after Smith left the game, UW was unable to take advantage of what TCU was giving them and the Horned Frogs were able to leave War Memorial Stadium with a win.

Wyoming (5-3, 2-1) came up with 106 yards rushing and 247 yards passing for 353 total yards of offense. TCU (7-2, 4-0) had 390 yards rushing and 227 yards passing for 617 total yards. The Horned Frogs also had a huge advantage in the return game, averaging 35.0 yards per return on kickoffs to Wyoming's average of 16.5 yards per return.

In his three quarters of action, Smith completed 17 of 26 pass attempts for 210 yards, with 2 touchdown throws and one beautiful 58-yard completion to Chris McNeill, who led all receivers with 5 catches for 99 yards. In the fourth quarter, Kirkegaard went 5-of-10 for 37 yards and was sacked once. For TCU, Casey Pachall completed 17 of 24 passes for 227 yards with one interception and one sack.

Defensively, UW was led by Hendricks with 2 forced fumbles, 1 sack for a 13-yard loss, 2 pass break-ups and 6 total tackles. Luke Anderson also forced a fumble and had 11 total tackles along with Luke Ruff.

Next up for Wyoming is a trip to Air Force on Saturday, Nov. 12th. Kickoff is set for noon in Colorado Springs, coverage will begin at 11 a.m. MT on AM-1290 KOWB.

Scoring Summary

1Q - 12:07 - TCU - 5 yd run by Matthew Tucker (Ross Evans kick)   7-0
1Q - 03:54 - UW - 7 yd pass from Brett Smith to Josh Doctson (Daniel Sullivan kick)   7-7
1Q - 00:20 - UW - 33 yd field goal by Daniel Sullivan   7-10

2Q - 12:13 - TCU - 2 yd run by Ed Wesley (Ross Evans kick)   14-10
2Q - 06:17 - TCU - 35 yd field goal by Ross Evans   17-10
2Q - 02:24 - UW - 18 yd pass from Brett Smith to Mazi Ogbonna (Daniel Sullivan kick) 17-17

3Q - 11:52 - UW - 48 yd field goal by Daniel Sullivan   17-20
3Q - 02:21 - TCU - 4 yd run by Ed Wesley (Ross Evans kick)   24-20

4Q - 13:20 - TCU - 4 yd run by Matthew Tucker (Ross Evans kick)   31-20