Cowboys Roll Air Force To Improve to 3-1

Thanks to a career-high five touchdowns from junior quarterback Brett Smith, the University of Wyoming football team rolled to an impressive 56-23 victory over Air Force on Saturday in Falcon Stadium.

In front of a crowd of 35,389, the Pokes rolled up  454 first-half yards and 42 points, and kept it going in the second half as UW won its Mountain West opener and finished with 622 total yards and a 16-year high in points en route to the victory. Wyoming (3-1 overall, 1-0 MW) didn’t punt until late in the third quarter and rolled up 34 first downs, while limiting Air Force (1-3, 0-3 MW) to just 24. The 56 points on the scoreboard for UW was the most since 1997, when the Cowboys defeated Iowa State 56-10.

Smith had scoring tosses of 7, 61, 4 and 10 yards, along with a 6-yard scamper, to give UW a 42-17 halftime lead. For the day, Smith finished with 511 total yards, a UW single-game record, besting the previous high of 482 (Josh Wallwork vs. Idaho, 1996). He also became the UW career leader in TD passes, as he now has 60 in three seasons.

Senior wide receiver Robert Herron had nine grabs for 94 yards and a score, while junior wide receiver Dominic Rufran had eight catches for 117 yards and two TDs. Herron and Rufran now rank eighth on the career TD catches list. The Cowboys were 10-for-14 on third downs and 1-for-1 on fourth down.

Defensively, UW was led by linebackers Lucas Wacha and Jordan Stanton with 10 and nine tackles, respectively. Sophomore defensive end Eddie Yarbrough had eight tackles and one tackle for loss. The UW defense had five tackles for loss, limited Air Force to just 6-of-14 on third down and had two fourth-down stops.