Cowboys End Dismal Season With Loss

The 2013 season came to a close Saturday for the University of Wyoming football team as the Cowboys dropped the last game of the year, 35-7, to the Utah State Aggies.

Wyoming (5-7 overall, 3-5 Mountain West) scored just one touchdown, while Utah State (8-4 overall, 7-1 MW) used four offensive touchdowns and a 64-yard punt return TD to secure a spot in the inaugural MW Championship game Dec. 7 in Fresno, Calif.

Junior quarterback Brett Smith went 16-for-29 for 162 yards and tossed a 60-yard TD strike to junior wide receiver Dominic Rufran in the fourth quarter. Smith now has accounted for at least one score in each of his 35 career games, a MW record, and had the second-best passing season of any UW quarterback in history with 3,375 yards. Sophomore running back Shaun Wick had 40 yards on the ground, while junior wide receiver Jalen Claiborne led the Pokes with five catches for 41 yards.

Defensively, seniors Marqueston Huff and Devyn Harris set career highs with 20 (No. 3 in UW single-game history) and 12 tackles, respectively. Sophomore defensive end Eddie Yarbrough added a fumble recovery, while senior defensive tackle Justin Bernthaler and junior defensive end Sonny Puletasi each had a sack.

Utah State began the scoring after intercepting a UW pass in the first quarter. The Aggies drove 27 yards for a score and UW trailed 7-0 with 6:17 left in the first quarter. In the second quarter, with 7:30 left in the half, the UW special teams gave up a 64-yard touchdown return and Utah State led 14-0.

With just 53 seconds left in the half, USU punched it in from 1 yard out to claim a 21-0 lead heading into intermission.

The second half featured two Aggie scores to push the lead to 35-0 until Smith found a wide-open Rufran on his pass, and Rufran rumbled his way in for UW’s only score.