The unthinkable happened. Wyoming showed up in Albuquerque 11 months after they started the Capital One bowl season with one of the most memorable bowl games of the 2009 season. The defense led by seniors John Fletcher and Mitch Unrein stood up NCAA rushing leader Ryan Matthews on the 1 yard line to seal a double overtime victory over Fresno State. Eleven months later the Cowboys were looking to stop the bleeding on a hemorrhaging season against a winless New Mexico Lobos football team. The Lobos were ripe for the picking as they were starting a new QB this game, Stump Godfrey, who was making his first start for the Lobos. Godfrey proved to be the Cowboy killer as he engineered numerous 3rd down conversions to spark the Lobos to victory on a last second field goal. The Cowboys had their opportunities in this game as they were within scoring range on three different drives and turned the ball over inside of New Mexico territory three times. Two came from freshman running back Robert Herron, and one from Austyn Carta-Samuels. ACS also fumbled the football on a sack, which gave New Mexico the ball on the Cowboy 15 yard line to setup another Lobo score. Execution was the name of the game in this one. On a lighter note, the Cowboys piled up over 500 yards of total offense, which featured three different ball carriers gaining over 100 yards rushing, ACS, Herron, and Alvester Alexander. The spread offense looked like a legitimate offense in this game, but was beaten by its own mistakes.
The Pokes will look to rebound this week against UNLV, who has had its own share of trouble this year under first year head coach Bobby Hauck, who came to the Rebels from Montana after a successful run with the Grizzlies. The Rebels are giving up 39 points a game on the season. Their only win has come against New Mexico. The game is slated to start at 8:00pm from Sam Boyd Stadium.
Go Pokes!