One has to admit if you were a Wyoming Cowboy fan, you weren't feeling very well when the Cowboys offense saw a 4th and 22 from their own 11 yard line fall incomplete with a little over two minutes left in the ballgame. The turnover on downs gave Florida Atlantic 1st and 10 with the Cowboys having no more time outs. Generally one has the feeling that the ball game is all but over. Then something crazy happened, like really crazy.
The ball game itself started out exactly the way Craig Bohl and Wyoming wanted it with the Cowboys marching 80 yards down the field in eight plays. Junior running back Shaun Wick made quick work with a 40 yard run down the left sideline on the first play of the game before fumbling out of bounds in Florida Atlantic territory.
Kirkegaard completed two passes on the drive to reach the Owl's redzone. Then he ran for 13 yards to the one-yard line. From there, Wick finished the drive with a touchdown to give Wyoming (3-1) an early 7-0 lead.
Florida Atlantic (1-3) answered on the very next drive. The Owl's traveled 59 yards in 11 plays. Kicker Greg Joseph knocked through a 32-yard field goal to narrow the Cowboy lead to 7-3.
With the clock quickly approaching the 2nd quarter, Wyoming forced only its second turnover of the season, as Florida Atlantic wide receiver Lucky Whitehead fumbled on an end-around and defensive tackle Patrick Mertens recovered at the Owl 35-yard line. The Cowboys offense stalled and Williams nailed a 50-yard field goal, the longest of his career, to give the Cowboys a 10-3 lead. Coach Bohl stated after the game that Williams had kicked a 53-yarder during warm-ups.
Late in the second quarter, Wyoming coughed up the ball when Kirkegaard was sacked by linebacker Andrae Kirk and Florida Atlantic recovered on the Cowboy 37-yard line. Joseph made a 30-yard field goal right before half and Wyoming took a 10-6 lead into halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Florida Atlantic felt the momentum shift in their direction when Whitehead fielded a punt off the bounce at his own 21-yard line and brought it all the way back to the Cowboy 14-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Jaquez Johnson faked a hand off and ran untouched into the end zone from 14 yards out to give the Owls their first lead of the game at 13-10.
The Owls would then tack on yet another field goal to move the score to 16-10 Florida Atlantic. Wyoming finally got things rolling back into their favor on the final drive of the third quarter. Wick busted a 41-yard run along the right side and redshirt sophomore D.J. May finished things off three plays later with a 5-yard touchdown run to make the score 17-16 Wyoming.
The next FAU possession saw a nifty 30-yard run by Warren and their kicker connected on his fourth field goal of the game, putting the Owls back ahead 19-17 with little over 8 minutes left in the ball game.
The Cowboy defense forced a three-and-out, Wyoming got the ball back with 2:59 remaining at its own 23-yard line and this is when the end of the game drama ensued.
FAU's quarterback Jaquez Johnson fumbled on a quarterback keeper with two minutes left in the game and it was recovered by the Cowboys. Wyoming quarterback Colby Kirkegaard took advantage of the late gift and connected with Dominic Rufran for an 88 yard reception down inside the Cowboys 10. The Cowboys ran the clock down to 15 seconds, where kicker Stuart Williams hit a 18-yard field goal to give Wyoming a come-from-behind 20-19 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. The last minute victory moves the Cowboys to 3-1 on the season and drops the Owls to 1-3.
After the game coach Bohl stated this was the craziest ending he's ever been a part of. Said the team just had to keep believing. Today was a great example of that.
This victory set-ups the Cowboys very nicely going forward for possible bowl implications.
Wyoming next goes on the road to face their second "money game" of the season when they face the 3-1 Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan next Saturday. The ball game will be on either ESPN2 or ESPNU with a 10:00 AM MT kick-off.