Wyoming Cowboys rally in second half to defeat Air Force in Mountain West opener (2025)

LARAMIE — Wipe the slate. That was the mantra all week as Wyoming readied for its conference opener against rival Air Force.

Behind a strong second half, Wyoming flushed its winless nonconference slate with a 31-19 victory over Air Force on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. The win snapped a four-game losing skid to open the season and, more importantly, moved Wyoming to 1-0 in Mountain West play.

"I'm really happy for our team," Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said after earning his first career victory as a head coach. "We needed to get a game to go into the open date. The way that they have practiced, the way that they continue to fight, the way that they continue to improve, we'll come back two weeks from now and be a better football team than we were today."

The Cowboys took the “wipe the slate clean” mantra to heart on its opening series on both sides of the ball. Behind the combined efforts of Jordan Bertagnole and Ben Florentine, the UW defense shut down the Falcons’ fake punt attempt to take over possession at the Falcons’ 46-yard line.

UW faced a key fourth down of its own as it looked to capitalize on the outstanding field position to open the game. Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel took a timeout then sent out his offense, opting to be aggressive early. UW quarterback Evan Svoboda picked up the necessary yardage and then some, moving Wyoming inside the Air Force 10. The Pokes scored on the next play when tailback Sam Scott, starting in place of DJ Jones, ran through the Falcons’ defense for an 8-yard touchdown.

With Jones out for the game for personal reasons, his first missed appearance this season, and both Harrison Waylee and Dawaiian McNeely out with knee injuries, Scott had his best game of the year. Scott finished with 97 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Scott wasn’t the only Cowboy to have his best game of the season. Wyoming also got its best game by far from Svoboda under center.

The 6-foot-5 junior led consecutive scoring drives in the third quarter to stake the Cowboys to a 21-13 lead. The first drive — a 7-play, 76-yard touchdown romp — saw Svoboda rip confident throws to Chris Durr Jr. and John Michael Gyllenborg for 31 and 33 yards, respectively to put the Pokes inside the red zone. The Pokes capped the drive with a second gutsy fourth-down call, this time resulting in a 2-yard touchdown run from Svoboda. The score gave UW a 14-13 lead with 11:54 remaining in the third quarter.

The second drive was more impressive.

Coming directly after the defense forced an Air Force punt, Svoboda engineered an 11-play, 94-yard touchdown drive. Once again, the Cowboys’ quarterback was decisive and accurate. He also had time to throw behind a makeshift offensive line that lost starting left guard Wes King for the game on the previous series.

Svoboda located Durr Jr. over the middle for 16 yards and then found Gyllenborg along the sideline between two defenders for another first down. After an Air Force pass interference penalty pushed the ball inside the Falcons’ half of the field, Svoboda ripped off a 22-yard run to take the ball inside the Falcons’ 20. A few plays later, wide receiver Tyler King scored from 3 yards out on an end-around to make it 21-13 with 3:32 to play in the quarter.

The Cowboys pushed their advantage to 24-13 on John Hoyland's 23-yard field goal with 10:36 remaining.

Wyoming's three consecutive scoring drives in the second half catapulted a turnaround which saw the team out-gain Air Force 278-105 in the second half after netting just 83 yards in the first half. All told, Wyoming finished with 361 total yards of offense, its best mark through five games.

"The adjustment was go play better. It was time to plant our flag. That was the adjustment," Sawvel said. "We flat-lined a little bit in the second quarter more than what I would've wanted. Then in the third and fourth quarter, there was a lot more force, a lot more intent and we attacked."

Air Force (1-3, 0-2 MW) made it a one-possession game on Aiden Calvert's 37-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes on the clock. UW linebacker Connor Shay kept the score 24-19 with a stop on the Falcons' two-point attempt.

UW's next possession seemed to be stopped at the Air Force 39, but the Falcons were flagged for a personal foul on fourth down to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, Svoboda burst into the end zone from 17 yards out to extend the lead to 31-19 with 2:13 remaining.

Svoboda finished the game 15 of 21 passing for 165 yards. His 71 percent completion rate was his first game over 50 percent this season. He added 70 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.

"Evan's going to be a really good player at the University of Wyoming and he needed a breakout of some type. I realize he didn't throw for 450 yards or something like that," said Sawvel. "It was very productive drives. He converted situations, the big run at the end — he was in charge and he played football tonight. I'm so proud of that kid."

Hampered by missing starters, Wyoming’s defense was blitzed by Air Force on three consecutive possessions to end the first half. The Falcons chewed up 209 total yards as they scored 13 unanswered points for a 13-7 lead at the break.

Air Force entered the game averaging just 50 yards passing through three games. However, Air Force quarterback John Busha continued the streak of opposing quarterbacks to surpass their averages against Wyoming. Busha finished with 94 yards on 5 of 10 passing in the first half, but was just 1 of 3 for 21 yards in the second half.

The Cowboys get a well-deserved bye next week before hosting San Diego State on Oct. 12. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at War Memorial.

Notes:- Wyoming played against Air Force without RB D.J. Jones (personal reasons), WR Devin Boddie Jr. (lower body), RG Jack Walsh (upper body), DE Braden Siders (knee), S Wyett Ekeler (thumbs). Rex Johnsen made his first start in place of Walsh at right guard.

- Cowboys lost left guard Wes King in the third quarter to a lower-body injury. King was carted off the field and did not return. Reserve lineman Alex Conn finished the game at left guard.