Casper paper: Pokes top Griz

. . . halftime of Wyoming's 2014 season-opening 17-12 victory over Montana, the Cowboys sat in their locker room as rain sprayed the Jonah Field turf and lightning lit up the sky in the surrounding area. The overwhelmingly supportive 25,243 fans, who turned out in droves for the birth of a new era, were scattered in all directions outside the stadium.

Montana reached the end zone first in a play that might as well have been drawn in the sand -- a double-reverse pass in which Ryan Burke hit Josh Janssen from 26 yards out for the wide receiver's first career touchdown. Moreover, the team's feel-good story of a starting quarterback, redshirt senior Colby Kirkegaard, had been emotionally and physically battered, after being sacked four times and committing two turnovers that yielded a 6-3 halftime deficit.

In a year, the tables had seemingly turned on head coach Craig Bohl. In the 2013 season opener, he steered a powerful North Dakota State juggernaut into Manhattan, Kansas, and left town as conquering heroes, having upset the reigning Big 12 champion by a 24-21 margin.

At the FCS level, he was the king of the giant killers. And suddenly, his troops were under the blade. At this moment, in the midst of a 25-minute halftime lightning delay, the new-look Cowboys could have folded, harkening back to the old look. They could have assessed their wounds and stayed down, waiting for the coroner to pronounce them officially dead.

They could have stayed in the locker room, abruptly ending what was supposed to be a hearty celebration before it had a chance to really begin. Instead of doing that, Wyoming's running backs responded. "This football team, in the past, has had a lot of ups and downs. Adversity is something that occurs during the course of a game," Bohl said. "We talk about playing with poise and composure, and that the next play's ours. "I thought our guys responded very well."

The Cowboys scored their first two touchdowns of the 2014 season in the third quarter, allowing their duo of talented runners to play to their strengths.

First, powerful 212-pound junior Shaun Wick churned his legs, put his head down and dragged a host of Grizzlies along for the ride in a 16-yard run. Wick appropriately finished what he started in the 57-yard drive, scooting along the left side of the line and soaring through Montana tacklers into the end zone.

The result was no surprise to Kirkegaard.

"Going into halftime, we told each other, 'Hey, we've got this. We can move the ball. We've seen progress in the first couple drives,'" said Kirkegaard, who finished with 92 passing yards and an interception.

"We just had to eliminate the mistakes. Obviously, the two turnovers today from my position, that didn't help us. But we had confidence going into the locker room at halftime, knowing we could go out there and drive the ball."

Next, redshirt sophomore D.J. May reminded Wyoming fans of the speed that hasn't been on display since 2012. After missing last season with a torn pectoral, May burst through a gap on the left side on 3rd and 2 and triumphantly sped 58 yards for a score.

"I just went to where the play told me to go, and it opened up, and I couldn't even believe it at first," a giddy May said minutes after the victory. "I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, there's no one around me. There's no one around me!'"

In all, Wyoming's power-speed combination enforced its will in equal force, as Wick chugged for 134 yards and a touchdown and May scooted for 96 yards and a score of his own.

And when the Cowboys needed to kill the clock late in the game, they were able to. Kirkegaard and his slew of running backs milked 5:19 from the play clock in a 10-play, 47-yard drive that squashed the Grizzlies' will and ended the potential threat.

In all, it wasn't always pretty. Bohl's victories aren't designed to be.

But after enduring a half filled with its fair share of obstacles, Wyoming fired back.

"[We decided] that we're not leaving this place without a win," Wick said of his team's mentality at halftime. "We're going to try our best, and we're going to have fun doing it."

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. . . clutch plays were consistently there for the Wyoming defense on Saturday, which allowed the Cowboys to keep within striking distance while the offense struggled to generate much in Wyoming's 17-12 victory at War Memorial Stadium.

“They had a complicated offense," Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl said. "For our guys to be able to be in position at the right place was great. It wasn’t like we were picture-perfect, we did miss some tackles, but it wasn’t for like a long-breaking gains.”

One of the goals for Wyoming's defense entering the 2014 season was to limit those aforementioned big plays that plagued the Cowboys throughout much of the 2013 campaign.

Outside of Montana wide receiver Ryan Burke's double-reverse touchdown toss, Wyoming allowed only one other play of 20-plus yards, which came on a screen pass in which cornerback Blair Burns missed on his attempted tackle at the line of scrimmage. In addition, Wyoming allowed only one rush of 10-plus yards while holding Montana to a mere 42 yards rushing for the game.

While nothing Wyoming's defense did will end up on the end-of-the-year highlight reel, its lone sack came at the most crucial of moments.

On fourth-and-7 midway through the third quarter, linebacker Mark Nzeocha busted through the middle of Montana's offensive line to sack Jordan Johnson and give Wyoming good field position at its own 42-yard line.

That play led directly to Wyoming's first touchdown drive of the afternoon as Wyoming completed a 5-play, 58-yard drive to take the lead with 5 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

"I just blitzed the A-gap and it opened up wide," said Nzeocha, who finished with a team-high 12 tackles. "Something like that builds confidence. After [Shaun Wick's] touchdown the momentum definitely swung and we took that."

Immediately following Wick's score, the defense forced another three-and-out and D.J. May took the third offensive play 58 yards for a touchdown and a double-digit Wyoming lead. The Cowboys wouldn't trail again.

Overall, Wyoming held Montana's offense to five drives of three plays and a punt, something defensive end Eddie Yarbrough said was crucial in getting the defense more rest than it got in 2013.

All of those factors allowed Bohl to ask his defense to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

On third-and-8 with seven minutes remaining, Bohl called for a conservative draw play to Wick that went for two yards and resulted in an ensuing Ethan Wood punt.

After a Devyn Harris tackle for loss on Montana's first down, Wyoming forced another three-and-out. Wyoming's offense proceeded to run the clock down to just two seconds before Montana's final pass play was fittingly batted down at the line of scrimmage.

“That’s part of who we are, playing field-position football and looking at how the game’s flowing," Bohl said. "The guys we had out there on defense were pretty healthy and pretty fresh at the time.

"The ultimate deal is to win the game, it doesn’t count on style points. That’s a precursor of times to come.”

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Wearing down

Bohl said the game plan was to keep the game close and wear Montana down in the second half. It worked as 161 of UW’s 209 rushing yards came in the game’s final 30 minutes. Three of the Cowboys’ longest offensive plays – a 15-yard run by junior running back Shaun Wick, a 58-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back D.J. May and an 18-yard run by true freshman running back Brian Hill – all came in the second half.

UW outscored Montana 14-6 in the final two quarters. The Cowboys were outscored 253-160 in the second half of games last season. “It exceeded expectations in the second half,” said Wick, who had a game-high 134 yards and a touchdown. “Back in the day, the second half wasn’t always that much fun, but now it’s a whole lot of fun.” UW’s offense held the ball for 34 minutes, 54 seconds against Montana. Its best time of possession last season was 28:31 against Air Force.

“We wore down and broke down in the second half,” Montana coach Mick Delaney said.

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