(UW Athletics release)
LARAMIE, Wyo. — Looking to continue the momentum they created last Friday by capturing a road win over Colorado State, the Wyoming Cowboys return home this Saturday to host the San Jose State Spartans in a game that is scheduled to kick off at noon, M.T.
Wyoming and San Jose State are both coming off victories last week. Each team also scored a season high in points. Wyoming defeated CSU 34-21. San Jose State won at home over UNLV by a 50-37 final score.
The Cowboys’ offense featured a balanced attack against CSU. UW scored two rushing touchdowns, two passing TDs and kicked two field goals. The rushing touchdowns were scored by running back Nico Evans and quarterback Sean Chambers. The passing TDs were thrown by Chambers to tight end Tyree Mayfield and Evans. Place-kicker Cooper Rothe kicked field goals of 30 and 45 yards.
The Wyoming offense also generated several explosive plays in their Border War victory. Evans scored on a 48-yard touchdown run. Chambers had a 21-yard dash for his longest rushing play of the night. Freshman running back Jevon Bigelow also had a 21-yard rush. Chambers TD pass to tight end Tyree Mayfield covered 43 yards for the longest pass play of the night for the Cowboys. Chambers also connected with wide receiver James Price on a 24-yard completion.
Series History
The Cowboys and Spartans will be meeting for the 11th time. Wyoming leads the overall series with San Jose State by a 6-4 margin. The two teams have split the four previous meetings in Laramie at 2-2. In games played in San Jose, Wyoming holds a 4-2 advantage.
The series has been marked by streaks. Wyoming won the first three meetings in 1959, ‘67 and ‘69. SJSU won the 1992 meeting. Wyoming won the next three in a row in 1993, ‘96 and ‘97.
San Jose State has won the last three meetings in 2013, ‘14 and ‘17.
The last five meetings between the two schools have all come as conference opponents. Wyoming and San Jose State were both members of the Western Athletic Conference in 1996 and ‘97. In 2013, San Jose State joined the Mountain West Conference, and the 2013, ‘14 and ‘17 meetings were as Mountain West opponents.
On a National Stage
Three Wyoming Cowboys enter this week among the nation’s best. Junior place-kicker Cooper Rothe is one of only three kickers at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level to be perfect in field goals this season, making all 14 field goals he has attempted. He is tied with Tyler Bass of Georgia Southern, who has made all 11 of his field goals in 2018, and Matthew Wright of UCF, who is 8 for 8 in field goals this season. Rothe also owns the longest current streak of made field goals. He has made his last 17 field-goal attempts dating back to last season. Over the past two seasons, Rothe is 29 of 32 (90.6 percent) in field goals.
Senior running back Nico Evans continues to be one of the nation’s top rushers, his 139.9 rushing yards per game average ranks him No. 3 in the nation, and his 149.29 all-purpose yards per game ranks him No. 6 in the country. Evans is also nearing a milestone only nine Cowboys in history have ever reached – a 1,000-yard rushing season. He enters this week with 979 rushing yards on the season, and needs only 21 more rushing yards to become a 1,000-yard rusher. Only three players at the FBS level this season have reached the 1,000-yard plateau.
Senior strong safety Andrew Wingard is already among the greatest defensive players in Wyoming school history and Mountain West Conference history. He is nearing the No. 2 spot on both the Wyoming and Mountain West career tackle lists. But he is also about to break into another exclusive group. Wingard needs only 12 more tackles to move into 25th place on the NCAA career tackle list. Wingard enters this week with 431 career tackles. With two more tackles, he’ll move into the No. 2 spot on the MW list. With nine tackles, he’ll rank No. 2 on the Wyoming career chart.
Spectacular Starting Debut
It is hard to top the debut UW freshman quarterback Sean Chambers made in his first collegiate start on Friday, Oct. 26. He led Wyoming to a 34-21 win in the 110th meeting of the Border War against rival Colorado State on the road.
Chambers completed 7 of 10 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 101 yards and one TD. He ended the day with 217 yards of total offense.
That followed up a 100-yard rushing performance the previous week against Utah State when he came off the bench and added 3 of 5 passing for 62 yards and 162 yards of total offense.
Scouting the Spartans
The Spartan offense is paced by quarterback Josh Love. He is completing 56 percent of his passes on the season and is averaging 263.3 passing yards per game. He has thrown 12 touchdown passes on the year with seven interceptions. He threw for four touchdowns last week against UNLV. His top receiving target is Josh Oliver, as he has 44 catches on the season for 514 yards and three touchdowns. Fellow wide receiver Tre Hartley has 24 catches on the season for 46.3 yards per game with three touchdowns. SJSU’s top rusher is Tyler Nevens at 71.6 yards per game with four touchdowns.
The San Jose State defense is paced by linebacker Jamal Scott. He has 64 stops on the season to go along with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Fellow linebacker Ethan Aguayo has 63 tackles on the year. Cornerback Dakari Monrow leads the team with four interceptions on the year. Defensive end Cade Hall leads the team with three sacks on the year.
Media Coverage
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboy Sports Network, beginning with the pregame show at 11 a.m. this Saturday. AT&T SportsNet will televise Saturday’s game from Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium.
Tickets
Tickets are available to Saturday’s game by: going online at GoWyo.com/tickets, emailing tickets@uwyo.edu, calling 307-766-7220 or stopping by the UW Athletics Ticket Office on the west side of the Arena-Auditorium. Tickets on game day may be purchased at the ticket office on the east side of War Memorial Stadium.
Next Up – A Bye Week
After this Saturday’s game vs. San Jose State, the Wyoming Cowboys will have their second bye of the season on Saturday, Nov. 10. The Cowboys will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 17 when they host the Air Force Falcons for Wyoming’s final home game of the 2018 college football season.
