November 19, 2023 — Wyo4News Staff/Press Release Information
On Saturday in Laramie, the Wyoming Cowboys overwhelmingly completed the perfect home football season, defeating Hawai’i 42-9. In addition to getting the season’s seventh home win, a new War Memorial Stadium season attendance record was set. Saturday’s crowd the season’s attendance total to 162,144, easily topping the old record of 149,625 set in 1990, also a seven-home game season.
The Game
An explosive first half by Wyoming’s offense and a smothering Cowboy defense fueled the win and raised the Cowboys’ season mark to 7-4, 4-3 in the Mountain West. Hawai’i dropped to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the Mountain West. Wyoming led 35-0 at the half as the Pokes scored five touchdowns on their first six drives.
UW Scoring
Wyoming – 44-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Peasley to Ryan Marquez – 7-0 (first quarter)
Wyoming – 89-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Peasley to John Michael Gyllenborg – 14-0 (first quarter)
Wyoming – 28-yard touchdown run by Harrison Waylee – 21-0 (second quarter)
Wyoming – 40-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Peasley to Wyatt Wieland – 28-0 (second quarter)
Wyoming – 6-yard touch run by Ayir Assante – 35-0 (second quarter)
Wyoming – 18-yard touchdown run by Evan Svoboda – 42-9 (fourth quarter)
Quotes From Head Coach Craig Bohl
“It was really special, and we’re really pleased with how we came out,” said Bohl, talking about Senior Day and the Pokes’ start. “It was going to be important for us to start fast, and we certainly did that.” The 42 points scored by Wyoming were the team has scored this season and the most by UW since the 2021 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (52 points)
“Our passing game was explosive, and we came up with some big plays on defense.” Cowboy quarterback Andrew Peasley was 14 of 17 passing for 319 yards and three first-half touchdown passes. Bohl on Peasley, “He played gutty last week (at UNLV), but he was displeased with his performance in that game. He’s a winner, and I thought he played great today.”
“It was going to be critical for us to win in those areas,” said Bohl, commenting on the offensive and defensive lines. “The way that Hawai’i’s offense is structured, it was going to be important for us to establish our defensive line to make them one-dimensional, and we were able to do that. We got some good push in the running game on offense today.” The Cowboys rushed for 153 yards on 33 carries. Harrison Waylee was UW’s leading rusher with 70 yards on 11 carries.
Bohl was asked what it meant to his team to go undefeated at home and to see Wyoming fans set a new home attendance record. “It means a lot — credit our fans,” said Bohl. “I think we have a phenomenal home-game atmosphere, and particularly the students. That’s one of the things that is great about college football and one of the things that is great about the state of Wyoming.” It is the 15th undefeated regular-season home record in War Memorial history and the third in the Bohl era.
Up Next
The Cowboys will close out the regular season at Nevada (2-9 overall, 2-5 MW). The Wolf Pack lost 30-20 at Colorado State yesterday. Tip-off for the game is 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WyoRadio’s 99.7 JACK-FM and at 99KSIT.com starting at 5:30 p.m.
