Cowboys top Portland State and reveal work to be done

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - In the very first meeting between the Wyoming Cowboys and the Portland State Vikings, the Pokes topped the FCS school 31-17.

Saturday’s game started with a special tribute to Wyoming coaching legend Paul Roach who passed away this year.

Sam Scott, the freshman hero of last week, looking to prove he deserves even more touches. But, he started the day off with a fumble to end the Cowboys’ first drive. He did end the day with a team leading 70 rushing yards though.

The Wyoming defense would force a turnover thanks to Wyett Ekeler and put their offense in a good position to score. Jermair ferrel punched it in from the one for his first touchdown in the brown and gold.

Cole Godbout reminded everyone he was back on Saturday with a sack in the first quarter, followed by his signature Cowboys celebration. He had 1.5 sacks on the day and 6 total tackles

Going into this game it would be so important for Andrew Peasley to connect with his wide receivers for big plays and he did. Peasley found Ayir Asante for a 64-yard touchdown. Asante’s first as a Poke in front of 21,121 people at War Memorial Stadium.

Portland state was going to fight in this one though. On an 18 play drive that took nine minutes off the clock, Dante Chanchere walked one in for a touchdown off the right side of the O-Line to make it 14-7.

That one possession gap would not last long though Andrew Peasley making another big play with his arm after Wyatt Weiland found himself wide open for a 29 yard score.

Fast forward to the third quarter and the legend of John Hoyland continues to grow, a 56 yard boot for him, his second from that distance on the season already.

This was a statement game for Ayir Asante, someone a lot of people were excited about coming into the season. He scored his second tuddy of the night with a diving effort once he got to the goal line near the end of the third quarter. The Holy Cross transfer finished with 78 yards receiving on the day.

Portland state though was determined to remind Wyoming they could stick around they scored one more time in the fourth but at the end of the quarter elected to let the clock run out instead of kicking a field goal in the red zone to make this one seem even closer.

The Cowboys offense stalled at times, they also had two turnovers. The defense gave up 344 total yards to an FCS opponent. Despite the Cowboys moving to 2-0 it was clear in the post game presser that it was not a win they were exceptionally thrilled about.

“Pleased that we won the game,” Head Coach Craig Bohl said. “I knew that we would have much more of a challenge with Portland than maybe some people from the outside felt. Certainly did some good things but there’s a lot of things we can learn from. Even though we have a mature football team, they’re still young to a certain degree. It’ll be a great opportunity for us to fix some things, sometimes these are the best opportunities to do that.”

Next up for the Cowboys: Texas on Sept. 16 at 6:00 P.M. Coverage will be on the Long Horn Network.

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