Wyoming quarterback Casey Bramlett came into Saturday’s football game against Utah ranked first in the Mountain West Conference in passing and eighth in the NCAA in total offense.
But Rice-Eccles Stadium apparently is where good offenses go to die.
With the Ute defenders limiting the Cowboys to just eight first downs and 150 yards of total offense, the U got its first shutout of the season?and its second straight vs. Wyoming?in registering a commanding 35-0 victory that boosted the team to 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the MWC.
The Cowboys, who came into the matchup averaging 411 yards per game, but did not reach 100 total yards against the Utes until reserve halfback Derek Armah had a 2-yard run with 6:08 to go in the game, lost their fourth straight in dropping to 2-5, 0-4 MWC.
“The defense was outstanding. You can’t ask for much more than that,” said Utah coach Ron McBride. “It’s impressive anytime you shut a team out. It’s difficult to do?especially against a team with that much offensive firepower.”
With Utah’s front seven first shutting down the run (Wyoming had 25 carries for 33 yards) and then the secondary applying stifling coverage to the Cowboys’ vaunted receiving trio of Ryan McGuffey, Malcolm Floyd and Ralph Brock (who had a combined 15 receptions for just 76 yards, and no catch longer than 11 yards), the U line was able to get to Bramlett, sacking him three times after coming in with just nine total sacks on the year.
“We didn’t give him too much time to make decisions,” said junior linebacker Sheldon Deckart, who had four tackles and two pass deflections. “We came in with the idea of putting pressure on the quarterback and knowing we had to knock out the run. We were able to do that.”
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s defense also turned in an impeccable effort?but only for the first quarter.
The Cowboys made it clear they wanted to shut down Utah’s smashmouth run game, holding starting U halfback Dameon Hunter to four yards on four carries on Utah’s opening series before linebacker Leo Caires intercepted a Lance Rice pass to stop the U drive at the Wyoming 24-yard line.
With Utah unable to run, the first quarter ended in a 0-0 stalemate, and the Cowboys rightly felt like they were contention.
“Our defense held their run,” Caires said. “We did what the game plan called for.”
Specifically, that was to bottle up the rushing attack and dare Rice to throw the ball. The Cowboys’ plan subsequently went awry, however, when Rice and top receiver Cliff Russell accepted the challenge.
“[Wyoming] stacked things up, putting nine in the box, and once we completed a couple passes to Cliff, that really opened things up,” Hunter said.
On Utah’s first play from scrimmage in the second quarter, Rice found Russell streaking down the left sideline and connected with him for a 44-yard touchdown strike at the 14:14 mark. Less than four minutes later, a 43-yard Rice-to-Russell connection set up a one-yard touchdown dive by halfback Adam Tate.
“Any time you get [Russell] in 1-on-1 coverage like that, there aren’t too many guys in the country who can stop him, so every time I saw that, I tried to go to him,” Rice said.
While Russell had six first half catches for 122 yards and wound up finishing with seven for a career-high 157, some of his teammates also contributed to the rout, as Rice connected with Devin Houston on a 13-yard strike for a three-touchdown halftime lead, and Hunter?after the slow start?wound up with 109 yards on 18 carries.
“It’s very disheartening,” said Wyoming coach Vic Koening. “In the first quarter, there were two evenly matched football teams. The next thing you know, it’s 21-0.”
That was far more cushion than the U defense needed. While the Ute offense eventually rolled up 465 yards, Wyoming didn’t even get into the red zone until the fourth quarter.
“We came out and did what we needed to do,” said U cornerback D’Shaun Crockett. “We did a lot of good things. We’ve been asking for [a shutout] all season long, it felt good to do it at home.”