Wyoming uses strong defense and running game to beat Colorado State

Wyoming Takes Bronze Boot, Again

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Cowboys keep Bronze Boot for 4th straight year: Here’s three reasons why

Wyoming most likely secured a bowl game by notching its seventh win of the season against Colorado St., 17-7, after narrowly missing out last year with six wins. The annual Border War was the fourth win in four years for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys relied on their strengths to put the Rams away in the frigid temperatures at War Memorial Field. Here’s three quick reasons Wyoming ran away with the boot:

X Factor

Xazavian Valladay was questionable Friday night, as he was nursing a knee injury. That question mark turned into another 20+ carry night and carried him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Valladay rushed for 154 yards with his most important run coming in the fourth quarter on a seldom-called run outside the left tackles for 22-yards. It set up a 48-yard field goal for senior Cooper Rothe, who ends his career as the all-time leading scorer, sealing the game for the Cowboys.

The sophomore workhorse past the century mark for the fifth straight game and six overall. The Cowboys roll as their running game goes.

The Cowboys also had true freshman Levi Williams in the mix, which was talked about all week if the passing game wasn’t working out with Tyler Vander Waal. The passing game didn’t work, but Williams still didn’t pass much as he and Vander Waal rotated. Wililams was 2-for-2 and ran the offense well and both quarterbacks had one touchdown run a piece.

Defense

As general a statement that is, defense was the key. The Cowboys put up another characteristically strong performance against a Rams offense that knows how to score.

Against a Colorado State squad that averages 30 points an outing and over 300 yards passing, the Wyoming defense held its opponent to its lowest output of the season. Pat O’Brien still had 200 yards passing, 95 of those going to the typical Rams NFL-bound receiver Warren Jackson. Jackson had the Rams only score.

Wyoming only recorded one sack, but allowed less than 50 yards in the rushing game. The defense had five tackles for loss.

Logan Wilson, a Reese’s Senior Bowl invite, had the stop of the game for the Cowboys picking off an O’Brien pass with just over three minutes left in the game.

Zero Degrees

At the time of kickoff, the temperature was hovering around 10 degrees. By the end of the game, it had dropped to around zero. While both teams are used to the winter temperatures, the north of the border crowd is definitely used to more extreme weather.

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