Wyoming finished up their tough football season with a heart-breaking 36-30 loss to New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M. on Saturday afternoon.
The Cowboys had the ball first and goal with under a minute to play and could not punch in a would-be go-ahead touchdown on four consecutive pass plays.
“Your last senior game and you lose at the 10-yard line it hurts,” redshirt senior quarterback Colby Kirkegaard said in an interview after the game with Robert Gagliardi of Wyo Sports. “They played well there at the end when it counted. I give them all the credit. We did not execute when it counted.”
Wyoming, throughout the game, was again plagued by blown coverages and special teams ineffectiveness that has cost this team for the majority of the season. Wyoming gave up a one-play 75-yard touchdown drive on a busted coverage and after it took a 30-28 lead in the third quarter the ensuing kickoff was returned 97 yards for a touchdown.
“Way too many big plays on defense,” head coach Craig Bohl said. “We had a couple mental buffs that resulted in big plays.”
The Pokes out-gained the Lobos 541 to 382. While Wyoming did most of their damage from the air (366 total yards) New Mexico did most of their work on the ground (241).
Kirkegaard, playing on a bad ankle and in his last game was 21-for-43 for 366 yards. He tossed one touchdown and one pick.
“You can’t challenge his competitive spirit,” Bohl said. “He put us in the position to win the game.”
Freshman running back Brian Hill was again a bright spot with 163 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown. Junior running back Shaun Wick played in his first game since injuring his left hand versus Colorado State back in October. He ran it 14 times for 48 yards and one score.
Senior wide receiver Dominic Rufran led all receivers with five catches for 82 yards. He extended his streak, and the nation’s longest streak, of consecutive games with a reception to 49. The senior caught a pass in every single game he played for Wyoming. Sophomore tight end Jacob Hollister had a career day with 75 yards receiving on four catches and one score.
Wyoming will now head into the off-season. Looking ahead to next year the Cowboys return four of their five offensive linemen who really started to gel as they got healthy throughout the year. Senior Indiana transfer Cameron Coffman is the likely successor at quarterback. He threw for over 2,700 yards in his sophomore season at Indiana before being benched his junior year. The Pokes are very deep at running back with both Hill and Wick returning. The defense, which lost a lot during the season because of injuries, is anchored by returning defensive end Eddie Yarborough.
“This game is in the books and this season is in the books,” Bohl said. “There is a lot more out there.”
