Fumble, Fumble, Fumble

Defense steps up, Cowboys win third straight 

Photo by Rylee Lingenfelter

For the first time in the 2026 season, the Air Force Falcons fumbled the football. Matter of fact, the Cowboys forced three fumbles en route to a 28–14 victory Friday night.  

Friday night’s game was the 64th meeting between the two rivals. It was extra important, with both teams coming into the game tied for second place in the Mountain West. 

Air Force ran 78 offensive plays, and Wyoming just 41. The Falcons are known for their slow tempo, where they only run the football. Winning the turnover battle allowed the Cowboys to stay ahead without controlling the possessions, as did their high energy for the entire 60 minutes. 

The Cowboys were juiced to play in front of an excellent home crowd in their Cowboys and Coal blackout jerseys. A fast start was absolutely crucial. 

“I told people all week long, our players, they’re gonna be through the roof,” Head Coach Jay Sawvel said. “This is not gonna be a hard game to get them ready for.” 

It only took 50 seconds to see they were ready. On the second play from scrimmage, Quarterback Tyler Hughes kept it himself and went right through the Air Force defense for a 68-yard rushing touchdown. 

“Coach Sawvel told us all week that if we won the toss, we were gonna take the ball,” Hughes said. “We were fully expecting to have the ball first and give the first blow.” 

The energy from the offense delivering the first blow carried over to the other side of the ball. On the ensuing Air Force possession, defensive end Esaia Bogar recovered a fumble at the Air Force 47-yard line.  

All the momentum was on the home side. However, the Cowboys could not convert this into points, as kicker Erik Sandvik missed a 35-yard attempt, his first miss of the season. 

Air Force’s next drive took 8:03 off the clock, and resulted in Falcons kicker Carter Cremascoli booting in a 37-yard field goal to cut the Wyoming lead to 7–3. The Cowboys punched right back with a 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Tyler Hughes capped it off with a four-yard touchdown pass to Jake Wilson to extend the lead to 14–3.  

Hughes has really turned his season around after a rough start that saw the team sitting at 2–3. A players-only meeting raised the standard for him and his teammates and triggered their 3-game win streak. 

“I’ve just never given up on myself. From the first couple games I felt like I wasn’t giving enough,” Hughes said. “We had a players’ meeting that I was gonna give my best effort, and the guys around me also stepped it up three times as much too.” 

Hughes won Mountain West offensive player of the week last week after an excellent performance against NIU. He will surely be a candidate again this week.  

On the next Air Force drive, Cremascoli hit a 46-yard field goal to make it 14–6. The Cowboys got the ball back with 3:06 left in the second quarter. Hughes completed a few passes to get the ball inside the Air Force 10.  

On 3rd and goal, Hughes completed a short pass to Eric Richardson, who then lateraled the ball to Samuel “Tote” Harris, and Harris ran in for the Touchdown. At the half, the Cowboys held a 21–6 lead.  

Air Force received the ball to start the second half and scored a touchdown on a 75-yard drive that took 8:07 seconds off the clock, over half of the third quarter. Air Force QB Evan Medders threw a five-yard touchdown to Grant Wayne, on just his second pass attempt of the night. Medders then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 21–14 in favor of Wyoming.  

After a Wyoming punt, Medders went down with an injury early in the fourth quarter. Backup Josh Johnson came in, and on a key third and goal, lost a fumble. Bogar hopped on it for his second recovery of the game.  

Air Force was able to move the ball well, but limiting big-yardage plays kept the Cowboys gritting their teeth and standing strong on defense. 

“They bled us at times and did that, but the one thing we did not do through the whole course of it is we didn’t really give up an explosive play,” Sawvel said. 

However, the Cowboys could not capitalize on the second turnover, being forced to punt again. 

On the next drive, Air Force faced a 4th-and-2. Johnson seemingly rushed for the first down, but lost control of the ball and linebacker Steven Perez jumped on it for the third fumble recovery of the game.  

Air Force running back Owen Allen told the media earlier in the week he was embracing his role of the villain. He said there will be “plenty of time to celebrate the weekend” when asked about playing on Friday.  

This comment was not taken lightly by the Cowboy locker room. Perez let his playing do the talking Friday night. He’s going to enjoy his weekend, too. 

“It’s very amazing playing on Fridays because we get to celebrate on Saturday and Sunday extra [long],” Perez said. “Because I don’t like how you come to our crib and try to disrespect us. We’re not gonna let that slide.” 

Following the Perez fumble recovery, The Cowboys took over at the 49 with 8:20 to go. They marched down the field, and on first and goal running back Markell Holman extended the ball over the goal line for a touchdown. This gave the Cowboys a 28–14 lead, which they held onto for the remainder of the game. 

Hughes led the Cowboys with 113 passing yards and two touchdowns. He added 146 rushing yards and a score on the ground as well. Perez led the defense with 17 tackles and a fumble recovery.  

The win is the third straight for the Cowboys. They are also undefeated at War Memorial Stadium this season. 

Wyoming improves to 5–3 on the season, and most importantly 4–1 in the Mountain West. They now have an opportunity to control their own destiny in regards to playing for a Mountain West championship.  

“We’ve got a lot of work still to do, and we need to figure out a way to become a whole lot better over the next 2 weeks,” Sawvel said. But tonight, we’re going to control just enjoying this. Next week, we’re going to control getting rest and practice and then we got to try and go win a game.” 

The Cowboys have a bye coming up this weekend, then they travel to Las Vegas to play UNLV on November 7.