Cowboys rally to edge Aztecs

UW-SDSU game statistics

SAN DIEGO -- The Wyoming Cowboys and their struggling offense have some life in them after all.

Freshman Ian Watts kicked a 43-yard field goal with 23 seconds left as Wyoming battled back from a 21-point fourth quarter deficit to beat San Diego State 30-27 Saturday night.

Wyoming (5-5, 3-3 Mountain West) rallied from a 27-6 deficit with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to tie the score. Wyoming senior John fletcher blocked a short field goal and the Cowboys, after tying the game late, recovered a fumbled pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff that set up Watts' game-winning kick.

The loss snapped a 10-game MWC losing skid on the road for the Cowboys, who hadn't won in San diego in six straight games.

Wyoming rallied on freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels' 10-yard run 11 seconds into the fourth quarter, a 33-yard scoring run by freshman Alvester Alexander and Carta-Samuels' 9-yard TD pass to freshman tight end David Tooley that tied the score.

"It was a heck of game by our kids and the fight they showed in the 4th quarter; the will to come back to make plays was incredible," Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said on his postgame show on the Wyoming Sports Network on Learfield Sports.

The difference in the 24-point fourth quarter for the Cowboys was simple, Christensen said: They started making plays.

"It wasn't like (the Aztecs) were shutting us down all game, but we had some opportunities where we didn't get 6's a couple of times and we had a fumble," Christensen said. "When it came time for the fourth quarter, we played extremely well. At halftime we talked and said that a time was going to come when we were going to need guys to start making plays, and in the fourth quarter, we had a lot of guys making plays."

Carta-Samuels finished the game by completing 16 of 22 passes for 246 yards one and one touchdown. he also ran for 51 yards and one score. Sophomore Brandon Stewart and Alexander led the way on the ground with 76 and 73 yards respectively. The Cowboys ran for 200 yards in the game.

Tooley, who had two career receptions going into the game, had four big catches for 71 yards. David Leonard also had for catches for Wyoming.

Brandon Sullivan, who rushed for 105 yards, ran for two touchdowns for San Diego State (4-6, 2-4). Sophomore quarterback Ryan Lindley was 18 of 29 passing for 200 yards, but no touchdowns.

"Obviously, it wasn't very fun out there at the end. We got outwilled by a team," SDSU coach Brady Hoke said. "They played harder, they executed and that's pretty much how the game went ... (We) had some penalties in the first half and we hurt ourselves a little bit with that. You get a field goal blocked that (could have) put you up by 10. That's not executing, that's not being disciplined, and they did a much better job of coaching and playing the game."