Laramie, Wyo.----- A Josh Love to Tre Walker 17-yard touchdown play and a 26-yard Bryce Crawford field goal, both in the second half, was San Jose State's scores for the day in a 24-9 Mountain West loss to Wyoming.
Two long touchdown runs by Wyoming running back Nico Evans, 58 yards on the first play of the second quarter, and 64 yards by quarterback Sean Chambers in the third quarter proved to be the difference in the contest. For the second Cowboy game in a row, Evans and Chambers each rushed for at least 100 yards. Evans, third nationally in rushing yards per game at 139.9, gained 187 yards on 33 carries; Chambers, 129 on 17 carries.
Wyoming (4-6, 2-4 Mountain West) gained 424 yards on the ground and 473 overall on a day with winds gusting to 31 miles an hour, sleet and a dusting of snow. At kickoff with the wind chill, the temperature was 21 degrees about one-third of what San Jose State (1-8, 1-4 Mountain West) finished in the warmth of CEFCU Stadium following its 50-37 victory over UNLV.
The weather was about as chilly as San Jose State's offense in the first half. The Spartans mustered just two first downs. Wyoming gained the upper hand on its first drive, but had to settle for Cooper Rothe's 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead, 4:24 into the game.
The pesky and fiery Spartans stayed within striking distance despite Evans' breakthrough the middle of the Spartan defensive front on the first play of the second quarter for a 10-0 Cowboy lead. Boogie Roberts and Lenard, Jr., teamed up for the first turnover of the game at the San Jose State 1-yard line on a Chambers fumble as he was lunging for the end zone.
Crawford opened the second half scoring with his field goal. The Spartans efficiently moved the ball down field, but stalled at the Wyoming 10-yard line as quarterback Josh Love and running back Tyler Nevens moved the S-artans no farther.
Five plays later, Chambers singlehandedly increased Wyoming's lead to 17-3 using his 6-foot-4 frame to sneak for a first down on 3-and-1. Two plays later, Chambers found a hole in the Spartan defense turned up field to the Wyoming sideline and scored untouched from 64 yards.
San Jose State was inside Wyoming's 20-yard twice in the fourth quarter, but only came away with one touchdown. The Spartans answered on their second possession set up by a Jesse Osuna fumble recovery of an Evans fumble in the Spartan secondary. Walker perfectly timed his shoulder turn to Love's pass in the near right corner of the end zone to cut the deficit to 17-9. Brian Papazian was unable to set the snap for the extra point down, but the Spartans were back in the game with 8:48 remaining.
Repeatedly knocked to the turf, but sacked just once, Love finished 19-of-32 for 173 yards and a touchdown and for the second time in the last three games did not throw an interception.
Wyoming clinched the win with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that included three third conversions prior to Chambers connecting with Austin Fort on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 to go.
San Jose State is back in action Saturday, November 10, at Utah State in a 2:00 p.m. game on Merlin Olson Field. Facebook Live will stream the game.
