Wyoming, coming off shutout of Colorado State, faces road test vs. 6-1 Aztecs



Ryan Thorburn

Football
10/27/2025 3:42:00 PM

LARAMIE – Points will be hard to come by when Wyoming faces San Diego State this Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
 
The Cowboys (4-4, 2-2 Mountain West), coming off a dominant 28-0 victory over Colorado State, have posted two shutouts in a season for the first time since 1966.
 
The Aztecs (6-1, 3-0) have three shutouts this season, including last week’s 23-0 win at Fresno State.
 
UW is giving up 19.8 points (32nd in the FBS) and 342.8 yards (47th) per game. SDSU is second nationally behind Ohio State in scoring defense (10.4 ppg) and ninth in total defense (255.0 ypg).
 
“The struggle with San Diego State is keeping yourself on the field,” UW head coach Jay Sawvel said during his Monday press conference. “They’re hard to run against, they don’t give you a lot of plays and they do a good job of not having missed assignments themselves. That’s a big piece of why they’re good.”
 
After naming Jovon Bouknight as the new offensive coordinator entering the Border War, Sawvel said the Pokes have the skill and talent to be scoring at least one touchdown per quarter.
 
UW met those expectations against CSU with backup quarterback Landon Sims rushing for a 1-yard touchdown, Kaden Anderson throwing touchdown passes to Michael Fitzgerald II (22 yards) and Chris Durr Jr. (9 yards) and Sam Scott running for a 37-yard touchdown.
 
Although the Cowboys would have liked to have tacked on at least one more score in the fourth quarter, Sawvel was pleased with Bouknight’s debut as the play-caller.
 
“I thought it was a good plan throughout the week and some creativity with certain things, but also a directness in calling it and directness in what we were going to do in each situation,” Sawvel said. “Through the course of the week the players were on the same page, the quarterback was on the same page, all the coaches were on the same page. I thought it really showed.”
 
Aaron Bohl‘s defense came up with three interceptions, and a goal-line stand in the final moments to keep the Rams off the scoreboard.
 
“The pride of the defense was on display,” Sawvel said. “All the defensive players were down on the far end of the coach’s box when the ball was on the 10-yard line coaching all the guys that were still in. And when the 2-minute timeout happened and those guys all came over … that was a must thing for them to get that shutout.”

UW will try to slow down Lucky Sutton, who rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown against Fresno State and ranks second in the MW in rushing, averaging 94.6 yars per game with seven touchdowns. SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal has completed 64.8% of his passes for 1,221 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

 

“I really like where we are defensively. I think our guys are playing hard and they believe in each week’s game plan and have a strong belief in what we’re going to work to get done,” Sawvel said. “We’ll have to play our best game defensively and we’re going to have to find ways offensively to be productive, to keep the ball away.”

 

The Aztecs hold a slim 20-19 lead in the all-time series with UW courtesy of last season’s 27-24 win in Laramie. SDSU has won the last three meetings, including the 2016 Mountain West championship game (27-24 at War Memorial Stadium).

 

The Cowboys are looking for their first victory in San Diego since 2011 (30-27) in the old Jack Murphy Stadium. This will be UW’s first game in Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff s set for 5 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

 

Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.

 

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