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The Best Season You Never Remembered

by Zach Bigalke

With his whitened moustache and his rotund visage, Joe Tiller recently paced the sidelines for his final game as the head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers. He went out, fittingly, with a victory, taking the Old Oaken Bucket in their in-state rivalry game with Indiana. It was a fitting departure in a final embattled season, but Tiller goes out having been a success as Purdue coach.

            During his Big Ten tenure Tiller has brought stability to a program plagued by inconsistency as he prepares to turn over the reins after his eleventh year with the team. A steady list of achievements mark Tiller’s time in West Lafayette. In 2000, he led Purdue to its first Big Ten Conference championship since 1967 and a Rose Bowl appearance. While he lost that Rose Bowl 34-24 to Washington, Tiller did guide the Boilermakers to three bowl victories in nine appearances -- this for a program which had not been to a bowl since the 1984 Peach Bowl and had not won since Jim Young led Purdue over Missouri in the 1980 Liberty Bowl. From his decade’s worth of squads over thirty Boilermaker players have gone on to play in the NFL, with twelve Super Bowl rings among their collective fingers.

            Tiller’s achievements have culminated in the longest run as Purdue football’s head coach since Jack Mollenkopf led the team to its first (and before Tiller only) Rose Bowl appearance. His time in Indiana has culminated in one of the most storied runs for a team that has traditionally been an afterthought. In a conference where the Ohio States and Michigans and Penn States traditionally take the spoils, Tiller made Purdue relevant once again. The eleven-year run has spurred a decade of hope and expectation for Boilermaker fans.

            Despite all these accomplishments, Tiller’s greatest season as a head coach did not occur during his time at Purdue -- despite what happens this season. In 1996, a largely-unheralded squad from Laramie defied convention and challenged pollsters to find it a place as Wyoming advanced to victory after victory. Eventually finishing 10-2 and finishing at twenty-two in the final Associated Press poll, the Cowboys may have failed to earn a bowl berth but found a place in the nation’s consciousness. Tiller turned in his finest performance that season as he effectively auditioned for the Big Ten gig that had him leaving the windy plains, heading east toward South Dakota and points east along Interstate 80...  

The greater trend of a bygone era, one where independent programs dominated the college football landscape, saw the acceleration of its demise throughout the 1990s. For the four remaining charter members of the Western Athletic Conference -- Arizona and Arizona State left the WAC on June 30, 1978 to turn the Pac-8 Conference into the current configuration we know as the Pac-10 -- the 1990s represented a time of great change. As conferences recognized their marketability to networks and as bowls recognized their significance in deciding for a nation of football zealots who was the nationwide champion of the sport, the ability for teams to survive outside the conference structure dissipated.

            The landscape was not that different than the turbulent late 1950s and early 1960s in football. It was this post-war era which saw the formation of the major conferences which most closely resemble the current configuration of college football. The Western Athletic Conference was borne from the disbanding of two conferences (the Border and Skyline Conferences).

            The four charter teams which remained after the Arizona schools departed for the expanding Pacific-8 Conference had seen a wide range of varying landscapes in their histories. New Mexico and Utah started their first seasons in 1892; Wyoming would start their program a year later; and Brigham Young University, who would first play a season in 1896, has the shortest football pedigree, having discontinued their football program for a nineteen-year stretch from 1903 to 1922. All except New Mexico had been charter members of the Mountain States Conference, more commonly known as the Skyline Conference. The Lobos would join the Skyline from the Border States Conference in 1951.

            Wyoming has a long tradition as a leader in changing the way the world views itself. In 1869 -- twenty-one years before it would be granted statehood -- Wyoming became the first United States territory to grant suffrage to females and forever change the way governments are elected. Three years later, the northwest corner of the state was designated as Yellowstone National Park, creating the world’s first protected natural enclave and altering in perpetuity the way humans treated their most treasured natural spaces. That tradition was extended when Devils Tower, in the northeast corner of Wyoming, became the first National Monument. From the I-80 corridor, where the wind sweeps along military installation and former internment camp alike, to the protected northern corners of the landscapes, the least-populated state in the union rides a streak of rebellion as it advances through its history.

            1962 proved no different. As conferences consolidated in football, the strong commingling and casting aside the weak, Wyoming found itself in a position of strength. In five of the past six years, the Cowboys had either won outright or shared a piece of the Skyline championship. Spearheaded by BYU president Edwin Kimball, the creation of the Western Athletic Conference ultimately forced a restructuring of the Pacific Coast Conference into the Pac-8 and the dissolution of both the Border and Skyline Conferences. Football had been consolidated...  

And it appeared that football would be consolidated once again. The Bowl Alliance saw teams jumping to join conferences, while those conferences sought the most storied programs to improve their position. Five teams were admitted into the WAC to begin play in 1996, causing the conference to balloon to sixteen schools. With so many teams encompassing the Western Athletic Conference, the league divided itself into four tiers which would then separate into two divisions. That year, Wyoming found itself competing in the WAC Pacific Division.

            There was nothing that would potentially indicate a gilded season for the Cowboys. The past two years had ended in consecutive six-win seasons. Wyoming had gone 4-4 in both 1994 and 1995 in conference play. Their middle-of-the-road record belied a surplus of talent on both sides of the ball and the quality of their coaching. What follows is a walk through history, a reminiscence of Joe Tiller’s seminal moment as a head coach in college football. Without 1996, Joe Tiller would have followed a radically altered path through the head-coaching ranks. Without 1996, he would not be retiring at the end of this season as the winningest coach in Boilermaker history...  

Idaho @ Wyoming - August 31  

The team suited up at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie on August 31 for their first game of the season. Even schools in the WAC are not immune to facing I-AA opponents to start their seasons, and Wyoming was going to prove no different. On this day it was the Vandals of the University of Idaho who were coming to town. Idaho had long had a football tradition. The team -- which humorously enough is now part of the revamped WAC -- first played in the forerunner of the Pac-10, the Pacific Coast Conference, before becoming a charter member of the Big Sky Conference in 1963. They would maintain what amounted then to Division I status despite playing in a second-tier conference by playing a tough non-conference schedule every year. Despite being in its inaugural season as a member of the I-AA Big West Conference in 1996, the Vandals were no stranger to big games.

            And it proved so as Wyoming’s season began ignominiously. After Cory Wedel kicked a thirty-yard field goal just over a minute into the game, putting the Cowboys up 3-0, Idaho turned around and dominated the first quarter. Tailback Joel Thomas, the all-time leading rusher in Idaho history and currently a running backs coach under none other than Joe Tiller, punched the ball in from a yard out to put Idaho ahead of Tiller’s team; quarterback Ryan Fien found receiver David Griffin ten minutes later to send the game into the second quarter 14-3.

            Cory Wedel kicked another field goal to begin the second quarter, this time from twenty-six yards out. Idaho, though, was still on the prowl. Fien would eventually end the game with what then was the best single-game quarterback performance in Vandals history. It was his accuracy and poise, as demonstrated on his ten-yard strike to Antonio Wilson which put Idaho up 21-6 halfway through the second quarter, which saw Fien have such a brilliant day.

            Josh Wallwork, the signal-caller opposite Fien, woke up himself as halftime neared, finally finding the endzone with a seven-yard pass to Richard Peace. But despite the momentum of pulling within 21-13 at halftime, it was Trot Scott putting Idaho back on the board with a thirty-yard field goal of his own to increase the lead back to eleven. Wedel would punch through two more field goals to bring the score to 24-19 before Ryan Fien made magic again for the Vandals.

            Down 31-19, Wallwork settled down and found his big-game wideout, Marcus Harris, for a fifteen-yard touchdown. Staying in the game, Wallwork then found his third wideout, David Saraf, for the two-point conversion. Wyoming was back in the game, now down by only four. Just on the other side of the final quarter, the Cowboys would take only their second lead of the game, the Wallwork-to-Harris connection linking up yet again.

            Idaho would score late to pull within 40-38, but Wyoming would not give up the lead once gained. It was a theme which would recur over and over again for these star-crossed Cowboys. Nothing would come easily for these Cowboys...

Wyoming @ Iowa State - September 7

The next week Tiller took his team to Jack Trice Stadium to face Iowa State. The Cyclones, boasting the nation’s leading rusher from 1995 in junior tailback Troy Davis, were starting their season at home in front of a friendly crowd. Davis would prove a workhorse in the game, getting started early by finishing off Iowa State’s first scoring drive with a one-yard burst into the endzone. But Wyoming would soon answer, Wallwork hooking up with Saraf for seven yards and the score on one of the goal-line passing patterns so prevalent in Tiller’s version of the spread offense.

            But Davis would not be denied. With coach Dan McCarney leaning on his Heisman hopeful in the backfield, Wyoming was giving up large swaths of yardage on the ground. This was also opening up the passing lanes, with dual-threat quarterback Todd Doxzon connecting with receiver Ed Williams for a fifteen-yard touchdown. Cory Wedel would net another field goal on the season to narrow the gap to 21-10 at halftime.

            Tiller had his team come out after halftime ready to drive down the field... but a Josh Wallwork interception would be returned by Dawan Anderson thirty yards to glory, pinning the Cowboys further back on the scoreboard. Wallwork would come back on the field, shaking off the pick to drive Wyoming back down the field. His fifteen-yard toss to Marcus Harris pulled back the gap lost in the interception. But Todd Doxzon was intent to prove he was more than a big arm, running the final nine yards of the subsequent drive to put Iowa State up 35-17 with fifteen minutes left to play.

            In a real-life tall tale reminiscent of Pecos Bill riding a tornado, the Cowboys lassoed the Cyclones in the final quarter. While Purdue sat back and watched, nursing its wounds on a bye week after a 52-14 drubbing at Michigan State to open the season, Tiller led the Cowboys to an improbable comeback. First Wallwork connected with Greg Kuhn to pull back six -- a two-point conversion attempt would fail. Cyclones’ placekicker Jamie Kohl struck from forty yards to widen the gap back out to two touchdowns. But Wyoming methodically clawed their way back in the game. Wallwork next found Marcus Harris in the endzone and connected on a second two-point conversion to bring the game within seven. Then, doing his best Troy Davis impression, Cowboys tailback Len Sexton fought for the final three yards for the game-tying touchdown.

            Before 1996, games which were tied at the end of regulation were declared thusly. The Iowa State-Wyoming game would be one of the first times in college football where an overtime period helped break the tie. The Cyclones, winning the coin toss, elected to take the ball first. Unable to drive further, the home team set up for a forty-yard field goal. But Jamie Kohl couldn’t connect, opening the door for Wyoming to complete its unexpected run at victory. Gaining no yardage themselves in their first overtime chance, it fell upon Cory Wedel to attempt his sixth field goal of the season. Striking as true as the first five chances, Wedel pushed the ball through the uprights from forty-one yards out to cap the turnaround.

            While Troy Davis had punished the Cowboys’ defense to the tune of 155 yards on thirty-five carries, scoring a pair of touchdowns, it was not he but rather Wyoming wideout Marcus Harris who looked the prime Heisman candidate after the game. Harris would finish the game with Wyoming single-game records, hauling in sixteen receptions for 223 yards and two touchdowns. The Pokes returned to Laramie undefeated, now firmly affixed in the national consciousness.  

Hawaii @ Wyoming - September 14   

So Wyoming backed it up with a performance the next week for which the word “dominance” might be an understatement. Bob Wagner had been let go after a 4-8 finish in 1995; in the era before June Jones led the Rainbow Warriors to national prominence, Wagner had been much loved for leading Hawaii to the school’s first-ever defeat of BYU and its first WAC Championship in 1992. But Wagner was now gone, replaced by Bill Walsh acolyte Fred von Appen. After losing his first two home games, von Appen was heading to the windswept high-desert plateau for his first road game as Hawaii’s head coach.

            Wyoming left von Appen and his squad picked as clean as any carcass worked over by the vultures among the sagebrush outside town. Len Sexton started off the game by capping the opening drive with a seven-yard touchdown run, opening the floodgates right away. His partner in the backfield, Marques Brigham, punched in another four and a half minutes later from a yard out; Cory Wedel extra points put the Pokes up 14-0 after the first quarter.

            Hawaii was offered no respite in the second. Only five seconds into the second quarter, Josh Wallwork found favorite target Marcus Harris for his fifth touchdown reception of the young season. After holding the Rainbow Warrior offense yet again, Wallwork drove Wyoming right back down the field, showcasing his wheels by running the final fourteen yards to a four-touchdown lead. Freshman back Tim Beasley would get the fifth for the Cowboys only twenty-one seconds before halftime to fully set the rout in order.

            Coming out of the break, it was quickly apparent that von Appen and his staff had found no answer for Tiller’s high-powered spread offense. Finding receiver Wendell Montgomery on a forty-four yard strike five minutes into the second half, Wallwork recommenced the scoring anew for Wyoming. Cory Wedel warmed up his leg for something other than an extra point a minute later, booting a forty-two yarder to stretch the score to 45-0. The victory was assured, but Wyoming was setting a statement for the rest of college football. There was plenty of time to score more...

            With the game already assured, senior field general Josh Wallwork came out of the contest. Having already completed nineteen of thirty-seven attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another score, Wallwork yielded the field to Jeremy Silcox. To the applause of the War Memorial Stadium faithful, the senior quarterback took a seat after a great day of work. Silcox would prove every bit as proficient, connecting with Harris soon after taking over behind center for the receiver’s second touchdown of the day. Harris would finish the game with seven catches for 102 yards and the pair of scores. With thirty-three receptions, six touchdowns and 511 yards already on the season, he was starting to set himself squarely in the eyesight of the awards voters.

            It was another wide receiver who would set the final score for the Cowboys -- but his brilliance came with neither Wallwork nor Silcox tossing the pigskin to him. Kofi Shuck, playing on the special-teams unit, returned a fumble on the kickoff immediately following Harris’ second touchdown the final two yards for yet another score. In the final quarter, Shuck would come through again, returning a blocked punt twelve yards for his second score with ten minutes remaining in the game. With the rout assured, Tiller kept his defense playing tenaciously without pressing the throttle further. Wyoming secured the shutout, finishing the contest with a 66-0 drubbing.

            Von Appen and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, a desiccated shell of a football team, limped back westward to the islands after their bludgeoning. The new coach had been brought in to improve on Bob Wagner’s 4-8 season; von Appen would never see a fourth win in any of his three seasons in Honolulu -- finishing 2-10 in 1996, 3-9 in 1997, and a deplorable 0-12 record in 1998 which would see his departure for June Jones, who would soon have Hawaii winning in droves. All the while, Wyoming had their own win-filled season unfurling right before their eyes.  

Air Force @ Wyoming - September 21  

That vision was no solace for team and fan alike as the Cowboys went back to their nail-biting ways the next week against the Air Force Academy. No one could quite explain why Wyoming couldn’t pull ahead. They were chewing up yardage in droves; but while the Falcons were bending to yield yards all over the field, they were not allowing Tiller’s charges to break the plane of the goal.

            The Air Force Academy, centered in Colorado Springs, had joined the WAC in 1980 as the conference expanded in the wake of the departure of the Arizona schools. Fisher DeBerry, the coach with both the most wins and the best winning percentage in Air Force history, had started at the school four years after its inception into the WAC. DeBerry, coming into the season after his previous team had lost their last game in the Copper Bowl to Texas Tech, was in his prime, patrolling the sidelines opposite Tiller on the late September afternoon. Wyoming would score first, Cory Wedel putting the ball through the uprights from twenty-nine yards to give his team a 3-0 lead. But the Falcons would strike next, quarterback Beau Morgan darting all over the field. His one-yard touchdown run failed to be followed by the capper, Tyrone Barbery missing the extra point. He would get his chance for redemption in the second quarter, banging a thirty-seven yard field goal through the uprights to put the Falcons up 9-3.

            Wyoming, though, had come back too many times already this season. Tiller calmly sent his offense onto the field. The Cowboys had the playmakers to effectively pounce upon this Air Force defense. They would effectively use the clock to strike before halftime. Keying in on Marcus Harris, the Falcons forgot about the other Wyoming receivers. Josh Wallwork, going through his progressions expertly, found David Saraf streaking along the sideline. Fifty-seven yards later, the game was tied before the Cory Wedel extra point turned the tables, putting Wyoming up by one going into the second half.

            The Falcons, who were themselves undefeated at 2-0, were confident that they could come out of the locker room for the third quarter and get the game under control and in their favor. Air Force had a solid offense, Beau Morgan leading his team down the field. But the going was not easy, the Wyoming defense holding firmer as the goal line got closer. The Falcons were forced to attempt the field goal after being held on third down. DeBerry, though, would not send on his erratic kicker Tyrone Barbery; instead, on came Dallas Thompson. He executed cleanly, punching the pigskin through uprights to reclaim a slim Air Force lead. While Thompson would gain the lead, his legend would indeed grow larger later in the season. It was his twenty-seven yard field goal that gave the Falcons a 20-17 overtime victory at Notre Dame, the first time the Fighting Irish had lost to the Air Force Academy since 1985 -- ultimately the only time Lou Holtz would lose to Fisher DeBerry during his time in South Bend.

            Wyoming had the reply. Marques Brigham capped a three-minute drive with a two-yard score from the backfield. Tiller, trying to extend the lead to six, kept his offense on the field for the two-point conversion. The Falcons would not fail a second time on the goal line, denying the Cowboys offense from a longer lead. The game would now rest in the hands of the seasoned legs of quarterback Beau Morgan, who was proving the more mobile signal-caller if not the more prolific thrower.

            Morgan, who would ultimately collect 173 rushing yards on twenty-six attempts, led the Falcons down the field again. His second rushing touchdown of the day, with twelve minutes left, came from four yards out. Dallas Thompson would not fail, putting the visitors up by a field goal.

            Cory Wedel was intent on putting on his own aerial artistry. The junior placekicker was in prime position to be the hero once again for Wyoming, and he proved up to the task. Thompson could have his barefoot miracle in the land of Touchdown Jesus; Wedel’s time was now. He would allow Air Force the lead for only two minutes and change, striking true from thirty-one to knot the score at nineteen. Then, with the Cowboys getting the ball back and chewing up the clock toward zeroes, they set up on the Falcons’ two-yard line. Thirty-six seconds left, fourth down -- Wedel kicks his third of the day.

            The day opened some eyes around the nation. Wedel personally accounted for nearly half (ten) of the Cowboys’ twenty-two points. Heading to 4-0 on the season, Wyoming began to receive consideration in the polls.

Wyoming @ UNLV - September 28  

Wyoming traveled to Las Vegas to face the Running Rebels of UNLV with a  target squarely affixed to their uniforms. The offense was clicking at a gaudy rate, regularly averaging over five-hundred yards of total offense against their foes to date. With the pollsters taking stock in Cowboy performances, Tiller had to keep his team alert lest they give into the hype and suffer a letdown.

            UNLV was making a transition in the 1996 season. One of the teams to join the WAC that season, the squad led by Jeff Horton was still searching for its first conference victory. Wyoming came to the desert fully intent on keeping Horton, his freshman quarterback Jon Denton, and the rest of the Running Rebels out of the win column. The first quarter saw both teams trade blows before Wyoming marched down the field on a nine-play, ninety-nine yard drive. Marcus Harris, one of the favorites for both the Heisman and Biletnikoff (top wide receiver) awards, cradled a Josh Wallwork pass in the endzone to put the Cowboys on the scoreboard. His seventh touchdown reception of the season, Harris was starting to show a dominance that would have him threatening both the school and NCAA records set by his predecessor Ryan Yarborough.

            But Horton and his charges seemed undaunted by the efficient offensive attack of their guests. Denton, showing great poise for a freshman field general, led UNLV down the field. Just into the second quarter, he found Omar Love for a ten-yard score to knot the game back up at seven. Wyoming’s offense would be held to a Cory Wedel field goal from thirty-nine yards out to take a three-point lead.

            Wyoming would extend its lead three minutes from halftime as Wallwork found tailback Len Sexton for a twenty-five yard passing strike for six; Cory Wedel got the extra point to set the gap at ten. But Denton coolly managed the clock, he and Love working together to torch the Cowboy secondary for a second touchdown strike. But UNLV left a full minute on the clock. Working even more efficiently, Wallwork drove Wyoming down to the Rebels seventeen-yard line. Wedel came on to kick from thirty-four yards out as the clock expired; as it sailed through the posts in the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, the Pokes went into the locker room with a 20-14 lead.

            There was more than one quarterback/receiver combination which could be described as prolific that night. Coming out after the half, UNLV marched down in five minutes. The drive was capped, once again, with a pass from Denton to Love for their third scoring hook-up of the night. Alan Di Leo struck true for the extra point, giving the home team its first lead of the evening.

            But Wallwork was not ready to be upstaged by a freshman this night, even if he was playing in a hostile environment. After taking the ball back, he worked the spread offense and carved up the Rebels defense. His thirty-yard connection with Harris for their second scoring strike that night and what would ultimately be the winning points illustrated precisely just how attuned to each other the seniors had become. With another spotless performance (15-of-20, 305 yards, three touchdowns) Wallwork had now tossed 132 straight attempts without tossing an interception. The senior was perfectly operating the offense laid out by Tiller.

            Marques Brigham, quietly amassing a solid season of his own as defenses stretched thin to guard the slew of talented receivers Wyoming threw in waves upon the field, punched through from three yards for the final score of the night. As the Cowboys missed their two-point conversion attempt, the result already seemed academic. UNLV was flagging, their offense chewing up the yardage with little effect on the scoreboard. Denton, doing his best Wallwork impression, finished the game with a gaudy 486 passing yards (32-of-46) and three touchdown tosses. His two interceptions would be the only blemishes on a mind-boggling day. But again the Rebels would fall short; it wouldn’t be until November 16 when UNLV would get its first conference victory, defeating San Diego State at home to knock the Aztecs out of contention for the Pacific Division title and deny them a return trip to Vegas for the inaugural WAC Championship game.  

(25) Wyoming @ San Jose State - October 5  

As the AP poll was released on the final day of September, a new face made a rare appearance on the list. At the top of that poll one could see the traditional powerhouses of college football -- the top five were Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, Penn State, and former WAC charter member Arizona State. But at the bottom the little university from the windswept southern expanses of the nation’s least-populated state made one of its rare forays into the poll.

            The last time Wyoming had made its way into the polls was 1993, when for two weeks after a 32-28 victory over Fresno State and through their bye week the Cowboys featured at numbers twenty-four and twenty-three respectively. After dropping a 10-7 heartbreaker to the Lobos of New Mexico, they turned around and subsequently lost the Border War the next week.

            Tiller once again would have to work hard to ensure that his young charges did not succumb to the first stirrings of propaganda. They were traveling to California to face San Jose State, 1-4 at that point in what was their first season after coming with UNLV from the Big West Conference. The Spartans controlled the tempo on the opening drive as Wyoming looked like they might be jittery from their accolades. The Cowboys were yielding to the work of Carl Dean at quarterback and Patrick Walsh in the backfield. It was Walsh who would pound the final five yards on the ground for the score, setting up Joe Furlow to boot the ball for a 7-0 lead.

            The Wyoming rushing attack, which would quietly rack up the yardage as pundits focused on the dazzling big-play potential of the multiple receivers in Tiller’s spread offense, wound up full force in this contest. Neither Len Sexton nor Marques Brigham, the two-pronged monster of the backfield, were showing any signs of nerves. Sexton, especially, was looking sharp on the evening. He pulled Wyoming even again with the Spartans on a five-yard run into the endzone.

            Next, both offenses decided to test their passing attacks. Carl Dean found Damon Bowers on the next drive for a fifteen-yard touchdown pass; Josh Wallwork would stage his reply three minutes later, finding who else but Marcus Harris from twelve yards to tie the game once again, this time at fourteen. The Spartans had played a brilliant first quarter, going punch for punch with a top-25 team and looking as though they might manage the upset in front of their home fans.

            But they forgot to come out and play with the same level of intensity as first quarter gave way to the second. Only forty-two seconds into the second period, Sexton caught Wallwork’s second touchdown pass of the night to claim the Cowboys’ first lead of the evening. While San Jose State could not find an answer to the Wyoming score, they reawakened and managed to keep their opponent off the scoreboard for most of the rest of the first half. Wyoming’s only other points of the half would be Cory Wedel’s thirty-nine yarder with ninety seconds remaining. The home team retreated to its locker room down only ten.

            The lethargy which appeared briefly in the beginning of the second quarter spread full force through the Spartan ranks. Wyoming took the opening kickoff, setting up deep in its own zone. Wallwork pushed the Cowboys to their own thirty-three. Just under two minutes had elapsed. And then, with a sudden burst through the line, Len Sexton was running as if a bear were on his tail. He ran and ran and ran until he had covered the remaining sixty-seven yards to his second rushing touchdown and third overall on the day.

            The rout was on. Wallwork connected six minutes later with slot receiver Richard Peace from four yards to hit his third touchdown pass of the game. He would come out of the game, yielding the way for Jeremy Silcox after a decent yet understated performance -- 15-of 33 for 273 yards and three scores. San Jose State, too, made a switch at quarterback. Out came Carl Dean for Dan Odell, who in the fourth quarter finally found some redemption for the Spartans. They pulled within two scores as Dan Odell found first Carlos Meeks, and then David Doyle, for a touchdown and two-point conversion respectively. With 4:39 left in the game, there was still hope for the home team.

            But any dreams of defeating the favorite would falter as Wyoming covered the onside kick. After killing clock, Silcox slammed the final nail in the coffin as his dump pass to tight end Greg Kuhn ended up getting ran for twenty-five yards and yet another score. San Jose State would have no answer this time. Tiller and the Cowboys returned home halfway through their schedule, now on the second-longest winning streak in the nation behind only the Miami Hurricanes.  

Western Michigan @ (24) Wyoming - October 12  

This game would mark the ascendance of one head coach as it lead to the announcement of another’s demise. Al Molde had come to Kalamazoo in 1985 and quickly guided Western Michigan to the school’s golden era. In 1988, Molde had led the Broncos to their only outright Mid-American Conference title and an appearance in the California Bowl. Coming into 1996, he had enjoyed four straight seven-win seasons. But the year would ignite into a fireball of one failure after another. By the time the Broncos traveled to Laramie, they were already 0-6 and had already lost as many games as any Molde-coached Broncos team ever had.

            Wyoming sought to leave the 1996 Broncos squad with the outright stake to their coach’s low-water mark of futility. Out of the gates, Len Sexton was back in the form that saw him bulldozing to three touchdowns in San Jose. He punched in an eighteen-yard score three minutes into the game to set the scoreboard ablaze. Four minutes later, what was by this point the nationally-renowned combo of Marcus Harris and Josh Wallwork connected for the tenth time that season to put the Cowboys ahead by two touchdowns.

            Marques Brigham would punch the ball in from a yard out just over the halfway point of the second quarter to reawaken the scorekeeper. In doing so, he seemed to awaken a sense of urgency in the Western Michigan offense. Molde’s charges came out vibrant on their next drive. Tim Lester found receiver Tony Knox for a thirty-five yard score, pulling the gap to 21-7.

            The effort expended by Western Michigan trimming the lead had a negligible effect on Cowboy spirits. Just forty seconds later, the gap was back to three scores. Wallwork found Harris yet again from the Bronco twenty-five for a crowd-stirring second strike. Getting the ball back again before halftime, Wallwork went to work again. He found little-used receiver Brahms Derenoncourt only nineteen seconds from halftime to extend the gap even further. For all their struggle, the Broncos headed to the visitors’ locker room. The two late Cowboy drives, which saw Wyoming up 35-7, put Western Michigan squarely on the path to 0-7.

            Wyoming pounded the ball on the ground to start the second half, culminating in Marques Brigham’s second one-yard touchdown burst of the night. Up 42-7, Wyoming eased into cruise control. For a while it seemed that it might potentially prove their unmaking. The Broncos, remaining calm, drove down the field. Bruno Heppell pushed the final yard to start the comeback.

            As Tim Lester found Tony Knox yet again, from thirty-five yards out, it appeared that Wyoming might have reason to sweat. Western Michigan was finding its stride, now down only three scores with ten minutes remaining. The Cowboys managed with its ground game to kill enough clock to kill any Bronco hopes with each passing second. While Lester would toss a third touchdown pass, to Montres Gords with one second remaining, Western Michigan dropped its seventh straight on the season.

            It proved Al Molde’s undoing. The dual demons of injury and inexperience throughout the Broncos squad had struck down the successes of the early- and mid-1990s. Immediately following the defeat to Wyoming, WMU president Diether Haenicke and athletic director Jim Weaver announced that, due to the poor results of the season and its “irreparable damage to the recruiting process”, Molde would not see his contract renewed beyond 1996. In his final game as Western Michigan coach, at home against Kent on November 16, Molde’s Broncos won 76-27 to pull Molde even with legendary coach Bill Spaulding as the all-time leader in wins at sixty-two. But despite the turnaround, Molde would not get his chance to surpass Spaulding. In Wyoming’s drive to implausible perfection, they were leaving more than defeated squads in their wake.  

Fresno State @ (23) Wyoming - October 19  

Wyoming was inching its way up the polls. Its stud receiver was being named among the elite playmakers of college football. And its coach was beginning to be spoken of as a potential candidate for bigger-profile positions next year. But as Fresno State traveled to Laramie to face the Cowboys, Tiller was deftly managing to keep his team insulated from complacency.

            Jim Sweeney, meanwhile, was facing his swan song as coach of the Bulldogs. The legendary coach had stood on the Fresno State sideline for twenty-one years. He had won two games for every one he had dropped. He had already amassed nearly three times as many victories as the next coach -- Jimmy Bradshaw -- on the all-time Bulldogs wins list. Yet in the previous two seasons he had endured losing seasons, and it appeared that Fresno State was on its way to yet another. 2-3 as they faced their second nationally-ranked opponent of the season (their 62-0 drubbing at number-eighteen Auburn being the first), it appeared as though Wyoming might have another easy victory on their hands.

            But Sweeney did not survive at one school for such a long tenure without the potential for conjuring up some tricks. Quarterback Jim Arallenes was not intimidated by the high-altitude environs of War Memorial Stadium, guiding the Bulldogs down the field. Midway through the first quarter, he found Scott Thompson in the endzone to put Fresno State up 7-0. Wyoming would respond two and a half minutes later, Len Sexton getting the final five yards to tie the game.

            Fresno State continued to pressure the Cowboy defense as they switched sides to begin the second quarter. Arallenes struck again, his forty-five yard throw to Anthony Tucker getting the lead back for the visiting side. The lead would last for four minutes. Len Sexton caught a Josh Wallwork pass and ran the rest of the way for a fifteen-yard equalizer. Three minutes later, Sexton and Wallwork were working the same magic for Wyoming’s first lead of the game.

            Yet still there was fight in the Bulldogs. Arallenes took it in himself from two yards out to tie the game back up at twenty-one. But as Wyoming had demonstrated so aptly throughout the season, its offense is ideal for finding points in short shifts. With nearly four minutes left on the clock, Wallwork took the ball into his hands and led the Pokes to a lead which would hold through the rest of the game. David Saraf caught the game-winner from seven yards, the Cory Wedel kick giving Wyoming a 28-21 lead at halftime.

            Wallwork would find Greg Kuhn in the third quarter for a third touchdown pass. Mike Patolo would run in the final points of the game in the fourth as Wyoming doubled up on its opponent yet again. The 42-21 final extended what was now the longest winning streak in Division I-A to twelve games as Wyoming got off to its best start since Paul Roach led the 1990 squad to a 9-0 beginning. That squad, which began with such promise, ended the season reeling with four straight defeats. Tiller’s next game would be his one chance to equal Roach’s benchmark; after that, the battle would be preventing such a reoccurrence of the aftermath.  

SMU @ (17) Wyoming - November 6

Wyoming was coming off a bye week as it faced SMU. The polls had been good to the Cowboys after the Fresno State victory. The AP poll had placed Wyoming at eighteen in its October 21 poll, ahead of such storied programs as Notre Dame, Auburn and Miami. After West Virginia lost on October 26, Wyoming got a one-spot boost ahead of the Mountaineers to enter its contest against the Mustangs with the school’s highest ranking in eight years.

            The Cowboys looked fully motivated to meet that 1990 mark. David Saraf caught a Josh Wallwork pass for the first score seven minutes into the contest. Then, with 3:24 left in the first quarter, Len Sexton busted yet another double-digit run to paydirt to put Wyoming up two touchdowns. A five-yard toss to Brahms Derenoncourt from Wallwork ten seconds from the end of the quarter saw SMU already down 21-0 through fifteen minutes.

            Halfway through the second, the Mustangs found their way upon the scoreboard. Daniel Hernandez belted one through the goalposts from forty-two yards to narrow the gap to under twenty. Wyoming, though, took the ball and succeeded where SMU failed -- and Marcus Harris succeeded in finding the endzone after being held in check the previous week by Fresno State. With only two and a half minutes left in the first half, the lead had grown to 28-3.

            After kicking the ball off, the lead just kept growing. On SMU’s first offensive play after the Wallwork-to-Harris strike, Ramon Flanigan took the ball from his center and promptly threw one of his five interceptions on the day to Jeff Leonard, who returned it the eleven yards for a second touchdown for the Cowboys in seven seconds. Once again getting the ball back with limited time before the break, Wyoming capitalized on yet another chance. Marques Brigham’s one-yard run with twenty-three seconds left in the second quarter left SMU down 42-3 at halftime.

            The Mustangs found some semblance of life in a quarterback change to begin the second half. With Flanigan proving ineffective against the Wyoming secondary as attested by his five first-half interceptions, in came Mark Humble. He drove SMU proficiently enough to connect from four yards out with Kevin Thornal, at least letting his team get into double digits on the scoreboard. Wyoming spared no time when they got the ball. Wallwork found Harris running free -- forty-four seconds after Thornal got in for SMU and sixty-six yards from scrimmage, Harris had his second touchdown of the evening, recovering from an unusual low-output evening against Fresno State to reassert his Heisman candidacy.

            Wallwork, spreading the ball around efficiently in a 21-of-36 performance, connected with Richard Peace 2:06 into the fourth quarter for his fifth touchdown pass of the evening. Setting a new career high, Wallwork also managed 306 yards on the evening despite tossing three picks. Cory Wedel set a season mark of his own, booting a fifty-one yard field goal with 6:01 remaining to stake Wyoming to a 59-10 lead. SMU, led by Humble behind center, would find the endzone one last time -- a sixty-four yard pass by the quarterback to receiver Albert Johnson to set the final spread at six touchdowns.

            SMU would win their final two games of the season after their Wyoming loss, finishing 4-4 in conference play in their first year after joining the WAC from the disbanded Southwest Conference. In one of its most successful seasons since receiving the “Death Penalty” from the NCAA in 1987, the Mustangs as guided by Tom Rossley managed a 5-6 record. Wyoming, meanwhile, had turned in another dominating performance and had replicated its success of six years prior.  

(16) Wyoming @ San Diego State - November 7  

Wyoming went to San Diego with the nation’s longest winning streak, at twelve games since the end of the 1995 season. They had already amassed the best record in Joe Tiller’s tenure in Laramie, surpassing the eight wins of the 1993 season. But the Aztec team which was about to host the sixteenth-ranked Cowboys was in a league worlds apart from the Hawaiis and SMUs that Wyoming had feasted on en route to their gaudy record.

            It was a streak that had begun back on November 11, 1995, when Wyoming had arrived in San Diego and come back from a touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter to win, 34-31, ending Aztec dreams of a WAC title and quickly taking away their top-25 status. San Diego State was desperate to repay the favor to Wyoming and -- only one game behind the Cowboys in the WAC Pacific Division standings -- a second chance at a conference title.

            Ted Tollner was no stranger to such pressure. He had been the coach of USC for four years immediately after John Robinson’s first Trojan retirement, winning the 1984 Pac-10 championship and defeating Ohio State 20-17 in the 1985 Rose Bowl. After being let go after the 1986 season, Tollner remained sidelined from the sidelines for eight years before rejoining San Diego State, where he had been the offensive coordinator from 1973-1980.

            Tollner’s offense was well prepared for this matchup. They had already boasted a victory this season against the number-three Oklahoma Sooners. And on the warm November night in southern California, the Aztecs were ready to play the spoilers and earn a shot at the inaugural WAC Pacific Division title. But it was Cory Wedel who managed the only points of the first period, putting Wyoming up 3-0 from thirty-three yards heading into the second quarter.

            The second quarter saw the Aztecs take charge of their destiny despite failing to reach the endzone. Peter Holt took San Diego State’s title chances in his hands (or rather foot), booting field goals from thirty-seven, twenty-seven and thirty-nine yards to put his team up 9-3. The Cowboys had been making a high art of scoring shortly before halftime, though, and today would prove no different. Josh Wallwork, playing the most important game of his collegiate career and a shot at Las Vegas at stake, found Len Sexton for a twenty-yard score. Wyoming escaped the first half up by one.

            Billy Blanton was as stubborn as Wallwork. Coming out of the locker room for the second half, he led the Aztecs down the field. He found Leandrew Childs for a twenty-three yard score; a two-point conversion to put San Diego State up by seven failed. Wallwork punched back, finding David Saraf from three yards to regain a Cowboy lead. Wyoming, though, would also fail to convert a two-point conversion to go up by a field goal.

            Into the final quarter both teams continued their back-and-forth struggle. First it was Blanton, connecting on his second touchdown pass of the night. Nate Jacquet, fighting in a crowded endzone, got his grasp on Blanton’s lob to gain the lead; again, a two-point conversion attempt would fail to gain the desired seven-point spread. Then, after Aztec defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila forced a Len Sexton fumble, San Diego got the ball back halfway through the final quarter.

            Blanton could work no magic this time, pinned back on his own fifteen-yard line. The Aztecs were forced to punt, and it looked as though Wyoming had escaped yet again. Driving his team down the field, chewing up clock to prevent San Diego State from having enough time to come back, Wallwork brought the Cowboys into the red zone. Marques Brigham, diving over the scrum on the goal line, scored from two yards out with only 1:39 remaining.

            Perhaps it was the sting of the previous season’s loss. Perhaps it was the encouragement of the home crowd. Perhaps it was a thirst for retaliation or a desire for validation. Whatever motivated Billy Blanton that night as he took the field with ninety short seconds to shoot for victory, quarterback coaches across the country would put family members up for collateral to get the secret. The Aztecs drove seventy-two yards on seven plays, using only sixty-one seconds to gain a 27-24 lead. Blanton, his legs churning toward salvation past the textbook block from his receiver, got twenty-three yards on third-and-five to get the Aztecs in the red zone. Then, on a quarterback draw up the middle, Blanton got the rest of the yardage to cross the plane and reclaim the lead.

            A Holt extra point sailed good, stretching the lead to four and forcing Wyoming to play for the touchdown. The Aztecs had left thirty-eight seconds on the clock. The Cowboys had scored quickly and in great quantities as Tiller’s spread offense opened up the field for big plays. But could Wallwork and his teammates pull it off this time? They were certainly going to try. It looked as though an already-wild game was going to get even wilder. Wallwork got the offense down to the Aztec twenty-six... but a last-gasp heave into the endzone toward David Saraf was broken up by linebacker Craigus Thompson, and the upset was complete.

            As the final whistle blew a teenager -- thousands of miles from the stadium and over three-hundred miles from the University of Wyoming campus in the opposite corner of the state -- dunked his head in a sink of ice-cold water, screaming out the dejection of a spectator who had just witnessed the crumpling of fantasy. For a sports-impoverished state, the greatest chance for some semblance of success in a long time had been thwarted by the same team which had felt the Cowboy slight the year before. Tollner would know many ups and downs during his time with San Diego State, but his coaching efforts in this game matched any during his Rose Bowl season with the Trojans.

            Now it came down to each team’s final games of the season. The Aztecs had the upper hand -- if they won out their remaining three games against UNLV, Fresno State and Air Force, they would be heading to Las Vegas for the WAC Championship Game as the Pacific Division representative. Wyoming, with only their Border War rivalry game against Colorado State left on their regular-season schedule, would have to wait and watch. If the Aztecs slipped and the Cowboys left Fort Collins with the Bronze Boot in their possession, Wyoming would be champions.

(23) Wyoming @ Colorado State - November 16

Rivalries are the essence of college football. A common enmity between schools, between the communities they represent, grows over time until it takes on a stature far greater than a mere sporting contest. For the oldest interstate rivalry west of the Missouri River, the Border War between Wyoming and Colorado State is an annual contest which brings out the best in both squads no matter what their fortunes the rest of the season. The eighty-fifth meeting between these two schools had greater implications beyond the awarding of the Bronze Boot, a trophy created by the ROTC detachments of the two schools as a traveling award to the winner of the Border War. The trophy, bronzed from a boot warn by Colorado State graduate Captain Jeff Romero in Vietnam, has been awarded annually since 1968.

            With each of the two teams in the same quadrant which had been allocated to the Pacific Division, the Cowboys and the Rams were both in contention for the title on the final week of their seasons. Wyoming and Colorado State entered the Border War with identical 6-1 division records. Should San Diego State fall in any of their final three contests, the winner of the Bronze Boot would also end up the winner of the WAC Pacific Division and would head to Las Vegas to face Mountain Division champion BYU in the inaugural WAC Championship Game.

            Wyoming had the incentive of maintaining their top-25 status; the Rams still had the swagger befitting the two-time defending WAC champion. Expansion or no expansion, Colorado State was the team to beat. Sonny Lubick had brought a confidence to Fort Collins which had fallen in the final two years of the Earle Bruce era. The past two seasons had yielded ten- and eight-win seasons and consecutive Holiday Bowl appearances. And while the Rams were sitting at 7-4, two of Colorado State’s losses in 1996 had come against top-ten squads -- their September 7 loss to state rival Colorado and their defeat at Nebraska on September 28. Since the opening month of the season the Rams had lost once, a 20-14 conference defeat at Tulsa.

            The first quarter was a defensive battle, both teams digging in deep to prevent the other from setting alight the score. The trenches were rumbling under the weight of two teams of outpost scholar-athletes met brawn with brawn. Josh Wallwork, playing in what might be his final game as a Cowboy, finally broke the plane of the goal with eleven seconds remaining in the first quarter. Cory Wedel nailed the ball through cleanly, and Wyoming went up 7-0.

            The second quarter held much of the same, both teams trading punches. Nothing was coming easy for either team. Wedel was called upon again, this time to strike a thirty-two yard field goal halfway through the period. Colorado State’s ground game, consisting of the smallish fury that was Calvin Branch out of the backfield, chewed up yardage without finding the endzone. Swinging without connecting any punch fully, the Rams went into the locker room scoreless. The defense, meanwhile, had bent just enough to keep Wyoming out of their endzone -- but also enough to allow Wyoming to get to the seven yard line before lining up Wedel again. With seven seconds remaining, the kicker cleared easily from twenty-four to put the Cowboys up 13-0 at halftime.

            Colorado State came out from their locker room to a cacophony of both home-crowd cheers and the derision of the thousands of Cowboy fanatics who had flooded across the border to invade Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins. Sonny Lubick had them inspired, though. The team drove down the field with the ball to start the third quarter, Moses Moreno guiding the Ram offense and Branch pounding the ball through the line.

            Calvin Branch, a diminutive tailback who stood neither six feet nor two-hundred pounds of man, took the bit in his teeth and dragged the home team toward the goal line. He wanted another game. A Rams win would give Colorado State the chance to win the division. A Rams win would set them up for a shot at knocking off Brigham Young. With these realities in his mind, he threw himself through the line for the last yard across the plane. As the home crowd celebrated, little did they realize that this simple score up the gut would start a deluge.

            Six minutes later, Branch was launching over yet again to put Colorado State up by one. At the three-minute mark of the third, Matt McDougal connected for a twenty-one yard field goal to grow the lead to four. And then, after getting the ball right back from Wyoming, Branch broke through the line from twenty-one yards out for his third touchdown of the quarter. With the Rams up 24-13 and undefeated when leading into the final quarter under Sonny Lubick, it looked as though the dream season for Tiller and his Cowboys had died.

            None of Wyoming’s seniors wanted this to be the way their season flamed out after an excess of promise. Len Sexton pounded through from two yards out, pulling within five and capping Colorado State’s unanswered points at twenty-four. The two-point try, as it had so many times this season, failed. Wyoming still had ten minutes, though. Their defense stiffened, and the Rams would not score again. But five points down, a field goal would not seal the deal for the Cowboys. Wallwork and crew took the field, working down the field and killing clock. With 1:40 remaining, Wyoming reclaimed the lead for good as Marques Brigham got the last touchdown of the regular season for the team. Trying to make a field goal merely tie the game, Tiller kept the offense out yet again for the two-point try. Naturally in this hard-fought season, it failed...

            ... but it did not matter. Wyoming held firm, and the Bronze Boot was coming back to Laramie. Marcus Harris, ending the game with a new NCAA receiving record which surpassed former Cowboy Ryan Yarborough’s mark, had sixteen receptions in his final Border War for 191 yards. Wyoming was 10-1 -- but it remained to be seen whether they would get a shot at the conference title.

The Cowboys would not have to wait long for their answer. San Diego State, heading to Las Vegas as Wyoming played in Fort Collins, was facing the Running Rebels with a shot at returning to the stadium in one month’s time for a showdown against BYU. Yet just as San Diego State had prevented Wyoming from a perfect season, so too would the Aztecs be the team which would prevent UNLV from a perfectly-imperfect season. Jon Denton led the Rebels to a 44-42 upset of Tollner’s Aztecs, winning for the first time since 2005 and passing the nation’s longest losing streak off to Duke.

            With the Aztecs out of the way, Wyoming vaulted as high as number twenty in the polls as it awaited its matchup against BYU. But they had bigger issues with which to contend than merely the gameplan. While everyone in Wyoming was wondering how their football team would neutralize LaVell Edwards and the Cougars, Joe Tiller was being courted. Purdue ultimately signed the coach away from Laramie less than a week after the Colorado State triumph. Now the big question throughout Wyoming was whether Tiller would be around to coach the WAC Championship.

            Wyoming athletic director Lee Moon and Tiller worked out an agreement where the coach would remain with the Cowboys through the December 7 WAC Championship and any bowl game which might follow. The only question which remained, now, was whether the team would still play for Tiller. For the seniors, their contributions had vaulted their coach to a higher level; for those who would remain, one could only guess as to their feelings toward the man who had recruited them and was now leaving them adrift on the high plains. Many of Tiller’s assistants would bridge the gap from Laramie to West Lafayette; no student would have the chance to follow their leader. There was one more game, one more chance to earn the bowl bids which come few and far between for Wyoming.

WAC Championship Game

Sam Boyd Silver Bowl - Las Vegas, NV

(6) Brigham Young v. (20) Wyoming

December 7, 1996

The expansion of the WAC had come full circle. Despite the league’s expansion from its six charter squads, it was two of those original teams which would meet in its inaugural championship game. The Cougars from Provo are Wyoming’s third-oldest rival, behind only Colorado State and Utah. This was the first time they would be playing each other in the postseason.

            BYU and Wyoming were both hunting for the eyes of the pollsters. It was unlikely that Wyoming would attract the requisite attention to earn a Bowl Alliance bid; but the Cougars, under the legendary shadow of stalwart head coach LaVell Edwards, had risen to number six in the nation. Undefeated in conference play, they played what still remains the longest schedule in college-football history. The WAC Championship would be their fourteenth game of the season, their 12-1 record on the line.

            Edwards sought an elusive Bowl Alliance bid and a chance to put another feather in his cap to compliment the school’s 1984 national championship. In his twenty-fifth season at BYU, Edwards was hungry for another taste of the national spotlight. BYU had missed a bowl game for the first time in eighteen years in 1995. The WAC Championship, the Cougars hoped, would serve as an hors d’oeuvre  on the path toward a greater feast onward to begin 1997.

            Wyoming’s story has already been detailed. Joe Tiller led the Cowboys into the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas for the first WAC Championship -- for one last time as their head coach. Purdue was calling for someone to restore the legacy of Mollenkopf, and Tiller had been chosen as the most recent man for the task. Both BYU and Wyoming played inspired, as they knew there may a big payoff at the end. Lose... well, let’s just say to lose in that day and age meant for a smaller school not merely a bowl game on Christmas Eve rather than New Year’s Day but the loss of that postseason treat altogether.

            The first half was dominated by the boys from Brigham Young.  Ethan Pochman hit his first field goal of the day from thirty yards out in the first quarter, putting the Cougars up 3-0. The lines dug in deep, a defensive battle springing from the soil. The Silver Bowl, which many had expected to be merely a launch pad for long bombs, turned instead into a venue for trench warfare.

            Most observers had expected a shootout, with both teams boasting prolific offenses. BYU was led by the nation’s top-rated quarterback, Steve Sarkisian. Coached by college quarterback guru Norm Chow -- the same Norm Chow who led Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart to Heisman trophies -- Sarkisian had dominated the air, finding a multitude of receivers and backs throughout the season. Wyoming, meanwhile, boasted the nation’s number-one team passing offense, with Biletnikoff Award winner Marcus Harris at the head of the receiving corps catching Josh Wallwork’s tosses in Tiller’s spread.

            Yet the game was still a low-scoring battle. BYU had the better run of things in the first half, finally finding the endzone in the second quarter with tailback Brian McKenzie rushing the final eleven yards after a long drive down the field. Pochman would add another field goal to go with the extra point, putting the Cougars up 13-0 at the half. Wyoming appeared to be staggering.

            But then the defense, which had been the one unit which was functioning on something nearing all cylinders that night, awakened the entire team. Jay Jenkins swooped a BYU fumble early in the third quarter, running twenty-two yards and putting Wyoming within a touchdown of their rival. The Cowboys had come out of the intermission with a vengeance.

            Cory Wedel added a twenty-yard field goal as the third quarter wound down. Wyoming scored seventeen unanswered points as David Saraf caught a Wallwork pass for seven yards and the go-ahead score. Chad Lewis caught his own touchdown from Sarkisian; but then Saraf, unnoticed with BYU keying in on Harris, caught his second touchdown of the night from fourteen yards out. A two-point conversion succeeded, and Wyoming was up by five.

            The next drive for Wyoming saw the Cowboys pinned against their own endzone. One, two, three plays failed. Punter Aron Langley came onto the field -- but he wasn’t about to punt. Tiller instructed Langley to walk out the back of the endzone, consciously taking a safety rather than risking a blocked punt for seven. Langley did as he was asked, putting BYU within three points. The free kick from the twenty floated, and BYU took over at their own forty-yard line.

            Sarkisian got his team into position. As the clock expired, Pochman hit his third of the night to send the championship game to overtime. BYU won the toss, sending Wyoming’s offense onto the field first. On first and ten from the twenty-five, Josh Wallwork was sacked. Trying to get the first down, the Cowboys then threw two incomplete passes. Cory Wedel came on to try to be the hero once again for Wyoming. But from forty-seven yards, Wedel pushed the ball wide left. It was now up to BYU to score. Any points and the Cougars would be in the hunt still for an Alliance bid.

            LaVell Edwards simply had Sarkisian hand the ball off to Brian McKenzie three times. The first rush yielded five yards, the second one four more. The third attempt, on third-and-one, was stuffed by the Cowboy defense. Pochman came out to attempt a thirty-two yard field goal. His fourth attempt of the day became his fourth completion as Pochman did what Wedel simply couldn’t from fifteen yards further -- split the uprights to deliver his team a conference title.  

The Cowboys went 10-2 that season. But not even BYU, with a 13-1 record, strong schedule and conference championship could bust their way through the gates being put up by the forerunner to the BCS. The Cougars would go on to a fifteenth game that season, winning a tight contest in the Cotton Bowl against number-seventeen Kansas State 19-15. Sarkisian would eventually follow his former mentor to USC, where he now serves as the offensive coordinator that led Chow to prominence. LaVell Edwards eventually retired after the 2000 season; new coach Bronco Mendenhall is living up to the tradition inspired by Edwards.

            The Cowboys, on the other hand, have become mere withered husks of their former selves. After Tiller’s departure, Dana Dimel stepped in to replace Tiller, leading Wyoming to three winning seasons before taking the head-coaching job at the University of Houston. A tradition of winning could have been forged... but instead it was Purdue who would reap the benefits. Wyoming simply does not offer the advantages which a coach needs for long-term survival in this outpost.

            The Western Athletic Conference held only two more championship games before BYU, Wyoming and six other schools departed to form the Mountain West Conference. No longer does the WAC contain a single one of its original charter schools. Bloated too big for its own good, it was time for a fresh start. For some programs, it has been a boon; for others, the move to the MWC has coincided with a drastic turn of fortunes for the worse. Wyoming, since Tiller’s departure, has a winning percentage of .360...

            While the fans at Ross-Ade Stadium cheer Tiller for one last time against Indiana on November 22, the old coach already knows the sting of goodbye. What Joe was able to do with the Boilermakers in winning the Big Ten championship and going to the Rose Bowl was incredible; his efforts in falling just short of bowl status with the hard-luck Wyoming Cowboys, milking a ten-win season out of other school’s castoffs and writing his resume for his eventual Purdue gig one game at a time, is his best coaching effort of a storied career.

Submitted 2008

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