Pokes Insider: Protection should journey to San Diego

Wyoming, coming off shutout of Colorado State, faces highway check vs. 6-1 Aztecs

Ryan Thorburn

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

LARAMIE – Points can be exhausting to return 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 primary time since 1966.

The Aztecs (6-1, 3-0) have three shutouts this season, together with final week’s 23-0 win at Fresno State.

UW is giving up 19.8 factors (32^nd within the FBS) and 342.8 yards (47^th) per recreation. SDSU is second nationally behind Ohio State in scoring protection (10.4 ppg) and ninth in whole protection (255.0 ypg).

“The struggle with San Diego State is keeping yourself on the field,” UW head coach Jay Sawvel mentioned throughout his Monday press convention. “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 brand new offensive coordinator coming into the Border War, Sawvel mentioned the Pokes have the talent and expertise to be scoring a minimum of one landing per quarter.

UW met these expectations in opposition to CSU with backup quarterback Landon Sims speeding for a 1-yard landing, Kaden Anderson throwing landing passes to Michael Fitzgerald II (22 yards) and Chris Durr Jr. (9 yards) and Sam Scott operating for a 37-yard landing.

Although the Cowboys would have appreciated to have tacked on a minimum of another rating within the fourth quarter, Sawvel was happy with Bouknight’s debut because 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 mentioned. “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 protection got here up with three interceptions, and a goal-line stand within the closing moments to maintain the Rams off the scoreboard.

“The pride of the defense was on display,” Sawvel mentioned. “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 attempt to decelerate Lucky Sutton, who rushed for 131 yards and a landing in opposition to Fresno State and ranks second within the MW in speeding, averaging 94.6 yars per recreation with seven touchdowns. SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal has accomplished 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 mentioned. “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 maintain a slim 20-19 lead within the all-time collection with UW courtesy of final season’s 27-24 win in Laramie. SDSU has received the final three conferences, together with the 2016 Mountain West championship recreation (27-24 at War Memorial Stadium).

 

The Cowboys are in search of their first victory in San Diego since 2011 (30-27) within the previous Jack Murphy Stadium. This can be UW’s first recreation in Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff s set for five p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

 

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

 

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