It was a key conference opener for both the Wyoming Cowboys and Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors and both teams gave gutsy performances before the Cowboys prevailed in the first overtime to capture a 28-21 home win.  Wyoming improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference.  Hawai'i is now 2-2, 0-1 in the MW.

A 25-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Josh Allen to junior wide receiver James Price on the first play of overtime gave the Cowboys the lead at 28-21.  Price was playing in his first game this season, after suffering a broken collarbone early in fall camp.  Hawai'i, which had won the coin toss in overtime and chose to go on defense first, was then faced with having to score a TD to extend the game.  Hawai'i senior running back Diocemy Saint Juste gained 10 yards on a first down rush down to the 15-yard line.  On second down, UH quarterback Dru Brown attempted a pass that was tipped by Wyoming redshirt freshman defensive end Garrett Crall and intercepted by sophomore linebacker Cassh Maluia to give the Cowboys the victory.

It was the second straight year and the third time in the four years of the Craig Bohl era at Wyoming that Wyoming won its conference opener.

All three facets of the Cowboy attack contributed to the win, including special teams.  Sophomore cornerback Tyler Hall ran back a kickoff 97 yards to tie the game at 14-14 late in the third quarter.  Hall  returned that kick right after he was called for a roughing the kicker penalty on a Hawai'i field-goal attempt That penalty gave the Rainbow Warriors an automatic first down at the Wyoming five-yard line and led to a Saint Juste TD run on the next play to put Hawai'i up 14-7.  Hall tied the game with his kick return, marking the first time UW had returned a kickoff for a touchdown since former Cowboy great Devin Moore returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD against Colorado State in 2007.

"It was a hard fought game," said Bohl.  "Going in to it, we felt it would be a challenging game that might come down to a play or two.  It's interesting in the end the guy that makes the interception has a club on his hand.  It was a great play by Cassh (Maluia).

"There were some really good plays by both teams.  Coach (Nick) Rolovich has done a great job with Hawai'i.  He was a former quarterback there, and we knew they would play hard.  Their quarterback played excellent.

"We got some things going in the right direction on the offensive side, especially the running game with Trey Woods.  He broke off some long runs.  

"Credit Hawai'i, coming in they had been a balanced team, and they put up a lot of yards tonight, but we were able to make one more play than they did."

True freshman Woods recorded the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, running for 135 yards on 15 carries, including his first career touchdown in the first quarter on a 34-yard dash to give UW a 7-0 lead.  He later broke off a 59-yard scamper in the fourth quarter to set up a three-yard TD run three plays later by sophomore wide receiver Austin Conway.

Hawai'i ended the night with 450 yards of total offense to Wyoming's 269.  But the Cowboy defense forced two UH turnovers while the Wyoming offense did not commit a single turnover.  

Wyoming's defense was led by junior strong safety Andrew Wingard, who came up with Wyoming's first forced turnover of the game in the third quarter.  Wingard intercepted UH quarterback Brown on the Cowboys' own two-yard line to end a key scoring threat for the Rainbow Warriors.  Wingard ended the game with nine tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss of four yards, his interception that he returned for 22 yards and two pass breakups.

Sophomore middle linebacker Logan Wilson led the Pokes in tackles, with a career single-game high 14 tackles.

The Poke defense ended the night with 5.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 quarterback sacks, two interceptions and six pass breakups.

The first quarter was dominated by both teams' defenses, as the quarter ended tied at 0-0.  Hawai'i was held to 82 yards of total offense and four first downs, and Wyoming was limited to 25 total yards and one first down.  

On its first drive of the second quarter, Wyoming converted a big third-down and 11 on a pass from Allen to tight end Tyree Mayfield for 16 yards taking the ball from the 50-yard line to the Hawai'i 34.  On the very next play, Woods broke through the line for his 34-yard touchdown run -- the first of his college career to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead after the successful point-after-touchdown by sophomore place-kicker Cooper Rothe.  The drive covered 61 yards in seven plays and took two minutes and 15 seconds.

Hawai'i would respond on its next possession.  The Rainbow Warriors would drive 75 yards in 13 plays as  running back Saint Juste would gain 50 of the 75 yards on the drive -- 25 rushing and 25 receiving.  UH running back Ryan Tuiasoa would finish off the drive with a one-yard TD run on fourth and goal.  Place-kicker Alex Trifonovitch would add the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.  

The half would end with the score 7-7.  Wyoming ran 24 plays for 111 yards in the first half.  Hawai'i had 177 yards of total offense on 37 plays.  
 
The Cowboys would be forced to punt on their first drive of the second half, and Hawai'i took over at its own 31-yard line.  The Rainbow Warriors would proceed to drive 62 yards in the next 10 plays and had a first-and-goal at the Wyoming seven-yard line.  It was then that Wyoming's Wingard would intercept UH quarterback Brown at the two-yard line.  Wingard would return the interception 22 yards to the Wyoming 24.  It would mark the sixth consecutive game that the Cowboys intercepted at least one pass.

Hawai'i would enter the red-zone a second time in the third quarter getting down to the Wyoming six-yard line, but the Cowboy defense would again make a stand forcing a 28-yard field by Trifonovitch.  However, Hall would be called for roughing the kicker and the Rainbow Warriors would accept the penalty, taking the three points off the scoreboard and giving them a fresh set of downs at the Wyoming five-yard line.  UH running back Saint Juste would carry the ball into the end zone on first down, putting the Rainbow Warriors up 14-7.

Wyoming would take only one play to reply as sophomore cornerback Hall would take the kickoff at the Wyoming three-yard line and return it 97 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.  It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown of Hall's career.

The score would remain tied at 14 heading into the fourth quarter.  

UW would force a three-and-out on Hawai'i's next possession, aided by an offensive pass interference call the negated a first down.  The Pokes took the ball at its own 14-yard line after a 55-yard punt out of bounds by UH punter Stan Gaudion.  Allen would hit tight end Mayfield for 11 yards on first down.  Then freshman Woods would take off on a 59-yard scamper down to the Hawai'i 16-yard line to record the first 100-yard rushing game of his career.  Sophomore running back Kellen Overstreet would run for 12 yards on the next play, carrying down to the four-yard line, followed by the three-yard TD run by Conway on a jet sweep to put the Pokes up 21-14.

The Rainbow Warriors wouldn't go away, however.  They would drive 89 yards in seven plays to tie the game at 21-21 with 8:18 to go in the game.  On the drive, quarterback Brown was a perfect 4 for 4 passing for 75 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Ursua.
 
Wyoming had one final scoring opportunity in regulation, but Rothe missed a 47-yard field goal wide left with 3:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.  Each team had a final possession, each ending in a punt before the Cowboys prevailed in overtime.

Individually, Woods ended the day with 135 rushing yards for the Pokes. Saint Juste had 120 rushing yards for the Rainbow Warriors.  Allen completed 9 of 19 passes for 92 yards, no interceptions and the winning TD pass to Price.  Brown completed 29 of 40 passes for 280 yards, one TD pass but threw two interceptions.

Wyoming will play its final non-conference game of the 2017 regular season next Saturday, hosting Texas State in a game that will kick off at 2:00 p.m., M.T.  Hawai'i will return home to Honolulu to host Colorado State next Saturday.