LARAMIE – The vibe in the weight room Monday did not feel like that of a 1-5 team.
 
The Cowboys, coming off a bitterly disappointing 27-24 home loss to San Diego State less than 48 hours earlier, were upbeat and focused on flipping the script during the second half of the season.
 
Jay Sawvel said his players' reaction to adversity this fall was an inspiring reminder for Wyoming's first-year head coach to make sure the talented young nucleus "continue a climb" over the final six games.
 
UW will play San Jose State on Saturday at CEFCU Stadium (2 p.m., Mountain West Network).
 
"It's refreshing for me to get around our players because they do a very good job of moving on to the next one," Sawvel said during his Monday press conference. "I'm very frustrated in the fact that we had many opportunities to win that game the other day and didn't finish that off."
 
The revolving door to the training room in the High Altitude Performance Center continued its relentless spinning.
 
Sawvel said left guard Alex Conn and weak-side linebacker Connor Shay will not be available against the Spartans (4-2 overall, 2-1 MW) due to injuries suffered against SDSU.
 
Starting safeties Wyett Ekeler and Isaac White, starting guards Jack Walsh and Rex King and starting nose tackle Ben Florentine – who all missed the game against the Aztecs – were set to return to practice Monday with a chance to play against SJSU, depending on how they hold up physically through week.
 
Running back Harrison Waylee, who has not played this season, could return to the backfield for the Oct. 26 home game against Utah State.
 
In the absence of all these key players the youth movement has been accelerated.
 
Redshirt freshman Quinn Grovesteen-Matchey played well in relief of Conn, who was making his first start in place of King. Sophomore Rex Johnsen accrued his second consecutive start at right guard for Walsh, who is one of the conference's top offensive linemen.
 
Sophomore Dante Drake and redshirt freshman Jayden Williams were impressive on the defensive line getting more snaps alongside senior Jordan Bertagnole and sophomore Jaden Williams.
 
Sam Scott continued to be productive as UW's featured back, finishing with 94 yards rushing and a touchdown. Jaylen Sargent had his first career touchdown catch with a 70-yard score thrown by quarterback Evan Svoboda on a flea flicker.
 
"We had great effort the other day, we really did," Sawvel said. "We've got really good people here; we continue to go the direction that we need to go right now with guys getting better."
 
The passing game will have to improve dramatically down the stretch if the Pokes want to start stacking up some wins.
 
Svoboda finished 12-for-31 passing for 181 yards with the touchdown on a trick play and two interceptions that led directly to 10 points for SDSU.
 
"He knows I've got his back, and I also have an expectation of him that he's going to be a very good player," Sawvel said of Svoboda. "It's frustrating because we are leaving things out there, but by the same token the other day we did some things and threw a couple interceptions."
 
Svoboda gave UW a 24-17 lead with a 51-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter. But the defense quickly gave up a 53-yard pass play on a third-and-10 and a 27-yard touchdown on the ensuing SDSU drive.
 
The Aztecs, who sacked Svoboda six times, shut out the Cowboys over the final 14 minutes and tacked on what proved to be the game-winning field goal with 7:35 remaining to spoil the fun for the sun splashed crowd of 23,155.
 
"It's tough in the fact that we had a great crowd. We appreciate all the fan support. It was an energetic crowd and just a really good day," Sawvel said. "We've got to eliminate some of the critical errors that cost us from winning that game. As a head coach you feel bad for the fans, you want to send them home happy and we weren't able to do that."
 
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