LARAMIE – The first half of the season did not follow the script Christian Taylor and Tyler Hughes rehearsed since January.
 
Wyoming's first-year offensive coordinator and quarterback are on the same page when it comes to their frustration with the lack of production during an uneven start.
 
The Cowboys (3-3 overall, 2-1 Mountain West) averaged 14.5 points (135th out of 138 FBS teams), 138.2 passing yards (132nd) and 301.8 total yards (129th) through the first six games.
 
There was a rewrite during UW's resilient 16-13 overtime victory at San Jose State last Friday.
 
Hughes finished with 27 rushing attempts for 92 yards, including a 12-yard scamper to the 2-yard line to set up Erik Sandvik's game-winning field goal, to carry the Pokes to their first road win of the season.
 
If SJSU's six sacks are removed from the equation, the 6-foot, 214-pound Hughes rushed for 131 yards on 21 attempts, an average of 6.2 yards per carry.
 
"He put the team on his back. He was going to do whatever it took to win that game," Taylor said of the performance. "I think he showed what he's all about. You saw his heart, you saw his grit, you saw his determination. He cares more than anyone about wanting to see this program do well. I hope everyone saw that."
 
Hughes finished an 18-play, 75-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Wilson, which tied the score 13-13 with 6:25 remaining in regulation. He finished 16 of 24 passing for 114 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
 
"It got to a point where we needed certain things in the game to get over that hump, and I was willing to have the ball in my hands and just play as hard as I could," Hughes said. "For the most part we've been getting better throughout the weeks. We just have to finish these drives, and that's the difference between scoring 16 points and scoring 40.
 
"When we get down there, we need to have better attention to detail and finish these drives, and that will happen."
 
UW's game-tying drive burned 10 minutes, 11 seconds off the clock. In the first half, the Cowboys had an 18-play, 61-yard drive that took 9:55 but did not result in points and a 16-play, 64-yard drive that took 7:25 and resulted in a field goal.
 
"Before that (touchdown) drive started Tyler was like, 'We're going to win this game,'" Wilson said on the MW's "Under The Radar" segment. "You could feel the energy on the sideline was different this week. We had confidence and we just kept playing."
 
One of UW head coach Jay Sawvel's focuses for the stretch run is for the offense to be more efficient in the red zone. The Pokes have scored nine touchdowns in 21 trips inside the opponents' 20-yard line.
 
"It all comes down to consistency and attention to detail with alignment and assignment of everything that we're doing," Taylor said. "Finishing drives in the red zone, there's less space, which means there's less room for error. Even your smallest mistakes can prevent a first down and prevent a touchdown."
 
UW did put pressure on SJSU by going 5-for-6 on fourth-down conversion attempts, which prolonged drives, kept the Cowboy defense fresh and kept the Spartan offense off the field.
 
"Coach Sawvel and Coach Taylor are going to call the game aggressively, and we need to go out there and execute it," Hughes said. "Odds are we're going to be put in a good position because we know that our defense has our back, so we're able to make decisions like that confidently."
 
The Cowboys host Northern Illinois Saturday at War Memorial Stadium (1:30 p.m., The CW).
 
The Huskies (0-5, 0-1 MW) are also struggling offensively, averaging 12.4 points (138th) and 290.8 yards (130th) per game. NIU is allowing 34.6 points (129th) and 396.6 yards (112th) on average.
 
This is an opportunity for Taylor to write a new chapter with the unflappable Hughes as UW enters a stretch with four of the final six regular-season games at home.
 
"Tyler's a great guy and he's a competitor," UW safety Brooklyn Cheek said. "That's one thing about him that you can talk to him for 30 seconds and figure that out. He wants to win every game and he's just like the rest of the team, he's human. Everyone makes mistakes. I have missed tackles. He comes back and he doesn't think about them, and he just goes and goes and goes and never stops. That's my favorite thing about Tyler watching him play."
 
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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