LARAMIE – The vision Jay Sawvel imagined for Wyoming's offense came into focus Saturday.
 
The third-year head coach hired Christian Taylor as offensive coordinator and signed quarterback Tyler Hughes to provide some balance to the program.
 
UW had 510 total yards, went 5-for-5 in the red zone and did not commit a turnover during an assertive 41-23 victory over Northern Illinois at War Memorial Stadium.
 
Hughes was bruised, battered and refused to be broken while absorbing six sacks and grinding out 92 rushing yards to will the Pokes to a 16-13 overtime win at San Jose State.
 
The 6-foot senior made the game look much easier against the Huskies during a spectacular performance by air and on the ground. He completed 16 of 19 passes for 196 yards and ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns.
 
"It's always great to know you have a head coach who's behind you. It's been pretty tough," Hughes said after his breakthrough performance wearing the Brown & Gold. "I love Coach Sawvel and I want to give the best product out on the field as much as I can for that guy. He's a great coach. I mean, he just told me, just go play football, how you know how to do it. Those words pretty much set in for me."
 
Sawvel met with Hughes and other team leaders in the aftermath of the 28-0 loss at North Dakota State. The offense has come a long way since limping out of the Fargodome.
 
Hughes scored on a 53-yard run to stake the Pokes to an early 10-0 lead over NIU. He also had touchdown runs of 24, 6 and 11 yards before getting shaken up in the fourth quarter and yielding duties to Landon Sims, who tacked on his own 11-yard touchdown run.
 
"I'm super happy for Landon Sims. That guy works super hard," Hughes said. "He's a guy that always keeps me going, he keeps pushing me, he's a great locker room guy, great team guy. It's always good to see a fellow quarterback going out and doing good stuff."
 
Markell Holman, who rushed for 80 yards, and Nico Hamilton, who added 31, were also part of a ground game that averaged 7.7 yards per carry and finished with 314 rushing yards.
 
Wide receiver Eric Richardson had five receptions for 77 yards, and tight end Kyle Frendt added three receptions for 61 yards. Hughes completed passes to seven different targets.
 
"One thing that really felt good about this game is the connection for the whole team, offense to defense," Richardson said. "I felt this was probably the best that we've shown to the fans for sure."
 
Giving the loyal crowd of 20,065 a lot to cheer for on a picture-perfect fall Saturday was a sight for Sawvel's sore eyes.
 
"We're not perfect as a program offensively or anything like that, but we're getting better and better," Sawvel said. "I do think that there's an expectation. I've told a number of our players that when we got to mid-season, I expected a surge of improvement because now you've been through it."
 
The Cowboys turned the page at midnight with a short week to prepare to play Air Force on Friday at War Memorial Stadium (7 p.m., The CW).
 
"When you win, it changes a lot of things in that locker room, everybody's super excited, fired up, and just ready for the next opportunity," Hughes said. "It's great. I mean, we just have to keep on doing it this week. We have to put together a good week of practice, then we go and do it again."
 
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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