LARAMIE – Everyone in the program was miserable in Mount Pleasant.
 
Following Wyoming's loss at Central Michigan on a bleak, rainy day in Mount Pleasant, head coach Jay Sawvel knew the season was on the brink of a dark, downward spiral.
 
Something important happened in the hours and days leading into the start of Mountain West play: The Cowboys became a player-led team.
 
At the request of the players, UW's locker room became a cellphone-free zone. Doom scrolling would be replaced with camaraderie and music pumping through one "big ass" speaker.
 
On Thursday, a players-only meeting was held to make sure their focus and preparation throughout the week was matched with energy and execution on game day.
 
The Pokes were having fun again and grabbing the Paniolo Trophy after beating Hawai'i 27-10 on a postcard Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
 
"We weren't connected enough. We weren't playing for the love of playing with our teammates," Sawvel said of his team's shaky start to the season. "We found that today. We played with a great joy."
 
The Homecoming crowd of 20,999 got a glimpse of this team's potential when it plays complementary football.
 
The defense, which struggled to stop CMU's one-dimensional, run-heavy offense a week earlier, limited the Rainbow Warriors' run-and-shoot offense to one touchdown after UW had built a commanding 20-3 lead.
 
Hawai'i opened the second half with a 16-play, 74-yard drive that bled 9 minutes, 14 seconds off the clock.
 
Desman Hearns made a touchdown-saving tackle on Mikaele Sitani at the 1-yard line and Jack Dunkley forced an incompletion on Hawai'i quarterback Micah Alejado on fourth-and-goal.
 
"We all just came together as one – as a family and as a unit," linebacker Steven Perez said. "I'd say the biggest emphasis on today's game was we played for each other, every play."
 
All three levels of Aaron Bohl's defense contributed to the turnaround.
 
Defensive end Esaia Bogar had 1.5 tackles for loss and defensive tackle Jayden Williams recorded the first sack of his career. Perez led a more fundamentally-sound effort from the linebackers with his six tackles. Safety Jones Thomas led the team with seven tackles and three pass breakups, and a shorthanded cornerback group held its own while helping limit dynamic Alejado to 226 passing yards on 44 attempts.
 
"Everybody knows it on the team, we have a lot of talent," Thomas said. "We just hadn't put it all together and went out and played a complete game yet on both sides of the ball. We did that."
 
Following the goal-line stand, the offense responded with an 11-play, 99-yard drive capped with an 18-yard touchdown run by Markell Holman with 14:52 remaining.
 
The Cowboys also benefited from a costly Hawai'i penalty when the Warriors were flagged for having two players wearing the same number on their punt-return unit.
 
Tyler Hughes completed a 26-yard pass to Deion DeBlanc to move the sticks on third-and-15. He found Eric Richardson for a 19-yard completion over the middle and connected with Jake Wilson for a 7-yard completion on third-and-5.
 
Holman finished with 87 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Samuel "Tote" Harris added 94 yards and his own 18-yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining to put the finishing touch on the win.
 
"Those guys are studs," Hughes said of the 1-2 punch in the backfield. "They love it and they give the team their best and they showed up in a huge way today and we really needed them.
 
"That's the standard for those guys. Those guys are really good football players."
 
Hughes played more like himself after struggling with turnovers during his first three games at the FBS level. The William & Mary transfer finished 17-for-23 passing for 204 yards with completions to nine different targets.
 
The wide receivers had 12 catches for 103 yards, the right ends had seven catches for 65 yards and Harris added five catches for 36 yards.
 
"I don't really get fixated on opinions or feelings," Hughes said of criticism he had faced. "I just play my ball and try to be the best leader for this team."
 
Sawvel celebrated the victory with recruits over dinner. He planned to be back in the High Altitude Performance Center by 8 p.m. Saturday to begin game planning next week's challenge at undefeated North Dakota State.
 
The third-year head coach and his staff now have the satisfaction of knowing they have a team completely bought in.
 
"We've got a team that's really close, we've got a team that really cares for each other," Sawvel said. "We had to eat a little (expletive) last week, but that also kind of brought us all together."
 
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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