Fort Collins – For the Wyoming Cowboys, Saturday was like Act III in a theater of the bizarre that they have somehow gotten trapped in for the past three games.
After a 39-31 Mountain West Conference loss to Colorado State, the Cowboys could only hope it was the final act. Not even another virtuoso performance by star receiver Jovon Bouknight could save the ‘Pokes, who have lost three consecutive games, from another exercise in self-destruction.
This time, it wasn’t just the five turnovers that destroyed the Cowboys. It was also three strange CSU pass plays that somehow found the end zone.
The five turnovers, leading to 24 points, brought the number of turnovers by the Cowboys in their past three games to 15.
“It’s killing us,” Wyoming coach Joe Glenn said. “So, I don’t know. Five turnovers, we’re not going to beat anybody. We return a punt, I don’t know, 60-70 (49) yards to the 15-yard line and fumble. That’s just kind of the way things have gone lately. The football gods are mad at us.”
Normally, that doesn’t apply to Bouknight, the do-it-all wide receiver.
“I don’t know the numbers,” Glenn said, “but every time he touches the ball, something magical happens.”
Bouknight, who opened the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jason Wallace, caught 12 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns, and almost single-handedly spotted the Cowboys to a 24-13 first-half lead. He was trying to pull out a win late in the fourth quarter when he committed the fifth turnover, fumbling at the CSU 28.
But long before that, CSU quarterback Justin Holland had gotten hot and started rolling some lucky sevens.
The first of those was an underthrown Hail Mary that Luke Roberts ran under just before halftime. The second was a deep slant to David Anderson, who turned it into an 82-yard strike when safety John Wendling and backup cornerback Brandon Bell collided to clear the way. And the third was a deep ball to tight end Kory Sperry on fourth-and-7 that Bell turned to intercept only to tip it to Sperry for a 31-yard touchdown to seal the game.
“The ball was underthrown, we were pushing each other, I turned around and Sperry pushed me in the back,” Bell said. “I managed to get a hand on it, but that tipped it to him.”
That play, Hoost Marsh’s fumble at the end of the 49-yard return and Bouknight’s fumble were just three examples of “guys trying to make a big play,” quarterback Corey Bramlet said.
Bramlet, who started the rash of turnovers with seven against TCU on Oct. 8, threw two interceptions Saturday, both resulting in CSU touchdowns.
“It’s tough for me,” Bramlet said. “It’s hard to swallow. Coming down here, I thought we played well, and you now, the turnovers killed us again.”
Other than that, he said, “I thought we competed pretty well. That’s three straight losses, but it doesn’t really say anything. We’re the same team that won four in a row.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303- 820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
