LARAMIE, Wyo.—Better late than never for Wyoming.
The Cowboys ended a six-game losing streak and disappointing season overall by stunning Border War rival Colorado State 44-0.
There are worse ways for a losing team to go into the offseason and regroup than to clean up in an important game.
“We expect to continue to get better. We expect it to click every week,” an upbeat coach Dave Christensen said after Saturday’s game.
“The program is going to be fine. We’ve got a lot of young kids in it.”
One of those kids is sophomore Alvester Alexander, who ran in a school record five touchdowns and had 132 yards rushing overall.
He ran in from 8 yards for the final score and the school record late in the fourth quarter. That followed two touchdowns in the third quarter.
Alexander brushed off Colorado State defenders while running in 21 yards early in the second half. Less than 5 minutes later he ran in 29 yards for a 37-0 Wyoming lead.
Alexander had two touchdowns in the first half.
“It felt good to get a lot of carries,” he said. “The coaches told me they were going to put it on my shoulders, so I needed to show them that I could carry that load.”
Wyoming (3-9, 1-7 Mountain West Conference) barely gave Colorado State (3-9, 2-6) the chance to score so much as a field goal. Ben DeLine missed on a 42-yard attempt in the fourth quarter, keeping the game a shutout.
After a 49-10 loss to BYU, it was the second game in a row in which Colorado State came undone in the first half.
“I think it’s a lack of confidence,” coach Steve Fairchild said. “It was shocking in the BYU game how wide-eyed we were when things started to go a little bit against us. I think that happened again today.”
Wyoming had nearly three times as many yards on offense as the Rams, who struggled to put any sort of game together on defense or offense.
The win keeps the Bronze Boot trophy of the Border War rivalry in Laramie.
