BOONE, N.C. (Oct. 3, 2015) – A pair of early touchdowns hindered the Cowboys in a 31-13 loss to Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C. Sophomore running back Brian Hill rushed for 208 yards in the game on a career-high 30 carries. It was his third career 200-yard rushing performance of his career and the second of the season.
“There were some bright spots out there and I thought our guys stayed in the fight,” UW head coach Craig Bohl said. “There were some young guys that had some good plays and then there were some disappointing plays. I looked up at the score and that’s disappointing, but some of the things we saw today were improvements.”
Appalachian State’s Marcus Cox scored on a 59-yard run to take a 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage. The Mountaineers defense returned an interception 91 yards on the first possession for the Cowboys to take the early 14-0 lead.
The Cowboys (0-5) responded after Appalachian State’s quick start with an 11 play, 70-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Hill to start the second quarter. The Cowboys rushed for 47 yards on the drive and used a 25-yard completion on third down to Junior Tanner Gentry to help setup the score.
Appalachian State (3-1) added a touchdown late in the first half to take 21-7 lead into the break. The 18-yard touchdown pass was set up by a fake field goal. The Mountaineers added another touchdown on their first possession of the second half and would later add a field goal. The Cowboys scored in the final minute on a touchdown pass from redshirt senior Cameron Coffman to sophomore running back Josh Tapscott.
The Pokes held Appalachian State to only 65 yards passing. It was the first time UW held an opponent to under 100 yards passing since Cal Poly threw for 34 yards in 2012. The Cowboy defense also did not allow a third-down conversion in the entire contest.
True freshman Andrew Wingard led the Cowboys in tackles with eight tackles. Redshirt freshman Marcus Epps finished with five tackles and recorded his second interception of the season in the first half. Junior linebacker Lucas Wacha, the Cowboys’ leading tackler had seven stops on the night.
Hill’s 30 carries was a career-high and was the most by a Cowboy since Devin Moore carried the ball 32 times at Tennessee in 2008. Hill has rushed for more than 100 yards seven times in his career and in seven of his last 10 games. He is the first 200 yard rusher against App State since 2005.
Coffman finished the day 14-for-19 for 155 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Gentry led the Wyoming receiving corps with three catches for 77 yards.
The Cowboys return to action next Saturday visiting Air force for an 8:15 p.m. MT kick at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colo.