For the first time all season the offense was hitting on allcylinders, thanks in large part to Lon Sheriff. The sophomore threwfor 317 yards and was 19-of-27 with his first two career touchdownpasses. Sheriff completed eight consecutive passes. He engineeredtouchdown drives of 86, 82 and 78, throwing just one interception inan otherwise outstanding performance.
Running backs: B+
Larry Ned’s first 13 carries (45 yards) of the game opened up theoffense and took all the pressure off Sheriff. Ned scored twotouchdowns and he finished with 59 yards on 26 carries and a fumble.James Truvillion had a solid all-around effort with two catches for27 yards and 25 yards rushing, along with some outstanding blocking.Garric Simmons and Jason Van combined for 49 yards of offense oneight touches.
Receivers: A+
Without a doubt the receivers had their
finest effort of the season. J.R. Tolver and Sean Piercecomplemented each other well as they combined for 11 catches for 203yards and two touchdowns. Tolver had a coming out party, settingcareer highs with seven catches and 129 yards and scoring atouchdown. With Tolver on the outside, Pierce had four catches for 74yards over the middle, including a 9-yard slant pass for a TD.Derrick Lewis had two catches for 47 yards including a 40-yardtouchdown. All tallied, the receivers caught 16 passes for 274 yardsand three TDs.
Offensive line: A
This group controlled the game when it wanted to. They providedholes for Ned to help move the offense early in the game and alsogave Sheriff plenty of time to make good decisions. This unit allowedjust one sack and helped the offense to a season-best 434 yards.Quick guard John Ingram provided a big lift and Raul Gomez, startingin place of Chester Pitts, had a key block on Ned’s first touchdown.
Defensiveline: A
Just how much fun did the defensive line have on Saturday?Wyoming’s leading rusher, Nate Scott, was held to minus seven yardsrushing while the team totaled 26 yards on 30 carries. Amon Arnoldhad another strong performance with two forced fumbles and aquarterback sack. Andrew Brigham also came through with his firstsack. The group totaled five tackles for losses.
Linebackers: A
Jomar Butler and Brian Berg each had seven tackles to lead thelinebacking corps. Each also managed a sack and Berg forced a fumblethat Wyoming was fortunate to recover. Dylan Robles added threetackles including one for loss.
Secondary: A
Wyoming’s aerial attack was held to just 158 yards passing despitehaving to throw for most of the contest. Donte Gamble came up withhis fourth turnover in five games (interception), had two passesdefended and more importantly didn’t allow the Cowboys any big plays.And, for the fifth straight game the opposition chose to avoid goingRicky Sharpe’s way. Strong safety Will Demps recovered a fumble toset up a scoring drive and had a tackle for a loss. DeAngelo Nedd hada fumble recovery.
Special teams: B
Overall good game for the kicking department. Brian Simnjanovskihad touchbacks on three of seven kickoffs and he also averaged awhopping 50.5 yards per punt. Nate Tandberg was perfect on 46 and29-yard field goal attempts and the punting unit netted 41+ yards perpunt. Justin Sisco had two punts, averaging 32 yards per punt. Pierceaveraged 11 yards per punt return.
Game: B-
Aztecs fans would give this an A+, but the game was far fromenthralling. Sheriff’s aerial mastery in the second and thirdquarters was inspiring and the SDSU defense did plenty of hitting.Still, the difference was 34 points, hardly meriting anything higherthan this grade.
— Compiled by Dan Hayes
