On the Mustangs’ first scoring drive, Deonte Williams ripped off the longest run of his Cal Poly career. On the team’s next drive, he one-upped himself again. He and the Mustangs made the statement clear early on: This Football Championship Subdivision team wasn’t to be taken lightly.
In arguably the biggest game on the Mustangs’ schedule, the team paired Williams’ early momentum with a late defensive stand to fuel the Cal Poly football team to a 24-22 upset, its fourth win against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent since 2003, over the Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
Williams led the charge for Cal Poly, rushing for a game-high 187 yards with a touchdown early in the first quarter. The Mustangs (2-0) amassed a total of 325 yards on the ground thanks, in part, to Williams’ 19 carries and his third career 100-yard performance in a Cal Poly uniform.
It didn’t take long for Williams to do so. In just 69 seconds, Williams found the end zone with a 65-yard rushing score and then set up Cal Poly’s second touchdown on the next drive with a 74-yard effort that put the Mustangs in the red zone.
Redshirt freshman slotback Kristaan Ivory finished off the drive with a 9-yard run to put the Mustangs up 14-0 just five minutes in.
The Cowboys rattled off 15 straight points to take a 15-14 advantage at halftime, but Cal Poly regained the lead when Broadous hit Ivory on a short touchdown pass with five minutes to go in the third quarter.
Arkansas State transfer and junior kicker Bobby Zalud hit a 51-yard field goal attempt to seal the victory for the Mustangs.
The Cowboys, though, did come close to completing a fourth quarter rally. Wyoming running back Shaun Wick cut the lead to two with his third rushing touchdown of the game with 7:34 to play, but senior cornerback Nico Molino ended any threat of a Cowboys comeback with an interception in the last two minutes of the game.
Contrary to the Mustangs’ performance against San Diego last week, Cal Poly’s air attack sputtered on Saturday. Senior quarterback Andre Broadous threw for 34 yards and an interception — his second career pick as a Mustang.
The Cal Poly defense, however, stymied Wyoming’s own dynamic passing threat, allowing 137 yards from a Cowboys team that averaged more than 300 yards through the air in its first two games of 2012. The Cowboys were without sophomore quarterback Brett Smith, who was knocked unconscious in last week’s loss to Toledo. The starter and former freshman All-American led the Mountain West Conference in several passing categories coming into the weekend.