Laramie, Wyo. • It wasn’t the airtight performance BYU hoped for against a struggling Wyoming team.
But the Cougars still cruised to a 34-14 win over their former conference rival in what could be their final trip to War Memorial Stadium after 102 years of playing each other.
Quarterback Jake Retzlaff was up and down in a 291-yard performance. His stat line showed three touchdowns and one interception. He also had 61 yards on the ground.
But the turnover column could have been far uglier. Retzlaff threw four passes in the first half that could have been intercepted. One was dropped by Wyoming’s Wrook Brown without a BYU receiver in sight. Another could have gone for a pick-six if a screen pass wasn’t tipped.
Retzlaff had bright spots too. He had nine passes of 15-plus yards. Late in the third quarter, he put together a scoring drive almost by himself. He scrambled for 28 yards and then followed it up with a 20-yard touchdown to Darius Lassiter while evading pressure.
He finished 22-of-36 with a QB rating of 151.
Regardless of anything BYU did, any notion that Wyoming — now 0-3 including a home loss to FCS Idaho — could threaten the Cougars was put to bed quickly.
The Pokes did not put up a first down until 46 seconds left in the first quarter. Wyoming quarterback Evan Svoboda finished 14-of-32 for less than 150 yards. He missed open receivers almost all night as Wyoming barely inched past 200 total yards of offense.
After BYU went up 14-0, Wyoming put together a rare scoring drive of 75 yards. It was aided by two BYU penalties that bailed the Cowboys out of third-and-longs.
But the Cougars responded with a field goal and a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Keelan Marion. That broke open the game to a three-score lead. Wyoming didn’t have enough offense to climb back into it.
BYU is 3-0 for the second straight year. It will open Big 12 play next week against Kansas State.