Cowboys earn trip to Vegas

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Wyoming had ridden the sturdy shoulders of Josh Wallwork for too long, and it was going to take more than a gimpy knee for coach Joe Tiller to pull him.

Wallwork injured his left knee early in the third quarter, and after returning to the game he suffered a fumble and two interceptions on the Cowboys' next three series as Colorado State rallied for 24 straight points.

But Tiller stayed with his senior quarterback, and his faith was rewarded. Wallwork led the Cowboys to two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including a 96-yard drive to the winning score with 1:48 left, in a 25-24 win at Fort Collins on Saturday.

Coupled with San Diego State's 44-42 loss to UNLV later in the day, it gave Wyoming the Western Athletic Conference's Pacific Division title and a trip to Las Vegas for the WAC championship game on Dec. 7.

The Cowboys will meet the winner of this week's Brigham Young-Utah game.

"Every time our coaches suggested we pull Josh, I told them, 'Let's go one more series,'" Tiller said. "They we'd turn the ball over again."

Finally, Tiller told his coaches they were going to live or die with Wallwork. "I think the adrenaline really carried Josh," Tiller said.

Wallwork completed six of nine passes for 67 yards and ran for 8 yards more on the clinching drive, which ended with Marques Brigham's 6-yard scoring run.

Wallwork completed 30 of 42 passes for 366 yards for the Cowboys (10-1 overall, 7-1 in the WAC), who climbed from No. 23 to No. 20 in the latest Associated Press poll.

CSU (7-5, 6-2), which had the look of a team of destiny in recent weeks, failed in its bid for a third straight WAC title.

In other WAC action Saturday, Brigham Young routed Hawaii 45-14 in Honolulu in a game marred by several brawls in the stands, Air Force rallied from a 28-point deficit to beat Fresno State 44-38 in overtime in Fresno, Rice downed Texas Christian 30-17 in Fort Worth, and Tulsa beat Texas-El Paso 38-21 in El Paso.

In a non-league game, No. 15 Washington whipped San Jose State 53-10 in Seattle. Utah, New Mexico and Southern Methodist were idle.