Dec 21, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Jamaal Williams (21) scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Wyoming Cowboys during the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
SAN DIEGO — Jamaal Williams as he rushed for a game-high 210 yards and a touchdown to lead the Brigham Young Cougars to a win over the Wyoming Cowboys in the Poinsettia Bowl, 24-21 on Wednesday night.
The Cowboys (8-6) countered with Brian Hill. He ran for a touchdown, with 93 rushing yards.
BYU (9-4), which competes as an independent, won its fifth straight contest.
Wyoming, which lost to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference title game, ended the season with three-game losing streak.
BYU’s Tanner Mangum, in his first start this season, was 8-of-16 for 96 yards, with a touchdown and interception.
Josh Allen threw for two touchdowns while completing 17 of 32 passes for 188 yards. His second interception came late when Wyoming had advanced to the BYU 32.
Allen threw his second scoring pass to Tanner Gentry, from 23 yards, to get Wyoming to within 24-17 with two minutes remaining.
Allen clicked with Gentry, who finished with 113 receiving yards, on an 9-yard pass to slice BYU’s edge to 24-14 earlier in the quarter.
Williams stretched the Cougars’ advantage to 24-7 on a 36-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run.
Mangum hit Tanner Balderee on a 5-yard pass to push the Cougars’ lead to 17-7 late in the third quarter. The ball reached Balderee’s hands after ricocheting off numerous players in the end zone as Magum floated the pass into traffic.
The Cowboys pulled to within 10-7 on Hill’s 4-yard run midway through the third quarter. Hill scored his 22nd touchdown of the season when he moved the pile the final 2 yards for the score. The 16-play, 8:22 drive featured two fourth-down conversions, one coming on a 9-yard pass from Allen to Jacob Hollister and the other on an Allen sneak.
BYU extended its lead to 10-0 on Rhett Almond’s 27-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Wyoming got its second turnover of the first half when Andrew Wingard intercepted Mangum’s second-quarter pass. But again, it couldn’t capitalize.
The Cowboys attempted a 42-yard field goal by Cooper Rothe, but holder Nick Szpor mishandled the snap and threw an incomplete desperation pass.
Mangum rushed in from 3 yards, giving the Cougars a 7-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter. After Williams, who rushed for 121 first-half yards, was stopped for no gain, Mangum looked to pass. A hole appeared in the middle and he ran through it before diving into the end zone.
The wet conditions aided BYU in setting up the first score.
Before Mangum’s touchdown run, Cowboys punter Ethan Wood dropped the snap to give the Cougars possession deep in its territory.
Wyoming couldn’t convert an earlier turnover into points. Williams was stripped of the ball by Cassh Maluia and it was recovered by Lucas Wacha. But Wyoming returned the ball on downs.
NOTES: BYU and Wyoming first faced each other in 1922. Their pairing in the Poinsettia Bowl was their first meeting since 2010. … Playing as an independent, BYU beat the Pac-12’s Arizona, the Big Ten’s Michigan State and the SEC’s Mississippi State this season. … Wyoming, which finished in the Mountain West cellar last year, was in its first bowl game since losing to Temple in the New Mexico Bowl in 2011.
