Tyler Hughes had marched Wyoming into Central Michigan territory with 1:17 left, when he threw into the end zone and Kameran Hayward caught it. It was his second interception of the fourth quarter. The first, at 8:18, came on first down at the CMU 37 with, as Jay Sawvel put it afterward, "the back's wide open in the flat and that's another first down." On the end-zone throw Sawvel was blunter. "They fall off in a goal line coverage and we throw the ball, it's a misread." Central Michigan won 24-10, Wyoming fell to 1-2, and Hughes finished 14-of-30 for 173 yards with no touchdown passes and five interceptions on the season.
The frustrating part is that the rest of that second half was fine. Hughes ran 10 times for 78 yards, tight end Kyle Frendt caught four balls for 95, Markell Holman scored from 6 yards out to open the fourth quarter, and Wyoming produced roughly 229 of its 342 yards after halftime. Sawvel said the Cowboys were "much better in the second half" but made "a couple of critical mistakes." That is the whole season in one sentence. Wyoming is averaging 14.7 points per game through three games, below the 16.0 it managed in 2025. Sawvel called the offense "too much of our own worst enemy far too often" and specified it was "not a knock on" coordinator Christian Taylor.
Why the Central Michigan tape doesn't preview Saturday
What actually lost that game was the run defense. Central Michigan carried 59 times for 339 yards, 5.7 a pop, with quarterback Angel Flores going 28 for 163 and two touchdowns. Wyoming recorded two tackles for loss, and 7220 Sports counted nine missed tackles. Sawvel said flatly, "We didn't play the power-read game very well," and that Wyoming has "to be a lot better at and schematically a lot better with" things defensively.
Here is the twist that should shape how you watch Saturday. Hawai'i does not play that way. The Rainbow Warriors rank 107th nationally in total offense at 346.3 yards a game but 41st in passing at 269.3, while Wyoming's defense ranks 128th against the run and 27th against the pass. The unit that just got shredded gets a break. The unit that has been Wyoming's best gets the fight, and it gets it shorthanded. Cornerbacks Tyson Shamsid-Deen and Kendall Griffin will both undergo a procedure on their hand and will be unavailable for the Hawaii game. Both outside spots, at once, against the one kind of offense that can exploit them.
So the 27th-ranked secondary number on the page is not the secondary that will be on the field. Expect Hawai'i to complete passes. That is not the disaster scenario. The disaster scenario is Wyoming trading empty possessions while it happens.
What to actually watch
Wyoming hosts Hawai'i on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1 p.m. in Laramie on The CW Network, the 101st Homecoming, a Gold Out at War Memorial, and the Mountain West opener. Hawai'i took the Paniolo Trophy back with a 27-7 win last Nov. 29, holding Wyoming to a pick-six while Micah Alejado threw for 289 yards and two scores. This is the first chance to take it back, and the model gives the Cowboys about a 39% shot.
Watch the finishing, not the yardage. Wyoming moved the ball at Central Michigan; it just kept handing possessions back. If Hawai'i is going to score in the 20s through the air against two backup corners, Wyoming's offense has to convert the drives it earns rather than end them in the end zone with the wrong throw. Frendt is the most reliable answer in the passing game, and Hughes' legs are a real weapon when he isn't forcing it downfield.
Hughes has taken every quarterback snap in all three games, and there is no visible relief behind him. Landon Sims tore an ACL on Nov. 1, 2025, was limited through spring practice and was expected to rejoin the quarterback competition in August, but he has not played. Whatever Hughes does with the ball Saturday is what Wyoming gets. Up front, there is another complication. Starting center Jason Maciejczak tore his ACL against Northern Colorado and is out for the season, with Chandler Donaway now the center after playing all 59 snaps in Michigan.
And listen to what Sawvel said after the loss, because Saturday is where it gets answered or doesn't. "What we didn't do is respond to adversity when we got to that in the certain point in the first half the way we needed to," he said. "By and large there's maturity on the team, but our leadership, it's got to be better." He added, "I don't want to say it's a confidence problem. I think there's a resilience issue to us right now a little bit when things don't go right." Wyoming trailed 17-0 at halftime against Central Michigan. With a Homecoming crowd and the trophy on the line, if the Cowboys fall behind Saturday, you'll see immediately whether that resilience is real.
The stakes beyond the trophy are modest and worth being honest about. Wyoming's conference-title-game odds sit near 4% if it wins Saturday and barely above half a percent if it loses. A win makes this a 2-2 season with a trophy in the case and a long league schedule ahead; a loss makes it 1-3 with the Paniolo staying put. That gap is bigger emotionally than it is mathematically, and that's fine. This is the week Wyoming gets to decide what its October looks like.
Watch Hughes on third down. That is where Wyoming has been giving drives away, and Saturday is where the Cowboys can start keeping them.
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