SAN DIEGO — The Wyoming Cowboys’ offense was stifled by one of the nation’s top defensive units in a 24-7 loss to San Diego State on Saturday night inside Snapdragon Stadium. The loss dropped Wyoming to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in Mountain West play, while the Aztecs improved to 7-1 and remained unbeaten in conference action at 4-0.

“First of all, credit to Coach (Sean) Lewis and their team,” Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said. “That’s a really good football team that we played tonight. There’s a reason they have the record they have. There was going to be a narrow window, narrow lanes to win that game. When you get to that, the team that makes the least mistakes wins, and we made too many mistakes tonight that gave them points and took points away from us.”

Wyoming managed just 185 total yards of offense, including 96 yards passing and 89 rushing. The Aztecs posted 390 total yards, splitting evenly with 194 rushing and 194 passing.

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The Cowboys’ defense forced two turnovers, as redshirt freshmen Tegen Seeds and Justin Taylor each recorded their first career interceptions. Seeds’ pick was the first by a Wyoming defensive tackle since 2023. Linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz led the team with 10 tackles.

“I thought defensively we did what we needed to do to win the game, to give us a chance to win the game,” Sawvel said. “The stop right before halftime, I’m out there telling them make sure this turns into a field goal, don’t give them a touchdown. Evan Eller is like, ‘We’re going to get a takeaway,’ and then we got a takeaway. With the way we were playing defensively in the third and fourth quarter, we gave ourselves enough opportunities to potentially have the ball, kick field goals and get it to a one-score game. We made too many mistakes offensively, and that’s kind of where we’re at, and it’s a frustrating thing.”

Wide receiver Michael Fitzgerald led the Cowboys with three receptions for 46 yards. Quarterback Kaden Anderson threw for 93 yards and three interceptions, while Landon Sims rushed for 52 yards before leaving the game in the first half due to injury.

Wyoming struck first on its opening possession, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass from Sims to Sam Scott. The drive included a 37-yard run from Sims to set up the score.

San Diego State tied the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter after an interception set up a short scoring drive. Another Wyoming turnover led to an Aztec field goal, giving SDSU a 10-7 lead with 10:52 remaining in the opening half.

The Aztecs extended their lead to 17-7 before halftime on a seven-yard touchdown run by Jordan Napier. The teams combined for five turnovers in the first half.

Neither team found the end zone in the third quarter, but the Aztecs controlled the tempo down the stretch to secure the 24-7 victory.