While the campus played host to alumnus for homecoming weekend, Jimmy Young was throwing a coming out party of his own.
The sophomore wide receiver posted a school record 226 receiving yards on five catches for three touchdowns in the Frogs’ 54-7 rout of the University of Wyoming Cowboys.
“It feels great, but it’s going to be something I have to forget about here in these next weeks and just put my focus on UNLV,” Young said.
Quarterback Andy Dalton found a wide open Young down the middle of the field on the fourth play from scrimmage for a 60-yard touchdown. With 9:03 left in the second quarter, Young made his second trip to the end zone on a 55-yard strike from Dalton on the same playcall, Dalton said.
“They were going to a cover three so we were hitting them with an inside vertical,” Dalton said. “They couldn’t get the safety over in time so we kept hitting them on a big play.”
The two hooked up again late in the third quarter on a 39-yard touchdown pass.
“He kept getting open and it kept working so we kept getting him the ball,” Dalton said.
Dalton completed 16 of 22 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns. He added 21 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
A 65-yard catch-and-run by Young, his longest reception of the night, set up Dalton for his one-yard rushing touchdown.
Head coach Gary Patterson said Wyoming was No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference in pass defense entering the game.
The sophomores weren’t the only ones providing the fireworks. With 7:12 left in the first half, senior running back Aaron Brown took a kickoff 85 yards up the middle of the field for a touchdown.
“We were kind of emotionally down,” Brown said. “We didn’t come up just charged like we were last week against BYU. We knew that we had to get some kind of spark.”
Brown said he was frustrated after running out of bounds on long returns against the University of Oklahoma and BYU.
The return team broke the huddle on “spark,” Brown said, and the touchdown return proved to be just that after the Cowboys lone touchdown.
Following the return, the defense forced four punts and turnovers on a fumble recovery by defensive end Wayne Daniels and an interception by cornerback Greg McCoy.
Freshman Antoine Hicks blocked Austin McCoy’s fourth quarter punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety, which set up Brown for a 54-yard return on the ensuing safety placekick. Brown assumed the role of punt returner with sophomore Jeremy Kerley limited to holding on field goals.
