A lot of attention was given to the Cowboys after their 24-0 loss to Colorado about their inability to deal with man-to-man coverage from opposing defenses.

UW was much better in its 30-27 home win over UNLV. True freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels said two of his three touchdown passes to juniors David Leonard and Travis Burkhalter were “man-to-man beaters” meaning his receivers beat their guy in man coverage.

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Coach Dave Christensen took the blame for sophomore punter Austin McCoy’s incomplete pass on fourth down in the second quarter.

“It was a lack of communication on the fake. We didn’t get it to everybody and that was a mistake on my part,” he said.

McCoy said the fake was on at the time, but then called off by protector Weston Johnson. McCoy said he didn’t hear Johnson call off the fake.

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UW put an emphasis in practice about finishing strong, and it did as it outscored UNLV 17-14 in the second half . It was the frst time in this season UW outscored its opponent in the second half and fourth quarter.

“I was very pleased with the way we competed for 60 minutes and not30,” Christensen said.

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Some other quotes from after the game:

“He matured every single time he came off the field. He became a more mature competitor. It was awesome.” — Christensen on Carta-Samuels.

“The first drive of the game is not always my favorite drive. I like the third or fourth once you see what (the defense) is coming out in and adjust to it.” — Carta-Samuels.

“It was the kind of pass you think about the night before the game about 40 times in your head. When he threw it all I had to do was stick my arms out and catch it.” — Leonard on his 34-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

“I think that our conditioning level showed. We we were a much better conditioned football team, and I think 7,220 feet might have had something to do with it.” — Christensen.

“There wasn’t any doubt in my mind.” — Burkhalter on if he thought he got at least one foot in bounds on his 15-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, the first of his career. The play was reviewed by instant replay, but the call on the field was confirmed.

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See Monday’s paper about the interceptions and the turnovers the UW defense is racking up, and how the team and some individuals stack up in the national rankings.

Also, I am a Harris Poll voter and the first one of the season will be in Monday’s paper. See how the first one looks, as well as how I voted.

Dave Christensen was fired up after his first win in his first conference game as UW’s coach as the Cowboys beat UNLV 30-27 Saturday at Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium

But not just about that, but about what Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ed Graney wrote about Laramie and UW in the days prior to the game.

He whipped out a printed copy of the column out of his pocket prior to talking to the media after the game and he read excerpts from the column on how Graney didn’t speak highly of Laramie itself.

Graney also stated that Wyoming’s football team “stinks.”

“We take that stuff personally. … He said Wyoming stings, well, he stinks,” Christensen said.

To see the column, go to http://www.lvrj.com/sports/unlv-road-win-must-come-this-week-60602222.html

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How about the first start for true freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels.

24 of 37 for 234 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He orchestrated the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter that resulted in a field goal.

Carta-Samuels reminds you of the kid in the sandlot who draws up plays in the dirt and makes them work. In fact, that’s the kind of game he is used to playing.

“I’ve been doing that for a while,” he said. “Unfortunately, I had to do that a lot in high school so that’s normal to me.”

Carta-Samuels played the entire game and completed passes to eight different receivers.

This kid shows a lot of poise for an 18-year-old. I will be curious to see how he follows this up next week and in coming weeks. He faces a winless Florida Atlantic team next week as the Owls lost their home and Sun Belt Conference opener 27-25 Saturday to Louisiana-Monroe.

For more on Carta-Samuels, see my column in Sunday’s paper.

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An underrated part of the game for UW was the punting of sophomore Austin McCoy. Four of his five punts were 50 yards or more, including a long of 60.

His 39-yarder late in the game was his shortest, but it put UNLV back on its own 20 with just eight seconds to play.

Perhaps just concentrating on punting will be good for McCoy. He gave way to true freshman walk-on Ian Watts in terms of place-kicking. Watts made all three of his field goals.

McCoy made his first four field goals before two straight misses last week at Colorado. Hopefully Watts won’t follow suit.

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Word from the UNLV locker room was that a few players thought they might have come into this game not taking UW as seriously as they should.

Near the end of the game UNLV lined up for a game-tying 45-yard field goal, but was called for delay of game. Coach Mike Sanford said that was his fault.

The Rebels tried a 50-yarder, but the older couldn’t handle the snap.

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See Sunday’s paper for more UW-UNLV coverage, and thanks for all the participation on the live blog. Not sure why the scoreboard part kept screwing up in the second half, but will look in on it this coming week.