LARAMIE - Wyoming called it simply Round Three all week.

The Cowboys never expected to find themselves flat on the mat though.

Struggling and apparently left for dead at halftime on Saturday, UW finally showed signs of life and bounced back at the bell with a game-winning field goal to cap a 16-13 win over North Dakota State at War Memorial Stadium.

"This is the first time maybe since 2,008 years ago that somebody else rose from the dead," UW coach Joe Glenn said. "We were out, there was just hardly anything left in our locker room at halftime."

The Cowboys eventually found something, methodically digging out of a 13-point hole that brought both the boo-birds and the buzzards out in Laramie.

UW was scoreless at halftime and hardly delivered on its promise to open up the offense.

The defense created a turnover and largely left the Cowboys with good field position, but even the strength of the team had a lackluster first half.

The special teams weren't all that impressive either, and on the heels of last week's disaster against Air Force, it certainly wasn't a stretch to write off the season given the struggles against a Football Championship Subdivision member heading into the locker room.

Somehow they saved it when they came back out.

"We just tried to stay focused, that's the main thing," defensive end Mitch Unrein said. "You can't get down on the offense, they can't get down on the defense, and that's what we pride ourselves on this year.

"Not trying to blame anybody for anything, mistakes happen. That's the game of football. We just tried to go out there and execute like we knew we could. We knew we were the better team, and at the end we finally came through."

There was plenty of reason to doubt the Cowboys were better than the gritty Bison, and it took virtually every second to dispatch the top-ranked team in the FCS.

But UW asserted itself in the running game and took control of the clock.

The Cowboys defense put the clamps on the Bison and grabbed two second-half interceptions - including a pivotal one by Derrick McMahen with less than two minutes left in the game.

That pick set up the unit that gave UW its most unlikely edge, giving Jake Scott and the special teams a chance to win the game with a 28-yard field goal with four seconds left.

"(The Bison) did what we thought they could," UW safety Chris Prosinski said. "We picked it up, won on a field goal. It's all good.

"They were no cupcake. We were ready, had a good game plan, made some adjustments and got it done. We needed a win bad. We needed to get this team on the right path, get rejuvenated at practice and go into next week to get ready for BYU. This is big for this team."

Particularly since the Bison were on the brink of providing a blow that would have been every bit as sizeable.

The Cowboys certainly didn't pick up a knockout by any stretch of the imagination, but they at least have a couple decisions to their credit now.

"In the end it was a staredown, and Wyoming at home with a home crowd and the people cheering came out with the victory," Glenn said. "Even that close.

"They were putting it on us pretty good. But it took a hell of a fighter to get off the canvas at halftime and come back and fight the last six rounds and win the game in the 12th round. I have a lot of respect for my team; they played their hearts out. They were dead, just could have shoveled it on them. They rose from the dead."

The program is breathing again.

Just in time for Round Four.

Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 at austin.ward@trib.com.

Cowboys Tracker

n SATURDAY: Wyoming 16, North Dakota State 13.

n RECORDS: Cowboys (2-1, 0-1 Mountain West Conference); Bison (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley Football Conference).

n ATTENDANCE: 19,156.

n NUMBERS GAME: Maligned in the preseason, kicker Jake Scott delivered a perfect 3-for-3 performance that included the game-winning field goal from 29 yards with four seconds left.

n HE SAID IT: "They were dead, just could have shoveled it on them. They rose from the dead." - UW coach Joe Glenn.

n UP NEXT: The Cowboys are back in the Bowl Subdivision and the conference on Saturday, hitting the road for the first time at rival BYU.