LARAMIE - Dax Crum met Joe Glenn with a mile-wide smile, a giant hug and a dose of gratitude.

"Thanks for the opportunity," Crum said to the Wyoming head coach as they met with a cheerful embrace near the locker room.

The starting quarterback didn't look particularly flashy or put up eye-popping numbers in his UW debut, but Crum is undefeated under center and led the game-winning drive.

"I'm just glad to have gotten through the first game," Crum said. "It was my first Division I start, so I'm glad to get that out of the way and I think I'm going to be a better player next week."

He was good enough Saturday to get a 21-20 victory over Ohio in the season opener.

Crum completed 14 of 22 passes for 111 yards. He threw a pair of interceptions, but also two touchdowns, including the game-winner that finished off an 84-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter.

"He has a lot of confidence in his ability, I think, and you need that in a quarterback," UW offensive coordinator Bob Cole said. "He could easily have hung his head and let everything go downhill, but that's a positive sign for our football team that he's not going to do that."

Crum was 9-of-15 at halftime, but two of his passes wound up in the hands of the Bobcats.

The first interception - his only real mistake of the day - came midway through the second quarter when he rolled left and threw across his body while trying to sneak a pass through traffic.

The pick led to an Ohio field goal that gave the Bobcats a 17-14 lead that they held into the fourth quarter.

On the very next drive, Crum fired a laser that went off the hands of tight end Chris Sundberg and into the waiting arms of Ohio's Neil Jereb.

"I try to stay even-keel out there because everyone makes mistakes and throws picks," Crum said.

His time to shine finally came early in the fourth quarter when UW trailed 20-14.

The Pokes' running game shouldered most of the load on the game-winning drive as Crum had to throw just three passes.

But none was as big as his final toss of the game on a play that was anything but scripted.

Wide receiver Donate Morgan was supposed to run a comeback route, but when he saw that his defender was expecting it, Morgan threw a hand in the air and headed straight for the end zone.

Crum saw the signal and hurled a 23-yard strike that hit Morgan perfectly in stride for the touchdown.

"It was a great ball by Dax," Morgan said. "I seen I had beat (the cornerback) so I went deep on him and was planning that (Crum would) throw the ball. He did and that won the game for us."

And that's all Glenn could ask of the junior college transfer who beat out veteran starter Karsten Sween in the weeks leading up to the season.

Glenn noted that Crum isn't John Elway, but later compared him to baseball great Greg Maddux.

"Dax is the winning pitcher," Glenn said. "Greg Maddux is a winning pitcher all the time and the other guy might be better and bigger and you throw away the stats and Maddux wins.

"That's kinda what we did today."

If Crum continues winning, there will be plenty more hugs.

And he'll never have to worry about losing the opportunity.

Contact sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at (307) 266-0578 or eric.schmoldt@trib.com.