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Despite a rather inauspicious beginning to his college career, Brett Smith quickly redeemed himself and proved he can be a major college quarterback.
Smith, in his first college game, threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Robert Herron with 22 seconds left to lift Wyoming to a 35-32 victory over Weber State on Saturday night.
The score capped a 13-play, 73-yard drive that started with 2:12 left in the game. The drive included a 19-yard pass play on 4th and 11 from Smith to Chris McNeill that moved the Cowboys down to the Wildcats' 9-yard line.
''I think that I've been dreaming about this since I was 2,'' Smith said. ''I've never been in a situation with 2 minutes left, and you have to come from behind and score.''
Smith, who beat out another freshman and a walk-on junior college transfer for the starting job, completed 27 of 41 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran in for a score.
Cowboys coach Dave Christensen said he was pleased with Smith's performance, especially on the winning drive.
''When a quarterback goes in with 2 minutes to go, one timeout and trying to come from behind, it's a defining moment,'' Christensen said after the game. ''You have to define your career and what you're going to do as a player, and I think that Brett did that tonight in this situation.''
Smith found Herron, who caught seven passes for 104 yards and two TDs, in the back corner of the end zone.
''When I looked at the defense, they were in man on that last play,'' he said. ''Rob had a man on him one-on-one, and with his speed I knew he would be the guy.''
His overall performance and the last-second heroics were particularly impressive because of how the game began for Smith.
His first pass attempt was intercepted by a defensive lineman when the ball slipped out of Smith's hand. The turnover resulted in a Weber State touchdown.
But Smith recovered on Wyoming's next series, leading a six-play, 76-yard drive that ended with him scoring on a 1-yard run. Smith keyed the drive with a 43-yard pass to Alvester Alexander and a 28-yard pass to Brandon Miller.
Despite his heroics, Smith recognized he has a lot to improve on.
''I got a lot of things to fix up,'' he said.
Christensen said the team as a whole has a lot of room for improvement.
Wyoming's defense gave up 541 yards to Weber State, which plays in the lower division in the Big Sky Conference.
''We're going to continue to get better each week, and I'm certainly pleased with a lot of areas,'' Christensen said. ''We need to clean things up defensively because I felt we gave up too many big plays.''
