KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Just when it seemed it couldn't get any worse for Phillip Fulmer and Tennessee, Wyoming came to town.
Five days after Fulmer became a lame-duck coach, ousted effective the end of the season, the Volunteers lost 13-7 on Saturday to the Cowboys.
Wyoming came in a nearly four-touchdown underdog, the lowest scoring team in major college football and languishing near the bottom of the Mountain West Conference.
It seemed like a perfect opportunity for a homecoming pick-me-up for Fulmer and the Vols, who still had hopes of qualifying for a bowl.
Instead, the Vols (3-7) will be home for the holidays in the 17th and final season under the coach who led Tennessee to its last national title.
"Obviously it's been a really hard week on everybody," Fulmer said. "If anything, I should be apologizing to the fans and everybody for this whole week coming about."
Ward Dobbs returned an interception 24 yards for Wyoming (4-6), which improved to 3-1 against Southeastern Conference teams under coach Joe Glenn.
"They have a legendary coach," Wyoming quarterback Chris Stutzriem said of Tennessee. "They are playing with a lot of emotions, but never count out the boys from Wyoming. We never give up."
Glenn is trying to avoid his fourth straight losing season with the Cowboys and is no sure-thing to be back next season himself.
It was the first time the Vols lost to a Mountain West opponent and only the second time in history Tennessee has had seven losses in a season. The Vols have never had eight. They'll try to avoid that against Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
"In this day and age in college football anybody can beat you, especially if you help them," Fulmer said.
On Monday, an emotional Fulmer said he was being forced to resign at the end of the season, and the Vols players promised wins in their last three games to honor their beloved coach.
Tennessee defensive end Wes Brown struggled to find words as he faced reporters after the game, hanging his head and crying a bit.
"We're not going to make excuses," Brown said after gaining some composure. "It's been a tough week, but there's no excuse for how we played. No one wanted anything more than to win this game for coach Fulmer and these coaches. That's all I can say — it's been a tough week."
The Vols hadn't lost on homecoming since Miami beat them in 2002. The announced attendance for Saturday's game was 99,489, but Neyland Stadium, which seats 102,038, was only two-thirds full.
Wyoming came in averaging 11.7 points per game. Tennessee wasn't much better at 17 per game, so it was no surprise that neither offense did much.
On the first drive of the game, Mike Neuhaus picked off Tennessee quarterback Nick Stephens and ran 55 yards before being tackled at the Vols 4. On the next play, Stutzriem rolled out of the pocket and tossed to Greg Genho in the end zone.
Stephens was picked off by Dobbs with 9:03 left before halftime, and Dobbs' touchdown gave the Cowboys a 13-0 lead. Jake Scott missed the extra point attempt after missing a 31-yard field goal attempt wide left earlier in the quarter.
"We hadn't had a turnover for a while, so to get a couple and to have them mean so much was payback," Glenn said.
Looking for something to prod the offense after Stephens' second interception, Tennessee went to Jonathan Crompton, who began the season as the starting quarterback.
After a few successful running plays, Crompton underthrew a pass, was sacked for an 8-yard loss and overthrew Austin Rogers on third-and-19, drawing boos from the Tennessee fans.
Wyoming, ranked 111th in the nation in total offense, ran for 167 yards, including 98 by Devin Moore. Stutzriem finished 8-for-16 for 95 yards.
The Vols' only successful drive came on their first possession of the second half, helped by a 23-yard run by Lennon Creer. Crompton found Gerald Jones in the end zone on an 8-yard pass to make it 13-7 with 10:08 in the third quarter.
Tennessee had one last chance, but stalled at the Wyoming 47 on fourth-and-18 with just under two minutes to play.
Crompton finished 11-for-27 for 91 yards.
"I still think our defense played well enough for us again but we just didn't get it done offensively," Fulmer said. "Again."
AIR FORCE 38, COLORADO STATE 17: At Air Force Academy, Colo., just in time for their showdowns with two ranked opponents, the Air Force Falcons have a new wrinkle to their ball-control offense: the quick strike.
They unveiled their alter ego Saturday night in a romp over Colorado State when freshman Asher Clark raced for touchdowns of 41 and 45 yards and Tim Jefferson hit Kyle Halderman with a 74-yard touchdown pass as the Falcons improved to 5-0 under their freshman quarterback.
"Everyone knows that Air Force can pound the ball and run off time," Halderman said. "But it helps when you know that when you need a score, you have that big play. And players can go out there and have fun and make plays all around instead of just pounding it 2 yards a pop."
Jefferson, who accumulated 171 yards and two TDs on 6-for-8 passing, said this newly discovered big play potential has two big benefits: it keeps defenses guessing and the Falcons' linemen from getting gassed.
"In our offense we definitely need the quick strike because it takes something off the offensive line," Jefferson said. "They're grinding every single play and it can wear them down."
The Falcons (8-2, 5-1 Mountain West), who host No. 17 BYU next week and finish up at No. 11 TCU, broke open a close game with two touchdowns in a span of 2:08 in the third quarter.
Clark's career-long 45-yard scamper gave the Falcons a 28-17 lead and came on the heels of linebacker Ken Lamendola's interception of Billy Farris at the Air Force 20-yard line that squelched the Rams' promising opening drive.
Then, cornerback Reggie Rembert picked off Farris' underthrown pass at the Rams 27 and returned it to the 9. Three plays later, Jefferson hit tight end Travis Dekker from 4 yards out to make it 35-17.
Ryan Harrison made it 38-17 with a 27-yard field goal, his school record 20th of the season, and the Falcons returned to their clock-eating ways when they regained possession with 9:21 remaining and ate up the rest of the clock.
The Rams (4-6, 2-4) began to fall apart when Farris' delay of game infraction late in the first half negated Gartrell Johnson's 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal. The 5-yard penalty forced the Rams to settle for Jason Smith's chip-shot field goal that pulled Colorado State to 21-17 at halftime.
Rams coach Steve Fairchild said that flag wasn't the key play, although players on both sides thought so.
"No. That's just one bonehead play," Fairchild said. "Yeah, it would have been nice to ram that ball in there and have a tie."
Fairchild said Farris got the call in time.
"I think he just didn't look at the time clock. Usually a quarterback is aware of that and can rush in and get it in. I thought he was going to rush it and get it off. By the time I realized what was happening I couldn't get to an official and call a timeout," Fairchild said. "That play wasn't the outcome."
But it did rattle the Rams and favor the Falcons.
"A stupid mistake," Farris called it. "I should have gotten the play off sooner. I didn't realize how little time on the clock there was. A stupid mistake. I don't know how much it took out of the team (but) we didn't do what we wanted to do after that."
The Rams never recovered.
"That was pretty crucial," receiver Dion Morton said. "That was dumb on our parts. That was bad clock management. It hurt us. The touchdown would have provided us with a confidence booster. The penalty seemed to take something out of us."
And it provided a boost for the Falcons.
"That gave us momentum," Lamendola said.
The Falcons needed just 10 seconds to break a 14-14 tie when Jefferson recognized the safeties biting down and hit Halderman in stride for a 74-yard TD between defenders Jake Galusha and Elijah-Blu Smith.
The Falcons also scored a touchdown on fourth down in the first half, only this one was a 41-yard run by Clark, who took Jefferson's perfectly timed pitch on fourth-and-3 and raced down the Rams' sideline to put Air Force on top 14-7.
"When you get less conservative with the game calling, you get more confidence," Jefferson said. "Coach let us open it up a little bit and he let us show what we can do. So, hopefully, in the upcoming weeks we can do that some more, because we're probably going to have to."