2010 Wyoming Cowboys Football Preview

2009 Results: 7-6, Won New Mexico Bowl vs. Fresno State

Head Coach: Dave Christensen (2nd year @ Wyoming, 7-6 Overall)

Home Venue: War Memorial Stadium (30,514), Laramie, Wyoming

It was a great debut season for new Head Coach Dave Christensen as the Cowboys earned their first bowl berth since 2004. Wyoming capped off a great start to the Christensen era by upsetting heavily favored Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl. Will the Cowboys be able to continue their success in 2010 now that they’re not going to sneak up on anyone?

OFFENSE

The biggest surprise of the 2009 season was the play of sophomore quarterback Austin Carta-Samuels, who threw for nearly 2000 yards and 10 TDs against only 5 interceptions as a true freshman! He was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year for his performance and should flourish this season under Christensen’s touted QB coaching abilities. Remember, this is the same coach who molded Chase Daniels into a Heisman contender at Missouri.

He’ll rely heavily on senior David Leonard (77 catches, 706 yards, 3 TDs), who was a 2nd team All-Conference choice last season. However, it looks like a plethora of sophomores will fill the rest of the key roles at the skill positions, including starting tailback Alvester Alexander (640 yards, 7 TDs).

The line is a bit more veteran and will feature three returning starters. However, the ‘Boys do lose two multi-year starters and could end up continuing the sophomore theme as center Nick Carlson has a chance to be one of three starters in his class on the line.

It is very important to remember that last season’s offense struggled, producing only 18 points per game. Furthermore, this is going to be a very young offense and while Carta-Samuels shows lots of promise there will likely be some growing pains. Expect a more productive offense than 2009 but I don’t see Christensen’s offense reminding anyone of his days as Missouri’s offensive coordinator just quite yet.

DEFENSE

Wyoming can thank their defense for their strong 2009 result. The Cowboys finished in the middle of the Mountain West pack with 27.3 points per game but they forced a lot of turnovers and managed a decent pass rush. However, Wyoming has so much production returning (seven of their top eight tacklers!) that things look bright this fall.

Up front, the Cowboys enacted one of the most radical position changes in college football this spring. Junior linebackers Josh Biezuns and Gabe Knapton, who combined for 193 tackles last season, are now the starting defensive ends! Clearly the Cowboys are going for a mobile front as both players weigh less than 250 pounds. However, they did allow a lot of yardage on the ground last season so going undersized might actually work for them.

Wyoming couldn’t have made the moves that they did were they not confident in their ability to replace nearly 200 tackles worth of production at linebacker. Junior Brian Hendricks was the team’s 3rd leading tackler with 116 stops and sophomore Ghaali Mohammed (21 tackles) impressed in limited action. With so much mobility on hand, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Wyoming actually improve against the run.

As for the secondary, the good news is that the ‘Boys return all four starters. The bad news is that this group allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete over 64 percent of their pass attempts. However, the Gipson brothers at cornerback have five years of starting experience together, senior safety Chris Prosinski was a 2 nd Team All-MWC choice with 140 tackles and sophomore Shamiel Gary (98 tackles, 3 INT) was a 1st Team Freshman All-American! This secondary can only get better and that’s a great sign for an improved Wyoming defense.

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SCHEDULE

Wyoming has a tough non-conference schedule. While they open with D-1AA Southern Utah, they follow that almost certain victory with games against Texas and Boise State, virtually assured losses. The Cowboys also don’t have an off week and face conference powers Utah, TCU and BYU in three consecutive weeks! There is no doubt that this is a much tougher schedule than the one they faced in 2009.

OUTLOOK

The Cowboys look to be an improved team in many aspects. Their secondary should be very good and their more mobile front could improve their performance against the run. On top of that, Carta-Samuels is a rising star that could eventually lead Wyoming towards the top of the league. However, this is going to be a very young team this season, especially on offense, and that could mean more bad turnovers. Furthermore, while I like the idea of the smaller, more mobile front, there is no question that it is a risky move to turn two linebackers into defensive ends. Finally, a very tough schedule is the final blow that leads me to believe that Wyoming is going to fail to match last year’s results and fall just short of bowl eligibility.

PREDICTED RESULT: 5-7 (3-5 Mountain West)