Wyoming Aims for Better Season

[MrTitleist]

From ESPN and Graham Watson:
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/ ... on-in-2010
For Wyoming coach Dave Christensen, the difference in this year’s spring football and last year's is like night and day.

When Christensen took over for Joe Glenn last year, he had to instill a different work ethic and level of discipline that the players weren’t used to. He lost some players who didn’t want to do the work and some whose bodies couldn’t handle the work, but he came out of the spring with a team that was better equipped to handle the rigors of the Cowboys’ brutal schedule.

While Christensen said he felt like the team bought in early, it wasn’t until after its New Mexico Bowl win against Fresno State that he saw the attitudes change. Players started to believe in Christensen and his staff because they’d seen tangible results. So, this offseason, the Cowboys have been dedicated to winter workouts and coming into spring practice, which started last Saturday, as a team ready to experience success on a consistent basis.

“The work ethic has been unbelievable,” Christensen said. “Our kids are working extremely hard and were much more athletic and much faster and a more explosive football team than we were a year ago. They’ve been through it, they know that it works and now they’ve bought in and they’re giving great effort.”

One of the biggest advantages this year will be an increase in talent and a steady quarterback situation. Last year, three quarterbacks duked it out in spring football and none of them ended up being the starter. Freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels took the reins late in nonconference play and led the Cowboys to their first bowl game and winning record since 2004.

Carta-Samuels earned Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year honors after throwing for 1,953 yards, 10 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

“I’d say he exceeded my expectations,” Christensen said of Carta-Samuels. “He did a nice job of directing the team, made great decisions with the football and being a playmaker with his feet to get out of trouble. Yeah, I’d probably say he did exceed my expectations.”

Carta-Samuels will have some extra help this year with junior college wide receivers Mazi Ogbonna and DeJay Lester and freshman running back Nehemie Kankolongo joining the mix.

The addition of some better playmakers means that Wyoming can actually expand its offense and not rely on Carta-Samuels so much. Christensen was not able to put his entire playbook in place as he was tailoring it to his personnel. But this year, Christensen is confident that he’ll have the people around Carta-Samuels to make the Cowboys even better than they were a year ago.

“It’s going to make it a little easier for [Carta-Samuels] not having to make all the plays,” Christensen said. “To have offensive success, you have to have a number of playmakers to get the ball in their hands. We can’t just rely on one guy. We need five or six guys to make that happen and I think we'll have those guys.”

[TwoTone]

Goddammit Im excited for September

[Asmodeanreborn]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Even though our team looks like it'll be better than last year, our schedule also gets tougher by quite a bit. Replacing Florida Atlantic with Toledo, and CU with Boise State... that's quite a bit tougher. Can we realistically beat Toledo? Heck yeah... but it's not going to be as "easy" as beating FAU.

On the positive side - we get Air Force and Utah at home.

[mrtnt3x]

With the piss poor effort of the mens basketball team, it only sweetens the pot for football, especially if they are winning.

BTW, is it football season yet?

[Asmodeanreborn]

With the piss poor effort of the mens basketball team, it only sweetens the pot for football, especially if they are winning.

BTW, is it football season yet?

I'm glad I can't stand basketball

[TheRealUW]

Going 6-6 and back to a bowl game this season would be a successful season. We were very, very close to being a 2-10 football team last year. The UNLV, FAU, SDSU, and CSU games were all very losable games. In fact, we won those 4 games by a combined 9 points. Lets not forget that we also got absolutely stomped by BYU, TCU, and Texas. Yes, all those teams were ranked very highly, but the reality is that if we expect to be a contender in the Mtn West, then we need to develop a top 25 program that can compete with the top teams in the nation on a consistent basis.

I would be happy seeing us more easily handle the same teams we beat last year and become more competitive with the teams we lost to. In other words, a more convincing 6-6 record would be a step forward in my opinion. A win over Air Force or Utah would be HUGE.

I hope I didn't dampen anyones optimism. I'm just trying to be realistic as to what I see as the most likely manifestation of the improvements we have made.

[Paul Roach Era]

Going 6-6 and back to a bowl game this season would be a successful season. We were very, very close to being a 2-10 football team last year. The UNLV, FAU, SDSU, and CSU games were all very losable games. In fact, we won those 4 games by a combined 9 points.

"Loseable" games? Every game is a loseable game. The fact that they won close games and some in comebacks should say alot about this coaching staff and players they've recruited. That CSU game and the final drive that went with it was one of the greatest in Poke history. It's a rivalry game, they are always "loseable"!

[TheRealUW]

"Loseable" games? Every game is a loseable game. The fact that they won close games and some in comebacks should say alot about this coaching staff and players they've recruited. That CSU game and the final drive that went with it was one of the greatest in Poke history. It's a rivalry game, they are always "loseable"!

Point taken. I do agree that those comeback wins showed a lot about the character of this team and should provide them with confidence for this season.

However, the fact that they were in the position to need a late comeback against those teams says a bit about where we are as a team as well. Our offense was still ranked last in both yards and points per game. Our defense was average. I was impressed with our D's ability to step up when it mattered most, but we need a more consistent effort from the D if we want to be a top tier team in the Mtn West. All I'm saying is we walked a very fine line between being 2-10 and 6-6. I think getting to 7 or 8 wins this season would be great, but I think its a bit unrealistic. As I said before, another 6-6 mark while showing more dominance over the poorer teams and showing we can at least be competitive with the big boys would still be quite an improvement. That's what I will be looking for. Anything less will be a disappointment and anything better would be icing on the cake, but of course...thats only my opinion.

[Adv8RU12]

I agree that 6-6 will be a successful season. The players will be better but the schedule is a lot tougher - maybe in the top 20 of toughness schedules. But 6-6 will almost certainly merit a bowl.

[laxwyo]

I agree somewhat. I think the fact we won games while having a fairly terrible offense says that we can improve even more than we expect. I would feel worse if we had the #1 offense and still went 6-6. We had a bad offense and barely lost to Utah and Airforce. The same respect, we barely beat SDSU, CSU, etc. I do agree that we need to pick up one or two more conference wins, most likely, against Airforce and hopefully against Utah. With that being said, therealuw is correct, we pick up a couple of conference wins but possibly drop a couple other non-conf. I think we SHOULD beat Utah and Airforce and then perhaps we pull one out against BYU (in provo...ugh). Then again, maybe we lose all the close games and the season looks bad. I think this team has more character than past teams to drop all the close games.

[mrtnt3x]

I read an article earlier this week about in DC second season all the players have completly bought into the system unlike last year were everyone was a little skeptical. Players are improved both physically and mentally this year over last, plus, we have ACS in a spring ball with some new weapons, Mazi, Lester, RB from Canada (don't want to mess his name up). The offense will be far better his year as the playbook opens up. Remember we were a power running team a year and a half ago. You can't go to spread overnight. With improved offense come improved defense. Boy I am getting excited just typing this up!

Go POKES!!!

[calpoke25]

TheRealUW is spot on. We walked a fine line last year. 6-6 this year with more competitive losses and more complete wins would be a huge step forward. The game I am really scared about is @Toledo, thats not a gimme. If we drop that game we most likely go 1-3 OOC and then we have to get 5 wins in the conference to get to 6-6. Thats a tall order.

By the same token, I would only say we have 3 "pencil-in"losses. @BYU, @Texas, @TCU. All other games are "winnable" in my opinion, but they will be tough. I hate putting BYU as a pencil-in loss, but until we even score a point on them, its hard for me to believe were going to beat them in Provo.

[fromolwyoming]

TheRealUW is spot on. We walked a fine line last year. 6-6 this year with more competitive losses and more complete wins would be a huge step forward. The game I am really scared about is @Toledo, thats not a gimme. If we drop that game we most likely go 1-3 OOC and then we have to get 5 wins in the conference to get to 6-6. Thats a tall order.

By the same token, I would only say we have 3 "pencil-in"losses. @BYU, @Texas, @TCU. All other games are "winnable" in my opinion, but they will be tough. I hate putting BYU as a pencil-in loss, but until we even score a point on them, its hard for me to believe were going to beat them in Provo.

Hell, if we score a point we would be improved there.

[Dread_Pirate_Cowboy]

I will be very happy with 6-6. We could have lost those 4, but we also could have easily won the air force game with 1 or 2 breaks. Towards the end of the season, we are also a better team than CU, not a 24 point dog.

That said, we could be better this season and end up 5-7.....brutal schedule! Kudos to DC for coaching to the personnel on his team.