This season had some good along with the bad and absolutely horrific of the final game of the season. That all being said I thought I would look at the positives of the season as we look ahead to the bowl game.
1. Coach bohl has gotten us to the post season for two consecutive years for the first time in a VERY VERY long time. Does that make us relevant on the national level? No, but among our peers in the greater five conferences it moves us in the direction of respectability.
2. We had several games wherein our defense completely and utterly dominated. When was the last time you could say that about a wyoming defense? I loved watching us completely dismantle New Mexico, Air Force, Colorado State, and our defense kept us extremly close in EVERY conference game despite our offensive short comings.
3. In almost every loss with the exception of Oregon, We were in that game and could have won if we made just a few more plays. Boise we were leading going into the 4th quarter, Fresno was within one score and with a few bounces we win that game, even the final score in Iowa was misleading as we had one drop in the endzone and the whiffed punt that gave them a score before halftime. We had many very close games and very few blowout losses. Even the painful loss in San Jose was a 52 yard field goal that went off the crossbar from going into overtime. We are so close from being in the championship game for the second consecutive season.
4. This team sports 3 guys who all will be on NFL squads in the future and coach bohl is starting to pile up NFL guys in his tenure. I think that he has an eye for talent that gets overlooked and I think that can't be discounted when talking about this coaching staff.
Is this a finished product? No. That being said, I do like the overall direction the program is moving and I don't know that Smith is the future qb at Wyoming going forward. We have a great couple of qb prospects coming into camp to compete next year for playing time and I'm confident this staff will have one of our qb's ready for the next year.
I'm not going to predict the outcome of our bowl game as there is a lot of unknowns but I think that this is Allens last game and I think he plays completely healed up from his injury.
Reflection on the season
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pokefanchaz7
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ragtimejoe1
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It is entirely possible that this is the new bottom for WYO football. So, instead of assuming this is the ceiling, think about this as our new bad. If the latter proves to be true, I'll take it happily.
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pokefanchaz7
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I see more positives then negatives myself. I know that loss last week hurt but I don't feel like 4-5 steps back is fair. I think 2 steps forward one step back is probably fair. We still won more then we lost, we still are going bowling, and 7 wins is the third best win total in the last ten years. Criticism of the team is fair but you have to give credit where credit is due
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ItSucksToBeACSURam
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I agree. Yes there are some glaring deficiencies but the positives of this young team far out weigh them.pokefanchaz7 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:34 amI see more positives then negatives myself. I know that loss last week hurt but I don't feel like 4-5 steps back is fair. I think 2 steps forward one step back is probably fair. We still won more then we lost, we still are going bowling, and 7 wins is the third best win total in the last ten years. Criticism of the team is fair but you have to give credit where credit is due
I think Bohl will look at the improvement based on a smart hire last offseason and will make changes going into next year. I can't say he'll fire Vigen but would not be surprised to see changes to who calls plays or maybe bringing in a consultant or something. I just can't see Bohl being happy with the offensive abyss we fell into this season. It can't all fall on the shoulders of the players. A lions share of the blame has to fall on the coaches. Especially after seeing the turnaround of the defense by adding a GOOD coach. Schemes aren't nearly as important as the coach. Tampa 2 is Tampa 2 regardless but Hazelton brought something to the table that Stanard couldn't. The players responded to Hazelton and became a really solid unit. The offensive side of the ball needs a jolt too. I think Bohl will address it somehow.
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pokefanchaz7
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I can't explain that away at all. I will only say you have to look at the good as well as the bad. We beat a pretty good CSU team, we beat all of our rivals, returned the favor of humiliating New Mexico after they embarrassed us last year.
San Jose State was abysmal and embarrassing as well as fresh in our minds but consider the whole.
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LanderPoke
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ItSucksToBeACSURam
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It's not a stretch or B&G Glasses to say that with an offense ranked in the middle of FBS we finish the season 11-1, maybe undefeated. This season's schedule and our defensive turnaround lined up perfect had we had even a competent offense.LanderPoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:49 am4-5 steps back? lol. Step off the ledge. We will take 10 steps forward if we get a new offense
EDIT: We average 24 or more a game and we would have a great shot at 11-1. The only game we still would have lost was Oregon but would have forced atleast OT against Iowa and BSU and would have beat SJSU and FSU. We really walked a razor's edge this year.
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LanderPoke
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That's what absolutely kills me. Even if our offense was say the 10th worst instead of the absolute worst, DFL, we might be going to the access bowl. Kill me. How Vigen isn't fired yet is beyond my comprehension. (I like Vigen personally, I think he has a good eye for talent, obviously, and seems like a good man.) But his offense has been terrible 3 out of 4 years. We can't go where we want to go with that kind of terrible, crappy offense. It's never going to get better with the current coaching and playbookItSucksToBeACSURam wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:52 amIt's not a stretch or B&G Glasses to say that with an offense ranked in the middle of FBS we finish the season 11-1, maybe undefeated. This season's schedule and our defensive turnaround lined up perfect had we had even a competent offense.LanderPoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:49 am4-5 steps back? lol. Step off the ledge. We will take 10 steps forward if we get a new offense
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LanderPoke
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fwiw I though Cam was a decent QB. But maybe a couple years has made me remember him better than what he was.
Last edited by LanderPoke on Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Could add Josh Thompson to that list, but I only remember him starting one game. Air Force I believe it wasLanderPoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:25 amfwiw I though Cam was a decent QB. But maybe a couple years has made me remember him better.
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ItSucksToBeACSURam
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He started the Howdy Doody gamewyokoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:31 amCould add Josh Thompson to that list, but I only remember him starting one game. Air Force I believe it wasLanderPoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:25 amfwiw I though Cam was a decent QB. But maybe a couple years has made me remember him better.
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LanderPoke
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If Vigen is the OC that will be the best case scenario. I truly believe that we have big time talent on this team - even on the offense. I think we could see a turnaround in line with what we saw on defense if we get a new OC
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cowpoke pride
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I'm not sure about the 11-1 and access bowl talk. I never once, during the second half of the Iowa game thought we were going to come back. We got to their 35 yard line exactly twice all day. Overall, the season has to be considered a success just because we had our first back to back winning seasons in how long? The San Jose St loss puts a major damper on it though. I know, we were playing with a back up quarterback with an offense that was down right awful all year...with our starter. But Vegas still had us as a 20 point favorite with that back up.
Yeah and I remember he played against Nevada that year but don't think he startedItSucksToBeACSURam wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:02 pmHe started the Howdy Doody gamewyokoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:31 amCould add Josh Thompson to that list, but I only remember him starting one game. Air Force I believe it wasLanderPoke wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:25 amfwiw I though Cam was a decent QB. But maybe a couple years has made me remember him better.