Football season is here Cowboy fans!  As the season is ready to begin next weekend, August 30th, vs Ohio University, a team the Cowboys defeated last year in Ohio, they have a new quarterback going into this season. The Cowboys will be rolling out Dax Crum as the starting quarterback, who surpassed incumbent starter Karsten Sween. Joe Glenn decided on Crum for a variety of reasons, but Crum definitely had the better fall camp, and showing that he could adapt to Bob Cole's new spread offense. Crum is a sophomore transfer from Mesa Community College. The highlights from the first two Cowboy scrimmages was the Cowboy defense. Looking sturdy as ever, this could be Mike Breske's finest defense in the brown and gold. Junior John Fletcher has been named a pre-season Outland Trophy candidate, the award going to the best interior lineman in the country.

 

Aside from Dax Crum throwing the ball, the Cowboys figure to rely heavily on their "thunder and lightning" combo of Wynel Seldon and Devin Moore. The senior pair are looking to carry the Cowboy offense if the passing game can't get off the ground. A worry for the Cowboys, after a stellar season by Billy Vinnedge last year, is the kicking game. The Cowboys are looking at three kickers, Austin McCoy, Nick Landess of Casper, and transfer Cody Bousema who walked on for the Cowboys after transferring from Ellsworth Community College in Iowa.  Right now Joe Glenn is leading towards Austin McCoy, even though he only hit 50% of his field goals in the second of the Cowboy scrimmages. Next weekend's game kicks off at 12:00pm inside of War Memorial Stadium. The came can be found on a lot of Wyoming's AM radio stations, as well as TV on The MTN. 

 

Wyoming wrestling has hired their new head coach, Mark Branch, coming in from Oklahoma State University. Branch comes from a great deal of success at OSU where he wrestled and coaching the Cowboys to consecutive national championships. Branch was the high profile candidate that the University was looking for to replace Steve Suder, who coached the Cowboys for almost 20 years. The Cowboys have been gaining national recognition for the recruiting class they brought in this year, so it's no surprised that Branch would want to come to Wyoming where he could see success immediately with the kids that are coming in. Branch was coached by one of wrestling's all-time great wrestlers, and probably the most legendary (aside from Dan Gable), John Smith. Branch is a four time All-American, four time national finalist, and Big XII athlete of the year. 

 

The Cowboy and Cowgirl basketball schedules have been released, and the Cowgirls are poised to make another run to the NCAA's this year, while the Cowboys schedule has them facing three Division II schools and a couple of lower-tier Div. 1 schools. The Cowgirls schedule highlights include a trip to Missoula, MT to face the Lady Griz, also a NCAA tournament team last year, a home and home with Gonzaga, a trip to Eugene, OR to face the Ducks, and a home contest to face Boise State.  The Cowboys basketball schedule highlights include a road contest with Boise State, Loyola Marymount on the road, at UCLA, and at Utah State twice. The Cowboys, who will have to be almost flawless, might have a tough road to the NCAA tournament due to schedule RPI, while the Cowgirls should be in good position for another run similar to last year.