Coach hopes D can buy him time

[MrTitleist]

From Northern Wyoming Daily News:

LARAMIE (AP) — The offensive skills of Dave Christensen may have been what got him the head coaching job at Wyoming, but he knows the defense is what will get him wins, especially this season.

“I’ve always been an offensive coach, but I think our team understands and our defense understands that our success this year is going to come down to how well we play on defense,” Christensen said. “Great teams have great defenses.”

During fall practice last Saturday, Christensen could be seen hanging around the defensive unit during drills between the offense and defense.

The attention is not lost on the Cowboys defense.

“It’s always good to have him down there getting in our ear whether it be good or bad,” senior defensive lineman John Fletcher said. “He’s been a successful guy wherever he’s been and any advice that I can get from him, our defense can get from him, is only going to help us out in the end.”

Christensen came to Wyoming from Missouri where he was offensive coordinator and involved in creating the Tigers’ potent no-huddle, spread offensive attack. Last season, Missouri ranked No. 4 in the nation in passing offense, No. 6 in scoring offense and No. 8 in total offense.

Conversely, Wyoming’s offense was anemic, ranking last out of 119 major college teams in scoring last season at 12.67 points a game and 114th in passing at 117.7 yards per game.

But the no-huddle, spread scheme emphasizes the pass, while Wyoming last year under former coach Joe Glenn emphasized the run. The Cowboys in 2008 ranked 34th in the nation in rushing at 178.3 yards a game.

Making the transition to a spread passing attack will take time to bring in the right kind of players to run it and the defense will be asked to buy Christensen that time.

“We’ve got a lot of players coming back on our defense, a lot of experience and so it’s important that they understand that they’re going to have to play well for us this year,” Christensen said. “We’ll lean on them a little bit more than probably our offense.”

It’s a job the Cowboy defense is capable of handling.

Wyoming last season ranked No. 38 in total defense, giving up an average of 329.7 yards a game, and No. 31 in passing defense, surrendering 189.5 yards a game.

“If we can play great defense, great special teams, and protect the football, I think we’ll have a great shot every week,” Christensen said.

[McPeachy]

"Conversely, Wyoming’s offense was anemic, ranking last out of 119 major college teams in scoring last season at 12.67 points a game and 114th in passing at 117.7 yards per game."

That's depressing! But the future sure looks bright!

[MrTitleist]

Look at it like this: on offense, we can't do a whole lot worse! Rock bottom is already here.

[pokerupfront]

This is going to be a long season fellas.

[JimmyDimes]

This is going to be a long season fellas.

Please spare us this type of crap until we play a couple games. Sheesh!

[billings]

This is going to be a long season fellas.

OH BS.........(man what a downer)


5 -7 wins and much better ball. I think it will be fun watching them improve week to week and we will romp on CSU the final weekend to bring the boot home. I look forward to a solid season.

Poke fans are like the stock market... buy when they are down, sell when they are high. This season is BUY BUY BUY

[Adv8RU12]

This is going to be a long season fellas.

Please spare us this type of crap until we play a couple games. Sheesh!

Hold it! Hold it! I also think it is going to be a long season -- meaning that it will extend into bowl period. So there.

[pokerupfront]

Ok kids, realism is not allowed. Just make sure you are on board for the entire season and not just the first couple games. We want to see those buns in the seats even past the half way mark of the season, and no "fire the coach" cries from any of ya.

Mr. Titelist, where is my coffeex smiley??

[MrTitleist]

I'll have to see about importing the emoticons from CS.com to here.

[McPeachy]

This is going to be a long season fellas.

I think it will be long also...all the way through Wednesday December 23rd. If our offense is even 20% better than last season (which it will be), and we lose the TO bug, our defense will be good enough for 6 wins alone.