Wyoming | The Reboot (NCAA 14)

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by LopaKa

Ouch....well it was still a very successful season! On to the next!

Yeah, it's hard to call a 10 win season anything but a success for a program like Wyoming. And recruiting went even better, stay tuned!

[moose141]

Damn, what a pace you're moving at, I can barely keep up!

Definitely a heart breaking way to end the season with the devastating Mountain West loss that sucked the wind out of your sails, and of course the bowl game we just won't even mention as if it never happened. That said, it was still a very strong season that solidified your squad on the up and up and hopefully just enables you to get even stronger on the recruiting trail so that you can push for a chance at backdooring into the BCS games at some point in the coming seasons as a -0 or -1 loss small school.

[WaitTilNextYear]

We'll do this end of season stuff in 3 parts--this is part 1. How did everything work out? Who won it all? Which teams are conspicuously absent from the Top 25? It looks like the Strong Dynasty is taking shape after 2 consecutive undefeated seasons.

Next up will be offseason part 2 of 3--an awards and stats gala! And then we'll take a closer look at Wyoming a bit more specifically to close out offseason business.

[WaitTilNextYear]

[WaitTilNextYear]

Another quality season for the Pokes leaves Wyoming's Football Program nearly at the height of their Mountain West powers. Despite a lackluster beginning and ending to the 2019 campaign, another 10+ win season has Wyoming fans dreaming of becoming the next disruptive Boise State-type team to come out of a G5 conference. We don't know where the pinnacle is right now for this program.

The pattern was fairly simple for Wyoming in 2019: hold the other team below 40 points and win. The only deviation from this pattern was a desperate Colorado State comeback attempt wherein the Rams scored 42 points and still fell short. As for the season-bookending four losses, all of them saw Wyoming's defense get jailsexed. Non-conference teams Tulsa, Washington State, and Arizona had their way scoring 156 combined points. Fresno State topped Wyoming in a 44-41 overtime thriller.

The rest of the season saw Wyoming trample their other foes. A 10-game winning streak (and 18-game conference winning streak) included a 41-17 blowout of SEC-member Missouri and rivalry wins against Colorado State, Utah State, Hawai'i, and BYU.

Chandler Garrett (rJR) took over as the starting quaterback in 2019. He had one of the most amazing debuts ever and put up silly stats in shootouts against Tulsa and Wazzu. In the first contest, Garrett set a WYO single game passing yardage record. In game two, he tied the school single game TD mark. He was on his way to shattering every school record, but later results were mixed and ultimately culminated in a disatrous ending where he was benched in the Las Vegas Bowl for tossing four 1st half picks.

The big picture of the season saw a QB that was very durable--other than the benching, Wyoming quarterbacks other than Garrett attempted just three passes the entire season. In aggregate, Garrett's performance allowed the Wyoming offense to be more balanced. He bested the previous starter Nick Smith in TDs (28 vs 19), QB rating (136.8 vs 123.5), and passing yardage (3655 vs 2669). The downside to that is Garrett's poor late season showing--six INT in final two games--also made it such that he threw ten more interceptions (21 vs 11). The current QB is also not the dual threat the previous one was; the QB position was responsible for 687 fewer rushing yards in 2019 than in 2018.

As a redshirt senior next season, Garrett is all but certain to hang onto the starting gig. He will have dual threat Darrin Green breathing down his neck. Not to mention Terry Brooks who played a nice half against Arizona in a lost cause.

How do you replace the back that rushed for school record yardage last season? Well, Wyoming is getting good at it. After Brian Hill set his record, Nico Evans came along and broke it. After Evans graduated last year, Emmett Nash led the NCAA in rushing yards this year. This is an adequate plan of succession.

Nash carried 325 times for 1722 yards (5.2 YPC) with 19 TDs. But, Nash is lost to graduation. Mike Green II (rJR) will be back for his final year, but the lead back is likely to be Weldon Adler (SO). Adler played the 2019 season as a wide receiver. The 6'2" 241 pounder hopes to be the next brick in the wall for the Wyoming run game.

The Pokes will also be replacing their fullback. Zachery Riggins graduated and Deon Wilks transfered. The new starter figures to be 6'0" 258 lb true freshman Tyrone Ford. With Adler and Ford, that's about 500 lbs of beef in the starting backfield.

Tight end Alec Stewart (rJR) took a massive leap as the go-to receiver. The Mackey Award winner caught 62 passes for 1025 and 11 TDs. While he could be streaky with drops, Stewart was nearly always there making the clutch 20-yard catches needed. Stewart will likely be relied on even moreso in 2020 due to the graduation or position change of 2019's top three receivers: C.J. Johnson (graduated), Austin Conway (graduated), and Weldon Adler (new HB). Johnson never did take the leap that the coaching staff hoped for.

Ricardo Austin (rFR) will be an interesting story to watch. Not only does he sport dreadlocks, but he was originally recruited to play defensive back. He'll attempt to play the slot ninja role that Conway was so good at.

Increasing from 36 pancakes in 2018 to 50 panackes in 2019 was very pleasing. The stronger side of the line was LT Pahl Schwab and LG Gavin Rush. Both have graduated. Center Donald Young and RG Kurtis McCann were weak links, but should be marginally better after a year of experience. Hopefully McCann can break the cycle of turnstyles-playing-right-guard. McCann was really bad last year and Kaden Jackson was pretty bad before him.

The offensive line is still a year or two away from being the consistent bludgeoning force it can truly be.

Middle linebacker Logan Wilson (rSR) graduates as one of the most decorated players not only in Wyoming history, but in NCAA history. Wilson truly made his mark as a sophomore winning the Bednarik, then struggled with injuries his junior year. His senior year was the best of all. Wilson was again awarded Bednarik, Nagurski, and Best LB honors as he made 119 tackles, 25 for loss, 7.0 sacks and 3 INTs.

The Pokes will shift Cedric 'Darth' Farmer (rSO) back into the middle from his 2019 spot at SLB. Farmer's 2019 was underwhelming after a great freshman campaign filling in for an injured Wilson in 2018.

Aside from losing Wilson, most everyone else will return. This includes the entire starting secondary, USER-controlled DT Milo McNeil, and leading sack artist Justin Hagemann. This unit will hope to improve upon some of those woeful 40-point performances last go round.

Cooper Rothe (SR) did his thug thizzle and it'll be strange having a different kicker--a true freshman--next year.

The return game will also be completely new. Austin Conway (rSR) graduates after winning best return man in 2019.

Craig Bohl added quite a bit to his resume in 2019. The Pokes lost their bowl game and lost in the MWC title game, but just making the title game in consecutive years is a big deal. Winning double digit games again qualifies, too. The 10-4 mark on the heels of a 12-2 season brings Da Coach to a near .500 FBS career record at 37-39. 2020 should be the year where the .500 barrier is broken for good.

As one of the hotter names in coaching, Craig Bohl turned down a littany of offers, including UGA, Syracuse, and Texas Tech. The entire coaching staff will remain intact for 2020 and looking to do damage.

[WaitTilNextYear]

The Cowboys graduated 14 seniors including starters HB Emmett Nash, MLB Logan Wilson, WR/RET Austin Conway, WR C.J. Johnson, LG Gavin Rush, LT Pahl Schwab, FB Zachery Riggins, WDE Josiah Hall, SLB Jaylon Watson, and K Cooper Rothe. Factoring in a short-handed 63-scholarship roster and the incoming transfer of OG Akim Bell from Nevada, the Pokes were aiming for a class of about 20 new recruits. They hit the mark, adding 20 new players exactly.

This year's recruiting class is Wyoming's best by far under Craig Bohl--48th best in the nation. Of the twenty n00bs, thirteen are 3* talents and the other seven are 2* pulls. The best of the lot are the freakishly physical wide receivers in Todd Bennett (6'6" 228 lbs) and Cedric Weaver (6'4" 204 lbs). Both are Top 500 recruits nationally and both will make the next Wyoming QB after Chandler Garrett very happy about his redzone options. Both will redshirt this season and work on their hands and routes.

Coach Bohl also landed a nice variety of gems. Johnie Randall, the #32 DT in the nation, gemmed up from 70 to 77 ovr after scouting more closely. The 6'5" 288 lb Randall has a great blend of power/explosiveness and, after a redshirt year, projects to be a 4-year starter as a 3-4 defensive end in WYO's scheme. Lester Powers (#23 OG) gemmed up to a 75 ovr and boasts some of the best physical traits in the nation. The 6'6" 301 pounder is yet another OG/OT swing player that WYO loves so much--his 4.84 40-yard dash, 480-lb bench, and 620-lb squat is just a nasty combination of measurables. Bryce Merchant (#71 ATH/WR) gemmed up to 73 ovr and will immediately become the fastest player on the roster with his 95 spd. He's also loosely penciled in as WR1 on the depth chart. Finally, Shane Purcell (#97 QB, dual threat) was a late addition to the board after Wyoming lost out on in-state 5* WR Matt Jackson to Ohio State. Purcell gemmed up from 58 to 69 ovr and suddenly the Pokes have a QB battle on their hands between he and redshirt freshman Darrin Green to succeed Chandler Garrett after he graduates.

The recruits also underwent a thorough "reconditioning" and renaming per WYO Football statutes (h/t to Bigsheen for suggesting some good websites). For each recruit, the website http://random-name-generator.info was used to generate 10 names to choose from and the name style was toggled between common, average, and rare. The team definitely feels more well-rounded with a Boyce and a Quonorius on board.

To add a little bit of randomness to the development of players, a random progression system was put in place (h/t to Hellisan for the concept).

Each offseason 10 random numbers from 1-99 are generated using https://random.org and the numbers are matched to the jersey numbers of Wyoming players. The first 8 players chosen in this way undergo a regression between 2 and 12 points of OVR. The final 2 chosen undergo additional progression between 1 and 6 points of OVR. The first random number indicates the direction of change and a subsequent random number generation gives the magnitude of the OVR change. The individual attributes chosen to effect each change are at the discretion of this author--often there are several attributes impacted.

Last progression cycle, the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune really blasted the HB and DT positions and impacted a number of starters. But, the damage was relatively light this time around. The only starter on the list, WR Lamar Haynes, actually received additional progression. Not a single starter was hit with regression. The system still likes to mess with freshmen as five of the ten players affected are freshmen. Poor Brandon Perry and Charlie Warrick got blasted with regression for the 2nd time in their careers. Maybe they should practice harder and play video games a bit less?

[WaitTilNextYear]

The 2014-2016 Wyoming Cowboys were a disaster. The 2017 version was a disappointment. The 2018 iteration, a shock. And the 2019 WYO squad was about what people are coming to expect. Yea, expectations are a risin'. This will be the final year of the dynasty with original roster players.


Wyoming enters 2020 as an intriguing team and is among the favorites to win its conference. The intrigue is mostly due to the tantalizing mix of key returning players and players needing to be replaced. In other words, it's sort of a normal offseason of expectations.


Among the returning players is an impressive array of talent: QB Chandler Garrett (rSR), TE Alec Stewart (rSR), RT Dustin Weeks (rSR), SDE Justin Hagemann (rJR), NT Milo McNeil (rSO), LB Cedric 'Darth' Farmer (rJR), CB John Okwoli (rSR), and SS Tory McCollum (rSO). There is a huge amount of potential among this group. Garrett is on some lists as a darkhorse candidate for the Maxwell Award; Stewart is coming off a Mackey Award; Hagemann racked up 14 sacks as a redshirt sophomore; McNeil is the 340-lb plug in the middle; Farmer has the talent to replace departed Bednarik winner Logan Wilson's massive production; Okwoli is a converted WR that has become one of the better DBs in the conference; and McCollum would have won the Bednarik in 2019 were it not for a teammate. Stewart, Hagemann, Okwoli, and McCollum are all Preseason 1st Team All-Americans.


Strengths on the defensive side of the ball are on the defensive line and in the secondary. The aforementioned McNeil and Hagemann return on the D Line and they will be supplemented by newcomer Cassh Maluia (rSR). Maluia actually isn't much of a newcomer in the sense that he's a redshirt senior. However, due to his tweener size, he's been all over the place on the depth chart. He was a reserve linebacker at one point and has even been listed as a safety on the depth chart before. Maluia, and Hagemann for that matter, is not an ideal 3-4 DE at 6'0" 235 lbs, so he'll need to overcome being run at with quickness and technique. This D Line should be quite disruptive as its composite 81.0 OVR, up from 77.7 OVR last year, would suggest.


The secondary is filled with preseason award winners and the pass defense should improve from giving up a poor 269.5 YPG last year. All four starters return. This unit has a composite 81.2 OVR, which is a huge upgrade from the 75.8 OVR version from last year. Tory McCollum (rSO) is a preseason favorite for the Thorpe Award.


If there is a trouble spot on the defense, it's the linebackers. Forest Steadman (rFR) and Roderick Sharp (rSO) are new starters at the OLB spots and Cedric Farmer (rJR) moves back into the middle. This unit has a composite 73.5 OVR and is clearly a step down from the 76.0 OVR group last year. Expect the WYO rush defense to slip from a very solid 132.3 YPG allowed in 2019.


As a whole, the 2020 defense (78.4 OVR) rates better than the 2019 version (76.4 OVR) and on par with the 2018 outfit (79.0 OVR).


On the offensive side of the ball, the Pokes will rely heavily on the Garrett-to-Stewart hookup. Wyoming replaces the starting backfield, the starting wide receivers, and the left side of the O Line from last season. True freshmen Bryce Merchant and Tyrone Ford will start at WR1 and FB respectively. Weldon Adler (JR) will make yet another position switch back to HB; he's gone HB-->WR-->HB due to depth chart issues over the past three seasons.


This year's offense probably has the most speed and upside of any Craig Bohl offense so far, but they could very well stink. In fact, the 2020 offense is worse on paper (74.5 OVR) than either the 2019 or 2018 versions (both 76.1 OVR). It will largely come down to how the offensive line holds up as to whether 'the four white boyz'--as their teammates jokingly tease them--Garrett, Adler, Merchant, and Stewart can go off statistically.


The only Mountain West team that has shown the gumption to go toe-to-toe with the Pokes lately has been Fresno State. The Bulldogs of Frenso State have beaten Wyoming two out of the previous three tries. Sadly, they aren't on the schedule this time around.


Boise State has dropped three straight to the Pokes. Utah State, ditto. Colorado State has lost a pair. Ditto Air Force, Nevada, and Idaho. Hawai'i has been an auto-victory.


Looking at the 2020 sked, it's clear Coach Bohl is trying to play as many rivals as possible. The Utes made the cut as a season kickoff game. Adding in CSU, USU, Hawai'i, and BYU makes five heated rivalry games. Wyoming will try to make it back-to-back years being undefeated against rivals. It'll be difficult as this Utah team is loaded from top to bottom.


This schedule is not all that difficult looking from a non-conference perspective. The Pokes are still a year or two away from landing that marquee non-conference opponent. Texas Tech in Lubbock should be interesting although the technicians/Red Raiders have fallen on hard times lately. Ball State is sandwiched around bye weeks just because, apparently.


This is the type of schedule that running the table probably still wouldn't get the preseason 68th-ranked Pokes a major bowl game invite. But, doggone it, college football is about rivalries so the denizens of Laramie should be pretty happy with this beaut.

[bravesfan1984]

WTNY, have to say I'm still thoroughly enjoying this dynasty! I'm going to start one up once the 2017-2018 rosters are updated. I was going to roll with Notre Dame, but I'm kind of leaning towards using my alma mater Marshall after seeing you run with Wyoming. It'll be quite the challenge.