Tuck’s Take: How do the Pokes Bounce Back From This?

TEMPE, Ariz., -- Don't worry, you're not the only one troubled by what you saw Saturday night in the desert.

That was no mirage, either.

Get our free mobile app

Wyoming was outplayed, outcoached and certainly outclassed in a 48-7 drubbing, courtesy of the Arizona State Sun Devils. Jay Sawvel's head coaching debut at Wyoming was a dud in just about every sense of the word.

This was the worst opening-day loss in program history. This was also the most-lopsided setback since falling to Boise State 63-14 back in 2014.

Did Sawvel see any positives out there?

"That's a good question," he pondered before pausing and sarcastically mentioning Jack Culbreath's punting. He was definitely a busy guy.

All those feel-good offseason headlines sure seem like a distant memory, don't they?

"It's pretty frustrating, for sure," sixth-year defensive tackle and team captain Jordan Bertagnole added postgame. "I was more embarrassed, I would say."

There's good reason, too.

MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:

* Arizona State outclasses Cowboys in 48-7 opening-night rout

* BREAKING: Gyllenborg ruled out against Sun Devils

* LIVE FILE: Wyoming Cowboys vs. Arizona State Sun Devils

* 7220sports.com Kickoff Show: Running with the Devils

* Gear up for Game Day: Arizona State

* THROWBACK THURSDAY: Pokes stun No. 11 Sun Devils, 45-43

Wyoming signal caller Evan Svoboda, on the second play from scrimmage, no less, tossed a quick out in the direction of back-up tight end Nick Miles. That was read like a novel by ASU linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu, who promptly snatched that gift and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown.

The rout, we would soon find out, was officially on.

For good measure Fiaseu's teammate, Keyshaun Elliott, picked off Svoboda again on the following possession. Sam Leavitt, who was recruited to play quarterback at Michigan State by the Cowboys' new offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, led the Sun Devils on four consecutive scoring drives to close out the first half. It would've been five if not for a missed 38-yard field goal.

"We got to flush this game and just got to grow from it," said Svoboda, who completed just 6-of-15 passes for 42 yards and was sacked three times.

It's not that simple.

Wyoming was putrid in all three phases of this one.

Yes, Culbreath was solid. He averaged 47 yards per kick on eight attempts. Three of those went for more than 50 yards. When your punter is the team's MVP, there's trouble in Laradise.

Special teams don't even get a pass here.

Wyett Ekeler was hit with a false start in punt formation in the second quarter. When Culbreath finally did get one off, it sailed the wrong direction, away from the coverage, forcing Connor Shay to bring down the ball carrier via a horse-collar tackle. It probably saved a touchdown, too. Old friend Melquan Stovall, a former Nevada and Colorado State receiver, also returned a punt 20 yards, setting ASU up at Wyoming's 43-yard line.

Senior running back Cam Skattebo barreled into the end zone seven plays later to make this a 24-0 game.

That's not all.

Defense, a staple of the Craig Bohl regime in Laramie over the last decade, was gashed to the tune of 499 yards by a quarterback making his first collegiate start.

Leavitt finished his night 14-of-22 for 258 yards and a pair of touchdown tosses. Kyson Brown and Chamon Metayer both turned harmless-looking dump passes into scores. One went for 68 yards. The latter, 25. Leavitt added 47 more yards on the ground, including a 21-yard scamper on a 3rd-and-9.

Tackling was nothing short of abysmal.

"Um, no, to be honest," he said when asked about the defense's effort. "I didn't like it with myself and that's probably the worst of it. I have to be a guy that guys can rally around."

Skattebo, a 215-pound tackle-shedding ball of muscle, accounted for 66 yards and a score. He was all that was advertised. Speaking of shredding, the Cowboys' secondary allowed seven different receivers to catch a pass. Four of those guys hauled in multiple throws.

That unit didn't force a punt until the 6:54 mark of the third quarter.

“We dominated the line of scrimmage,” ASU's 34-year-old head coach Kenny Dillingham told the local media. “That team is the team that runs the football and stops the run and, the fact that we went out there and ran the ball for 240 yards, there is no chance on earth we could have even come close to doing that last year.”

Wyoming's offense was under the microscope in Tempe.

How would Svoboda respond to the pressure of not only starting but playing less than 10 miles from his hometown? How different would Johnson's scheme look compared to year's past? Could DJ Jones really fill in for an injured Harrison Waylee and continue a tradition of ground-and-pound? John Michael Gyllenborg, we found out early Saturday, would not be a participant in this one. The Mackay Award watch list candidate rolled an ankle in practice last Friday. Who would step up in his place?

By now, you know the answer.

The visitors mustered up just 118 yards of total offense, 40 of which came on the ground. It also gave the ball away three times, two of which lead to immediate scores. The third personified this game as a whole. Svoboda heaved a lateral behind wideout TK King, who not only didn't haul in the pass, he failed to jump on the loose change.

Justin Wodtly did.

The Sun Devils' edge rusher, who, to add salt to the open wound, was actually trash talking Svoboda in the end zone during pregame warmups, scooped the ball up and glided past the white stripe late in the third quarter, making this a 41-0 laugher.

Wyoming managed just eight first downs all night. Five of those came after the 1:25 mark of the third quarter. Tack on a 3-for-13 night in the third-down conversion department, too. The Cowboys also committed an uncharacteristic seven penalties Saturday worth 65 total yards. The offense, though three quarters, amassed just 56. In fact, that unit only crossed midfield twice in Tempe.

First-down production provided another head-scratching stat.

While Svoboda was in the game -- the first three quarters -- the Cowboys didn't manage a single yard on 16 snaps. In fact, they lost one, courtesy of a six-yard sack.

Does Svoboda have any positive takeaways from this debacle?

"There's a lot of room to grow, a lot of learning experiences," he said. "You know, coach Johnson kept emphasizing that throughout the game. So, we just kind of got to grow from here."

That's an understatement.

The avalanche of early momentum buried his team up to its collective neck. There was no response. Call it shell-shocked. Call it overwhelmed.

Call it what it was -- unacceptable.

"They should be reactionary based on what they saw tonight, because what they saw tonight wasn't very good," Sawvel said when asked if he had a message to an equally stunned fanbase back home. "I own that. As I said, we all have to look in the mirror, and we all have to look at it and go, 'OK, what do we have to do to get better?' The biggest thing that I can tell the fanbase is, we're going to go back to work on Monday, and we're going to have a better football team on the field next weekend."

The honeymoon is over.

College-aged Wyoming fans leaned over the railing inside Mountain America Stadium in the dying minutes Saturday night calling for Sawvel's job. Those chants were only drowned out by the locals urging their team to put a 50 spot on the board.

It was truly a disaster.

Where do the Cowboys go from here? It can't get much worse.

The Vandals are next on the docket. Idaho, an FCS program, hung with mighty Oregon in Eugene on Saturday before eventually falling, 24-14. If you thought that would be an automatic win, think again.

Wyoming has seven days to prove this was just a bad night at the office.

"I feel like just keeping a positive mindset, especially around the building and around the team, and just getting it to everybody that we're better than this," Bertagnole said. "You know, this is not how we wanted to start our season. It's definitely not how we're going to finish it."