Tuck’s Take: Wyoming Self-Destructs in Latest Setback

LARAMIE -- Wyoming got bullied in its lopsided season-opening loss at Arizona State.

Wedgie, swirly, gum in the hair, stuffed in a locker. The whole nine.

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Jay Sawvel urged his team to show up this Saturday with brass knuckles and a tire iron. Forget the fact that Idaho is an FCS program. Never mind the guy under center, Jack Wagner, would be making his first-career start or that he suited up just one year at quarterback in high school.

This would be a street fight, the rookie head coach implored.

It was.

Unfortunately for this already battered squad, it got ganged up on in front of a capacity crowd inside a sun-splashed War Memorial Stadium.

Not only did the visiting Vandals pose plenty of problems, the Cowboys were their own worst enemy in this 17-13 setback, committing nine penalties and being overly generous, gifting a fumble that turned into a touchdown and handing the ball over on downs inside Idaho's 35-yard line.

"These are mistakes that good football teams don't make," a clearly agitated Sawvel said postgame. "These are mistakes that 0-2 teams do make. We're 0-2, we've made those mistakes and we have to own it."

How bad has it been?

Wyoming has been flagged 16 times through eight quarters. That's the same number of completions Evan Svoboda has in almost that same timeframe. The junior quarterback has thrown for 168 total yards, including 126 in the loss to the Vandals. The Cowboys, statistically now one of the most-penalized teams in the country, have walked backward to the tune of 135 yards.

"You know, self-inflicted wounds can't happen," said Svoboda, who connected on 10-of-24 throws and hit Devin Boddie Jr. on a 20-yard touchdown toss in the second quarter. "(We've) got to be better, you know? It's something we got to really hit on this coming week."

The miscues were mind-numbing in this outing.

There was the failed 4th-and-1 attempt late in the first half that probably cost this team points. Instead of powering ahead and utilizing their 6-foot-5, 245-pound signal caller -- you know, like they did on a successful fourth-down just five snaps earlier --  Sawvel and Co. decided to line up in shotgun and put the ball in the belly of a much smaller DJ Jones.

Wyoming's senior running back was met rudely in the backfield by Jaxton Eck and Dallas Afalava. Going for it wasn't the issue, the play call is. That penetration likely wiped at least a field goal off the board.

That would haunt.

That gaffe left Sawvel scratching his head. The next mistake left him seething.

Fullback Caleb Driskill was flagged for a false start with the Cowboys planted on the opposing 1-yard line in the dying minutes of the third. Still, this team had three more cracks at crossing the plane.

It didn't happen.

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Sam Scott was swallowed up for a loss of two. He then paid for a 3-yard catch, taking a blast to the back, courtesy of linebacker Tommy McCormick. The third-down pass was torpedoed into the turf, nowhere near its intended target. The pressure, again, was bearing down.

Wyoming would settle for a 22-yard field goal off the right foot of John Hoyland.

"We can't have, you know, crap that happens like when the ball's inside the 1-yard line and you have a false-start penalty," Sawvel said repeatedly. "That's inexcusable. It can't happen. You know, those are things that we've got to address."

The Cowboys officially dropped that lug wrench on their collective toe with five minutes to go in regulation.

After picking up a quick first down, the dysfunction of this offense -- heck, this program -- reared its ugly head once again, beginning with yet another, you guessed it, yellow hanky.

A holding call on wideout Justin Stevenson, one Sawvel called "Shady," erased a 9-yard screen pass to Jamari Ferrell that would've put this team in business inside Idaho's 38. Next came the illegal formation for having four men in the backfield. That happened in Tempe, too.

Svoboda finally got five of those yards back, forcing the defense offsides. Instead of launching the ball down the middle of the field on the free play, though, he didn't give his receiver a chance near the sideline, firing a pass into his own bench.

The Vandals would get those five yards back on the very next play. Wyoming flinched again. This time it was Jones.

You won't believe this explanation.

"It was a bunch of crap," Sawvel said, referring to the entirety of the drive. "I mean, I'm disappointed in the execution and there's a couple things in there. You know, one thing is, we've got a play that's not even a play. All we're trying to do is draw the defense offside, right? ... For two straight weeks, we've jumped on that play -- and we're not even running a play, right? So, it's just, there's some things that are inexcusable, execution wise. Again, we all have to look in the mirror, coaches wise, player wise and everything else."

Svoboda was planted on his wallet on the ensuing snap. After you mark off that 9-yard loss, this team was punting from its own 38-yard line.

"It's a bad taste in our mouth," he said. "You know, frustration. We're kind of at the bottom point, but like I've been telling all the guys right now, it's only up from here."

Can it get any worse?

Sure, this defense finally showed signs of life, holding the Vandals off the scoreboard in the second half. But even Sawvel himself said the visitors went conservative in an attempt to drain clock.

Wagner did complete his first eight passes. It would've been nine if Sabastian Harsh didn't create enough pressure to force the overthrow. Jordan Dwyer was all alone behind the Cowboys' secondary. That was surely six.

The offense is downright offensive.

Svoboda is completing just 41% of his throws. That ranks 123rd out of 125 eligible FBS quarterbacks. His passing efficiency -- 75.42 -- is only higher than one other signal caller. That guy is John Busha. Ring a bell? It should. He's under center at Air Force, running an option offense.

What is the identity of that unit anyway?

"It's more of a balanced offense than last year," Svoboda said. "It's a young group that really needs to prove themselves and prove who we can be. I know that they're more than capable of doing that."

When?

Wide receivers have caught a grand total of nine balls.

The only teams saving Wyoming right now from having the worst passing offense in America is Air Force and Army. Those two run-heavy attacks have completed a combined 19 passes and thrown two interceptions.

Despite the list of horrors above, this team had no business losing that game. Give Idaho plenty of credit -- that's a salty group -- but the Cowboys dug their own grave and leaped right in.

Who are the leaders on this team? Where is the emotion? Senior safety Wyett Ekeler showed glimpses Saturday, tapping his fist on the wooden podium and raising his voice, insisting fingers won't be pointed and this roster will remain united.

If Wyoming hopes to have a chance against its hated rival from Provo next Saturday night in Laramie, it can't afford to battle itself, too. The errors have to be cleaned up, whether that's the dumb ones like calling timeouts because you don't have enough players on the field or the really dumb ones like jumping when there isn't even a play call.

It can't happen. Not against them. Not against anyone.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players