Three Keys To a Wyoming Cowboys Victory at Akron

AKRON, Ohio -- While it may be a homecoming of sorts for Jay Sawvel, his focus is on playing a complete game on the road and coming away with a much-needed victory.

Wyoming's second-year head coach grew up 112 miles down the road in Barnesville, Ohio. He has at least two bus loads of friends and family heading to Akron. He has also secured roughly 100 game tickets.

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Still, the first thing he mentions is quarterback Ben Finley.

The memory -- better yet, nightmare -- of last season's opener at Arizona State is still fresh. That was an uncompetitive 48-7 loss that featured three turnovers -- including a pick-six on the first pass attempt of the night -- and seven penalties. The dumb kinds, too: false starts and illegal formations, among others.

The longest drive of the night was nine plays. That was in garbage time, capped by a one-yard touchdown toss from Kaden Anderson to Chris Durr Jr. Those two were reserves that night in the desert.

In the Rubber City, the duo will be looked upon to lead this team to a 1-0 start.

Here are three things Wyoming needs to do at Akron to secure that victory:

3. PUNISH THE PASSER

Getting to the quarterback wasn't exactly a strong suit for this program last fall. Fifteen. That's the number of sacks that defensive unit tallied in 12 games. That's not getting it done.

How many sacks are returning to the lineup in 2025: Four.

Tyce Westland is responsible for three of those. Nose guard Ben Florentine finished with one.

Akron returns just two offensive lineman from a front five that allowed an eye-popping 30 sacks. Finley was on the receiving end of 25 of those. That doesn't mean he's a sitting duck in the pocket, though.

"He's got enough ability to move and maneuver to extend plays. No. 1, which he likes to do and throw the ball down field," Sawvel said of the senior signal caller, who added 15 pounds to his frame this offseason. "Secondly is, on third downs to keep chains moving ... This is not like a guy that just stands there and doesn't move around.

"He's a really good athlete."

The goal for Wyoming, Sawvel added in fall camp, isn't just to rack up sacks. They need to get Finely off his spot. That's not all.

"That's something that we will chart, is the number of times that we hit the quarterback," he continued. "Sometimes a ball gets out (quick) and that type of thing, but if you're hitting a quarterback a number of times during a game, that has a cumulative effect."

This task falls on the shoulders of starting edge rushers like Westland and Weber State transfer Brayden Wilson. Peter Eyabi, Chisom Ifeanyi and Kevin Sjogren will get their opportunities, too. So will Esaia Bogar, who recently underwent surgery on his right hand. He is expected to play in Akron.

An interior push from 300-pounders Jayden Williams, Lucas Samsula and Aneesh Yvas certainly won't hurt, either.

Four sacks and double the knockdowns -- ideally more -- should get the job done.

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* Wyoming's Sam Scott Has Sights Set On Starting, Cementing Legacy

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2. REPLACING THE G.O.A.T.

John Hoyland is this program's all-time leading scorer.

Think about that for a minute. Once boot hits ball Thursday night, Wyoming's 129th season is officially underway. No small achievement.

The Broomfield, Colo., product capped his Hall of Fame career with 366 points, 24 ahead of Cooper Rothe, the placekicker he replaced. The former walk-on connected on 73-of-92 field-goal attempts. Hoyland missed just one extra point in 148 attempts.

No pressure, Erik Sandvik.

The redshirt sophomore from Steamboat Spring, Colo., beat out Cheyenne's Keelan Anderson for the starting job this offseason. Consistency won out. That's also why Sandvik got this opportunity in the first place, drilling 10 straight attempts in a summer camp in Laramie

That's eight more tries than he's ever had in an actual game.

Yes, you read that right: Wyoming's starting kicker attempted just two field goals in high school, making one.

If Sawvel is worried, he sure isn't letting it show. Neither is Hoyland, who worked with both kickers throughout spring practice.

"He has a smooth motion that he can draw great power from with less effort," Hoyland said of Sandvik. "He uses his taller frame to his advantage. He has a fantastic, laid-back personality in the locker room that makes it so easy to be around him."

Though the goal is always scoring touchdowns, Sandvik seeing a couple of balls go through the pipes certainly wouldn't hurt. If Wyoming is forced to rely on a big kick, the best-case scenario would be what we all witnessed in Hoyland's debut: 4-for-4, including a 42-yarder to send that one into overtime.

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1. MEET EXPECTATIONS

On paper, Wyoming's offense is just better all around than the defense it will face in the opener.

The Cowboys return 80% of their production (No. 4 in the nation) from a season ago, according to ESPN, and it's at all the right places, starting with the three interior linemen -- Wes King (from left guard to right), Jack Walsh and Caden Barnett.

Arguably the most important position in all of sports, under center, should be in good hands with Anderson entering Year three in Laramie.

His three biggest down-field weapons -- wideouts Chris Durr Jr. and Jaylen Sargent, along with tight end John Michael Gyllenborg -- are also in the starting lineup. So are guys like 6-foot-6 Michael Fitzgerald, rookie Deion DeBlanc, speedster Eric Richardson and Arizona transfer Jackson Holman.

That's not all.

Bricen Brantley impressed this offseason. So did Jaylan Bean, Clay Nanke and Evan Svoboda.

"I tell the O-line, 'Just give me three seconds and we can really carve some people up,'" Anderson said last Friday. "We've got talent everywhere. If I do my job, get the ball to the playmakers, you know, we're going to be really good."

You remember that outing last November in Albuquerque? That's what this offense is supposed to look like on a weekly basis: 604 yards (342 passing, 262 rushing) of total offense, six touchdowns, and most important of all, a victory.

Akron returns just 33% of its production on defense. That ranks the Zips 123rd overall out of 136 FBS programs.

How good can this Wyoming offense really be?

"Man, we had a meeting the other day and we were talking about the 'Greatest Show on Turf,'" Durr said last week, referring to the St. Louis Rams in the early 2000's. "I feel like we could be really nice, you know, with John Michael Gyllenborg coming back -- he's a leading (NFL) prospect -- and (Jaylen) Sargent and 12 (Anderson) being our leader. He's helping that come together to be one. With the running back room coming together, it's going to be special. We know our O-line is going to hold up for us and we're going to be special this year."

FINAL SCORE: Wyoming 38, Akron 17

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players