Cowboys Look to Get Ground Game Churning in Boulder

LARAMIE -- What is Colorado's identity on defense?

Great question.

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Tawfiq Byard said Tuesday a combination of missed tackles, bungled assignments and communication hovering around "70%" of what it should be has led to porous start for this new-look unit, which features eight new starters and one less Heisman Trophy winner.

"As far as identity, you know, you could say it, we haven't found our identity, but within the team, we just got to clean up the little stuff," said the sophomore safety transfer from South Florida, who tallied a team-high 14 tackles last Friday night in a 36-20 road loss at Houston. "It's nothing major."

The stats say otherwise.

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Colorado is allowing an average of 430 yards of total offense through the first three weeks. More than 204 of those are coming on the ground. Opponents are racking up 4.72 yards a carry and have found the end zone six times.

Georgia Tech gashed the Buffs to the tune of 320 rushing yards on opening night inside Folsom Field. The Cougars rolled up 209 more.

Tackling? Yeah, that has been a problem. After missing a respectable six against the Yellow Jackets, that number jumped to a dozen against Delaware, a program that was in the FCS just a year ago. Ten more were added in Houston.

What's the remedy?

"We all just got to play together," junior cornerback DJ McKinney said. "You know, it's just, we all got it. We all practice flying to the ball: as a unit, as a defense, as one heartbeat. So, we all just got to execute each play to the best of our ability and get the man on the ground."

Easier said than done.

Wyoming enters this Week-3 matchup in Boulder netting nearly 160 yards per game on the ground. That average took a hit last week in a 31-6 loss to visiting Utah, which held the Cowboys to just 121 yards on 34 carries. Nearly 80 of those came on the final two possessions of the night, including a 15-yard touchdown scamper by Terron Kellman.

After senior running back Sam Scott rushed the ball 29 times for 132 yards in the season opener at Akron, Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel and his staff have since spread out the carries between Scott, Kellman and true freshman Samuel "Tote" Harris, none of which finished with more than nine.

Speaking of finding an identity.

"We gotta look at that," Sawvel said Monday during his weekly press conference. "I mean, I made the point coming out of the game with our offensive coaches, is the fact Sam Harris touched the ball 11 times the other night. We had 105 yards on those 11 touches.

"... This is what comes out of playing Utah, right? This is what comes out of playing Colorado. You're going to look at some of these situations like, Sam Harris belonged playing against Utah the other night. There wasn't any doubt about that."

Gary Harrell spent two seasons in Boulder as the assistant head coach and running backs coach under Deion Sanders. That duo also helped lead Jackson State to a 27-6 overall record and a pair of SWAC Championships over a three-year span.

Harrell now heads up Wyoming's backfield. Does he have this one circled? You bet. Does he lick his chops when he sees the holes in that Buffaloes' defense? Not exactly.

"CU has a great team, they're going to have great athletes and they've got great coaches," said Harrell, who added his decision to leave Boulder last offseason was a "mutual decision" between him and Sanders. "I had a fabulous time there, but they're the next opponent. We do look at stats, we look at what they do defensively -- like every opponent -- and we just look at it as another opportunity to go out and show we can do."

Kellman said he's eager to face this Colorado team and also prove what this backfield is capable of, but added, he feels that every week.

"I feel like our room is improving each and every week and just trying to stack days," the 210-pound Charlotte transfer said. "I feel like every game could be a big opportunity for us. (CU) has been having a few problems in their game, stopping the run, so any opportunity that comes and shows up, we're going to take advantage of it."

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Leadership and consistency Tuesday were common themes during "Coach Prime's" weekly press conference. That goes for the carousel of quarterbacks he has utilized early on and a defense that has been leaky, at best.

Sanders scoffed at the identity question, saying winning is what he wants his program to be known for.

Stopping the run -- or lack thereof -- is testing the patience of a man who said he has very little of that to begin with.

"I'm not going to say (they're) freelancing, they just miss opportunities," he added. "We've had several opportunities to make plays, we just missed the opportunities. We just got to make good on opportunities. That's it. I don't think they're freelancing.

"I just don't think we make the play when the play is afforded to us."

Kickoff between the Cowboys (2-1) and Buffaloes (1-2, 0-1) is set for 8:15 p.m. Saturday in Boulder. The game will be televised on ESPN.