Wyoming Puts Emphasis on Defending Quick Out-Routes

LARAMIE -- "Dink and dunk."

While that's not the official play call, it has worked far too often against Wyoming's secondary through six games.

Of Hauss Hejny's 23 completions in a season-opening loss at Colorado State, 16 were out into the flat for less than a 10-yard gain. Three also resulted in easy touchdown grabs in the 35-13 Border War setback.

Ian Bell was responsible for one of those scores. It was a simple out-route to RJ Vick from three yards out late in the first half. The redshirt junior cornerback allowed five catches on the afternoon for just 54 yards. One of those was a 28-yard hookup from wideout Terrance Smith to the quarterback on the Rams' opening drive.

Fast-forward three weeks and it was Micah Alejado dissecting the Cowboys one short toss at a time.

The sophomore signal caller capped his day connecting on 28-of-48 throws for 226 yards in a 27-10 loss inside War Memorial Stadium. When Hawaii's offense was humming, it was mainly thanks to the quick stuff in the passing game.

Twenty of Alejado's completions were for 10 yards or less. Eight of those came on a 16-play, 74-yard drive to begin the third quarter. That possession petered out inside the Cowboys' 2-yard line, ending with a turnover on downs.

Therman "Boogie" Williams allowed a team-worst six receptions on nine targets. Aside from a 16-yard hookup to Tama Uiliata, the damage was limited to only 29 receiving yards.

San Jose State followed that same blueprint -- at times -- last Friday night inside CEFCU Stadium. Eighteen of Luke Weaver's 26 completions were for 10 yards or less. The Spartans' lone touchdown drive of the night included two explosive passing plays and an 18-yard jaunt to the end zone by the Mountain West's leading rusher Jabari Bates.

The supposed "death by a million paper cuts" came on the final possession of the first half. Weaver connected on seven throws of eight yards or less. SJSU, with no timeouts at its disposal, was looking for one last shot to the perimeter and to eventually get its field-goal unit on the field.

That didn't happen thanks to a combined sack from Cade Brook and Jayden Williams.

The Cowboys pulled off the 16-13 road win, their first in eight tries, when Erik Sandvik boomed through a 21-yard field goal in overtime.

Still, a question loomed about the cushion given to the wideouts in SJSU's "spread-and-shred" offensive attack.

Nickelback Desman Hearns was the victim on many of those maddening throws. The senior allowed eight catches on nine targets. Take away one Carson Clark 26-yard gainer, and Hearns gave up just 50 yards on seven grabs. That's just 7.1 yards per reception.

Safety Jones Thomas also gave up seven catches for 61 yards. Erase a 21-yard reception by Jerry McClure and he was looking at a six-catch, 40-yard outing in the Cowboys' defensive backfield. That's only 6.7 yards per.

These throws are essentially an extension of the running game. They are also giving Wyoming's pass rush little time to get to the passer.

Why has this been such an issue for this unit?

"I thought our depth alignments the other day on a couple routes were not good," Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said, referring to the tilt in San Jose. "So, there are some things that we've got to get cleaned up in terms of that. That's something that was addressed."

The Cowboys implemented a one-high safety look for a majority of the night. They also took away a linebacker and added another member to the secondary, mainly Jaden DaCosta, who was thrown at twice.

The man-to-man approach also left a depleted unit outmatched in areas. Tyson Shamsid-Deen, Kendall Griffin and Bell were all sidelined with injuries.

Why the cushion? Is that a product of simply not wanting to give up anything deep? Sawvel, a defensive backs coach by trade, said that isn't the case.

"It's on the inside receivers is where some of our cushions have been too deep," he said. "Sometimes we're aligning off the line of scrimmage ... He's off the ball, so now, instead of being in a spot where we're seven yards off the man, we might be nine yards off the man. It's creating extra space.

"Those are things that, again, it's an emphasis in everything. We had a walk-through (Sunday) night and there's an emphasis in getting our alignments right."

Winless Northern Illinois will pay a visit to Laramie Saturday for its first road game as a member of this conference. Teron Dickens, a standout quarterback at Western Carolina over the previous two seasons, is averaging just seven yards per completion during his first FBS season.

Sawvel expects the Huskies' offense to continue the trend of what has worked against his defense so far.

"Obviously, we've got to look at some things and correct that because the opponent that we play this week will try to do the same things, at times," he added. "We've got to make sure we do that."

Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time and the game will be televised on The CW.

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