Q&A With Wyoming Offensive Coordinator Jay Johnson

LARAMIE -- Before clapping his hands together and hauling in a high fastball of a snap, Kaden Anderson was barking out pass protection orders at the line of scrimmage.

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Wyoming's sophomore quarterback wanted his front to move their opponent to the left. They did just that. Newly-inserted right tackle Jake Davies stepped into the B-gap and assisted guard Caden Barnett with his man.

That turned out to be a major misstep.

UNLV edge rusher Ose Egbase had a free run at Anderson, forcing the signal caller -- after only a brief one-step drop -- to heave up an ill-advised prayer.

It was answered inside the 5-yard line by Quandarius Keyes.

He's a cornerback for the Rebels.

To make matters even worse, the Cowboys just saw a touchdown taken off the board on the previous play via a "very questionable" pass interference call, head coach Jay Sawvel called it Monday during his weekly press conference.

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The visitors had a commanding 24-3 at the half. If Sam Scott's score would've stood, the deficit would be just seven with more than five minutes remaining in the third quarter and all the momentum on the home sideline.

It wasn't meant to be.

Wyoming allowed two touchdowns on blocked punts and turned the ball over three times in that eventual 31-17 setback, dropping their third straight and whiffing on a major opportunity to start the conference slate with a win over unbeaten UNLV.

Special teams miscues and a number of other gaffs ultimately doomed the Cowboys in a hail-covered homecoming, but for this much-maligned offense, it was just a continuation of the broken record that just won't stop spinning.

Same song, different verse, if you will.

The conductor of it all, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson, sat down with 7220sports.com on Monday to discuss it all.

Wyoming is only averaging 16.8 points per game, which is 125th in the country out of 134 FBS programs. This team is also in the 100's in third-down conversions (26-of-67), completion percentage (56%) and total offense (347.4).

Some other key categories -- rushing, passing, red-zone offense, among others -- aren't far behind, either?

Why?

Q: How truly frustrating has this start been, especially with so many returners on that side of the ball?

A: "Very. The frustrating part is that, as you've had an opportunity now, when you look at film, there's things there. And then there's times, if you look against everyone we've played, we've done some really good things, and we moved the ball up and down the field against, I think, some pretty formidable opponents and defenses. So, you know, that part is very encouraging, but at the same token, it's not finishing how it needs to be, and that's got to get corrected."

Q: On that note, how can this unit go for five plays and 75 yards right out of the half -- and you had a similar situation at Colorado --  why do you think consistency and rhythm hasn't been there?

A: "I think it's a little bit of everything, at times. You know, if it's my play call or, you know, a couple of the film examples you saw (like the scenario written above), if those are handled a little bit differently and the execution is where it needs to be, then does that completely influence what's next? I think it all kind of comes into play, you know, and then also a little bit, when you get in the games, at the beginning of the game, sometimes it's a little bit of figuring out the match and what their plan is, too, because, you know, they change a little bit, too, and as they prepare and all that. So, I think it's a little bit of all of that."

Q: Can you put your finger on why this offense has gotten off to such rough starts? You know, only 26 first-half points. That has to change your whole game plan, I would imagine.

A: "I don't have an answer. I don't have an answer. My answer is, we got to keep working at it, because we have opportunities there. We've got to fine tune things and make sure we, as coaches, are putting them in a good spot to be successful. And then the players got to execute it."

Q: Third downs. You guys are 104th in the country and just 11-of-37 over the last three games. Is this just a matter of not getting it done on first and second down?

A: "I think that's a lot of it. It's always, when you get into a situation of third-and-long it's very challenging no matter where you're at and you've got to stay on schedule. And when we're getting in that -- that medium to short -- everybody is a lot better in the country at that. So, yeah, we've been very poor and we've got to do a way better job early in downs to stay on the field. Then, obviously, it put us in a situation to convert and keep it on the field."

Q: An emotional Kaden Anderson asked fans on Saturday night to keep the faith in him. Do you guys still have the ultimate faith in him?

A: "Oh, yeah. Absolutely, I do. He had a few mishaps on Saturday. He knows that, he knows he needs to play better. But, you know, he's been running our offense extremely well. He's a talented young man and I expect him to come back and keep working like he always will and do well. So, yeah, absolutely."

Q: So, you're seeing, I assume, really good stuff from him in practice? That has to be frustrating as hell to not see it translate?

A: "Yeah, absolutely. He and I talked about that a little bit, and particularly in the situation on Saturday and a lot of different things there. Yeah, he's got to work on some things there to transition it better. But yeah, he's been very sharp and executing extremely well in practice. So, we've got to take that into a game and to a different level -- and he knows that."

Q: Only Chris Durr Jr. has more than 100 yards receiving, and now he's banged up and we don't know his status. How do you get those guys going?

A: "I mean, a lot of guys had different touches. You know, it's different things. I think they changed a little bit with some of the elements on Saturday night and were really off. The biggest way to get them going is to try to find explosives. So, we're constantly looking at that mix and match of trying to put guys in a place of finding ways to get them hits and to get them bigger hits. So, that's what we're trying to do."

Q: Running back Sam Scott has seemed to give this offense a big boost -- versus CU and UNLV -- why haven't we seen him more?

A: "It's a little bit of the mode. Obviously, we think Sam Harris is very talented. I think they're different types of backs and have different styles. So, depending on kind of what we're doing and what the calls is and what the scheme is, we think they fit a little bit differently. And then sometimes, you know, the games and how things are going, what we need at a particular time. But, yeah, Sam is just extremely steady, extremely consistent. He executes at a high level and is playing well for us."

Q: Your quarterback still thinks this offense can be really good. You know all the numbers and stats right now -- we don't need to go over that -- but no one ever asks coaches this: What is your confidence level at right now? Do you think the ship can be righted?

A: "Absolutely, it can. We've done it every week, so now we got to do it more consistently."