Wyoming Football: News and Notes Ahead of Boise State

LARAMIE -- The Cowboys have stepped in a "big-ass hole" this fall.

Those are the words of Jay Sawvel at his weekly press conference, describing a lengthy phone conversation Saturday he had with former head coach Craig Bohl.

"He just said, 'I'm going to talk to you for about 20 minutes -- just listen,'" Sawvel said with a grin. "And he did."

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Wyoming football's new boss didn't divulge the entirety of that chat Monday -- though he did say bits and pieces will likely come out down the line -- but clearly the two spoke about some trying times when Bohl was at North Dakota State.

He talked about back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2006 and '07.

"Everybody just felt like this is what's supposed to happen," Sawvel relayed.

A six-victory campaign followed. Then, the bottom fell out. The Bison stumbled to a 3-8 record.

"There's like a recenter that had to happen off of that," he continued. "And then they won three straight national championships."

Sawvel, per usual, has pointed to various injuries, inconsistencies at key positions and losing momentum by dropping close games, especially inside War Memorial Stadium. Colorado State, last Friday, entered on a four-game winning streak. The Rams also brought all the energy to the 116th edition of the Border War, Sawvel said.

The Cowboys didn't.

"That was frustrating, from that standpoint," he added.

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He tossed in another wrinkle to this two-win debacle Monday that most don't ever think about -- past recruiting.

Sawvel said the "rent came due" after a lopsided road loss against North Texas. He was referring to senior safety Isaac White, who was forced to the sideline with an ankle injury. The week prior, his running mate, Wyett Ekeler, was added to the injury report with a pair of broken thumbs.

Back-up Andrew Johnson, despite not missing any time, was also limited with a broken right thumb. Nickel corner Wrook Brown was a spectator during the first half in Denton after being flagged for a targeting penalty.

The landlord has made calls about a few other positions this fall, too: Defensive end, offensive line and running back.

Building depth will be a major focus this offseason, Sawvel has said numerous times, but missing on a class has also hurt progress, he added.

In 2021, Wyoming signed 19 players. That list included the likes of starters like John Michael Gyllenborg, Jack Walsh, Caden Barnett, Tyce Westland, Sam Scott and Brown.

There were also names like DQ James, Tommy McEvoy, Will Evans, Jordon Vaughn and Zaire Jackson.

Nine of those guys are no longer on the roster. Wide receiver Tony Evans Jr. was tragically killed before he even arrived on campus.

"Coming out of COVID, we weren't able to go to camps, we weren't able to go on the road spring recruiting and we weren't able to have in-person evaluations," Sawvel said. "OK, the class that we signed out of that, half of that class is gone, right? Not because they transferred to Texas or to Auburn or somewhere else, just they weren't fits for the University of Wyoming. This was something that was not anyone's fault, really, it's kind of a situation that we were in, in that regard.

"That's left holes, OK? There's no lie about it. That's left some holes in certain situations, so we have to address that. We're addressing it. We'll get that fixed."

The numbers are even worse in 2020.

Out of 24 commits, eight are still on this roster, including Caleb Driskill, Connor Shay, Nofoafia Tulafono, Ekeler and White. Eight of those guys entered the transfer portal: Cam Stone, Oluwaseyi Omotosho, Meyer, Josh Cobbs, Mana Taimani, Malik Williams, Emmanuel Pregnon and Gavin Beerup.

Tight end Colin O'Brien graduated. Players like Keshaun Taylor, Xavier Carter, Tyrese Grant, Brent VanderVeen, Joey Braasch and Kohl Herbolsheimer rarely played, if at all. Defensive end Cameron Smith was also expelled from the team for a violation of team rules.

That's way too many misses.

Here's some other news and notes from Sawvel's presser:

* Wyoming again will likely be without two of its best edge rushers. Braden Siders and Sabastian Harsh didn't play against Colorado State. Sawvel said Monday that Harsh will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury and Siders (unknown) will be doubtful against Boise State. Gyllenborg's status is up in the air, Sawvel added. Doctors will re-evaluate the junior's shoulder/ collarbone this week before making a final determination.

* Boise State is the best Mountain West team Sawvel has seen since he arrived in Laramie back in 2020. That's bad news. It gets worse, too. Ashton Jeanty has accounted for 27 total touchdowns, 26 of which have come on the ground. Wyoming's offense, through 10 games, has a grand total of 25. The Heisman hopeful has rushed for 1,893 yards this fall. Sawvel said almost 1,400 of that production has come after contact. "Great player there," he said with a laugh.

* You can take the defensive coordinator title away, but Sawvel still obviously has a focus on that side of the ball. He wasn't thrilled with the way that unit started in Fort Collins. "The urgency that we needed to play with defensively, we played with when we were down 24-10 with eight minutes to go in the third quarter," he said. "Then, from that point forward, we played with our hair on fire. We didn't do that to start."

* Sawvel talked about sending the seniors out the right way this Saturday in Laramie, but also that this is a major opportunity for young interior defensive linemen like Jayden Williams, Jaden Williams and Dante Drake to face a big, physical front and a runner like Jeanty. This will also be a chance for a young quarterback in Kaden Anderson to grow. Same goes for wide receiver Justin Stevenson and even a veteran like Waylee, Sawvel added.

* To win this game, Sawvel said, his team needs to find a way to "drag this along." That means clock control, running the football, playing keep away from the No. 4 overall offense in college football. That unit averages nearly 500 yards per game. "First and foremost, you have to play great on defense," he said. "We're gonna have to play great on defense. We're gonna have to play with a force and an energy that we didn't play with last week. I think that that starts up front."

* Wondering why Harrison Waylee only carried the ball eight times against CSU. Click right HERE.

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