Wyoming Getting ‘Buried’ In The Middle-Eight Minutes

LARAMIE -- Craig Bohl tried to ice the Boise State kicker.

It backfired.

The three consecutive timeouts were emphatic. So was the Jonah Dalmas celebration that followed after booting through a 43-yard field goal at the buzzer. The visitors trailed by three at the half inside a raucous Albertsons Stadium.

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No harm, no foul, right? That was Bohl's take. With that 2021 offense, though, it might as well have been a 30-point deficit.

Sound familiar?

Two words were brought to Bohl's attention after that eventual 23-13 loss on The Blue: "Middle eight."

Wyoming's veteran head coach wasn't interested in that stat despite the fact the Broncos, to that point, had outscored their opponents 40-3 during the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the third quarter.

Jay Sawvel is.

In fact, the Cowboys rookie bench boss said Monday, his team has to improve in that very category if it hopes to not only break into the win column, but be competitive with Mountain West play on the horizon.

How bad has it been?

Wyoming has given up 27 points in that timeframe. That includes not allowing Idaho to score in Week 2. If it wasn't for TK King's 103-yard kick return last Saturday night at North Texas, Sawvel's team would have a goose egg.

If you want to extend it to the "Middle 10," they've been outscored 51-21.

"For two straight weeks, we've buried ourselves," Sawvel added.

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That's a gross understatement.

Evan Svoboda barreled into the end zone from two yards out to cut BYU's lead to seven with 5:11 remaining in the first half. That capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive. The Cowboys' signal caller completed 5-of-6 balls for 40 yards on that possession. Momentum was finally swinging.

Or so we thought.

Jake Retzlaff and the Cougars did just enough to get Will Ferrin into field-goal range. With 45 ticks remaining in the second quarter, he split the uprights to extend the lead to 10. The dagger came on the ensuing kickoff. Keelan Marion provided that. The speedy kick returner made it all look too easy, weaving through Wyoming defenders before kicking it into high gear and cruising into the brown-and-goal paint from 100 yards out.

Ball game.

On a muggy night in Denton, Svoboda hit Sam Scott out of the backfield near midfield. The junior running back, who was all alone, raced right between the hashes en route to a 41-yard scoring strike.

Again, this team trailed by just a touchdown with 2:15 remaining in the first half.

Again, despite King's return, it gave up points.

First it was North Texas running back Makenzie McGill bullying his way past the white stripe. Then came the 45-yard field goal off the right foot of Kali Nguma as time expired.

That was the turning point in that eventual 44-17 setback.

"It changes the entire complexion of what you can do offensively, too," Sawvel said. "Plus, your energy level zaps a little bit and theirs goes up."

What led to that mess above? Defensive end Sabastian Harsh was flagged for an offside call on a 4th-and-4 inside the 10 against the Mean Green. There was also a blown assignment on a bubble screen that led to a 15-yard pitch and catch from Chandler Morris to DT Sheffield.

BYU's Chase Roberts made light work of an inexperienced Wyoming cornerback room the previous week. He caught consecutive passes, tallying up 43 yards of offense.

Who could forget the bad snaps -- from both center Nofoafia Tulafono and long snapper Carson York -- that have killed drives and eventually led to points? There have been plenty of momentum-killing penalties, too. Don't forget the nine quarterback sacks.

The numbers are mind-numbing. And here's a couple more: Under first-year offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, the Cowboys are scoring just 12.8 points per game. That ranks 130th in the nation out of 133 FBS programs.

Opponents have scored 52 points in the third quarter through four games.

Wyoming, zero.

"We've got to fight through that," Sawvel said, referring to the plethora of miscues that have led to this 0-4 start. "That's something that we got to be a lot better at."

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