Of course the sports guy asked some really vanilla questions, you wouldn't know we got stomped again by the sports guys questions.

But to Sawvel's credit he did say that he needed to redefine himself and change things to make the Pokes successful. Whether he really means that or is just giving lip service it is anyone's guess. Sawvel did talk about Svoboda and how he passed well in the first half. Too bad there were 2 halves tonight.

....then it's an admission that our roster is extraordinarily thin and there's no other options. And it ain't just him. Might as well get on with business and get to rebuilding this thing--- yet again. Get the young guys some reps, and be willing to sit older guys who are lagging. There's no magic tricks that are now going to suddenly come up at this stage and change the direction of the program. Staying with the same failed strategy only demonstrates a stupid, bizarre stubbornness and won't build any confidence in either the team or fans. When you lose to a North Texas, you've pretty much defined where your program sits, and if status quo stays the rule, you deserve everything coming your way. 69 yards rushing. 175 passing. Against North Texas. Shameful.

This is a game that should shake everyone involved with UW Athletics. From the Governor to the trustees. Doubt it will tho...

Is starting for Nebraska tonight against Illinois. That boy gets around.

I have YouTube TV, bit they don't carry ESPN +. The bastards want another $12 bucks to see their broadcasts. Probably just going to listen to Keith and Kevin. Damn ESPN. 🤬

Game in Denton, TX. Kickoff at 5 p.m. MST

Weather: 95° Sunny. Wind out of SW 14 mph. Humidity 37% 2% chance of precipitation.

First meeting between teams.

!st time I ever turned off a Wyo game....

Svoboda 48% vs Morris 68%....

I guess the coaches have told Svoboda to throw the ball away if he doesn't see it. Well he isn't seeing a lot, because he does throw it away a lot!

BTW, Ferrell had 3 carries for a negative 6 yards. He has been like this all season, so why were they playing Ferrell in front of Scott? Scott had 39 yards tonight and was Wyoming's leading rusher. That is pathetic!

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 16, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowboys hit the road for the second time this season heading to the Lone Star State for a meeting with North Texas of the American Athletic Conference on Saturday evening inside DATCU Stadium in Denton, Texas. It is the first meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.



The contest will kick at 5 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+ with James Westling calling the action with Leger Douzable analyzing the action. The game will also be available on the 26 stations of The Cowboy Sports Network with Keith Kelley on the call, Kevin McKinney on color and Erick Pauley on the sidelines.



White Returns to the Defensive Backfield: Safety Isaac White returned to the field for the Pokes against BYU and recorded a career-high 10 tackles and added a pass breakup late in the first half that halted a drive of BYU and held the Cougars to a field goal. He leads the team with 19 tackles on the season and is averaging 9.5 tackles per game for the season.



Against the American Athletic Conference: The Cowboys and North Texas will meet on Saturday marking the 15th meeting against a current member of the American Conference. Wyoming is 8-6 against the conference but has only played Tulsa as current members of the conference. UW is 1-1 in those two games.



Tackles at the Defensive End Spot: Defensive end Sabastian Harsh has been solid all around for the Cowboys. He has 18 tackles for the season, which is tied for second on the team. He also leads the squad with 3.5 tackles for loss. He leads all defensive linemen in the Mountain West Conference in tackles.



Turnover Titan Makes Play: Nickel Wrook Brown recorded an interception in the first quarter against BYU. It marked the first interception of the season for the Cowboys. It was the fourth of his career with the Cowboys. A native of Texas, he will return to his home state, but will miss the first half after a targeting penalty in the second half.



Another Tough Challenge: The Cowboys face another tough task on the road against North Texas. The Mean Green are 2-1 on the season. The four opponents on the Cowboy schedule so far this season at a combined 10-2 on the season.



King Makes Plays All Over: Wide receiver Tyler King was making plays all over for the Cowboys. He grabbed a career-high three receptions for a career-high 52 yards. That was a season-high receiving for a Cowboy this season. He also added a 25-yard kick return. He ranks first in the MW and No. 13 in the nation with just over 25 yards per return this season.



Svoboda Through The Air: Quarterback Evan Svoboda recorded a career-high 140 yards passing. He also added 32 yards on the ground. He had 14 completions for the second highest after having 17 against Texas last season.



Nanke Hauls in Pass: Tight end Clay Nanke added a 24-yard reception against BYU. It was the first of the season and career for Nanke. Wyoming’s tight ends have six catches for 55 yards through the first three games of the season.



Sargent Has Career Day: Wide receiver Jaylen Sargent added two catches against BYU tying a career-high he had against Ohio in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl in 2022. He had 18 yards against the Cougars with a career-best 12-yard reception.



Finding Different Targets: The Pokes had 11 different players record a reception against BYU. The most the Cowboys had last season was nine in a contest. It was the most in a game since Wyoming had 11 different players catch a pass against Texas in 2009.



Third Down Defense: The Cowboys held BYU to 2-of-11 on third down for the night. Over the last two games, Wyoming is holding opponents to 3-of-24 for 12.5 percent. UW ranks third in the MW and No. 24 in the nation holding teams to 28.2 percent on third downs.



About North Texas: The Mean Green (2-1) is coming off a 66-21 loss at Texas Tech last Saturday. Three turnovers by North Texas helped the Red Raiders score 35 points in the second quarter and 42 unanswered points to close the first half after a competitive first 15 minutes. Quarterback Chander Morris had two touchdowns and three interceptions before watching most of the fourth quarter from the sideline.



North Texas, which opened the season with a 52-38 win at South Alabama and defeated Stephen F. Austin 35-20 in Denton, enters the matchup with Wyoming ranked 34th in the FBS in scoring offense (36.0 ppg) and 24th in total yards (469.0 ypg). The Mean Green defense is 129th in points allowed (41.3 per game) and 127th in yards allowed (472.0 per game).



Morris, despite the rough outing in Lubbock, is completing 65.2% of his passes and averaging 299.7 passing yards per game with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Wide receiver Damon Ward Jr. is averaging 93.7 yards receiving with two touchdowns.



This is the first meeting between UW and North Texas, which was a member of the Sun Belt Conference (2000-13) and Conference USA (2013-23) before joining the American Athletic Conference last season

Is the classic “The Hunt for Red October”. The captain of the Russian submarine hunting the Red October is so over confident in his abilities he leads the entire crew to their death. Right before the submarine is destroyed his second officer looks at him and says, “you’ve killed us, you arrogant ass.”

That’s for you, Tom.

The Dukes put a 70-burger on North Carolina. Yikes!

Sending every bit of positivity to the Pokes that we can!

You know what to do!

Go Pokes!

Though I wouldn't bet it, I'm thinking the Pokes are going to get their first win of the season in Denton, TX tonight. I have no rational basis for this thought, just a feeling they finally get it together.

So, I call it, Wyoming 21, North Texas 14

Cowgirls are off to a 5-0 start on the road. Link.

Coach Sawvel has said numerous times that if we had seen what they had seen in practice we would agree that Svoboda is the man. I am a little surprised because I have no doubt that Sawvel knows that some players are practice players and some are not, but this doesn't always predict how a guy performs in an actual game. A QB has an upper hand in practice as he knows generally what his team is going to perform like. How ever, in an actual game situation, things are typically much faster and you have to make decisions on the run. Some players can do this and some players can't. I really do feel that it is time for these "practice" players to actually step-up in a game situation, or it is time for another player get a chance, even though he might not be the "best" practice player!

I am going to watch the game tonight, and if Svoboda does not perform tonight, all excuses need to be flushed down the hole and we need to open up the QB competition imo.

I have no idea how the Pokes will perform tonight, but I find it impossible to be optimistic. If this thing goes south again tonight, will Sawvel keep making excuses for our poor QB play?

I have a feeling this is going to be ugly! UNT defense isn’t good but they don’t have to be against UW O. I hope i’m wrong!

when it came to the PAC2 and the 4 MW defectors. From an ESPN.com article,

These schools had invested in their athletic department and football programs for years in preparation for this kind of opportunity, and while this wasn't the same as joining the Pac-12 before its collapse, they strongly felt this move offered a better future than what they had in the Mountain West.

Those athletic directors' counterparts around the conference were left in the dark, and when the news leaked late Wednesday night, several administrators at other Mountain West schools were caught off guard.

"There were some things after the fact that became more clear," one Mountain West school administrator told ESPN. "Like certain people from those four schools not being present at meetings or generally unresponsive. It makes sense now, but we had no sense this was coming."

If the Pac-12 were to survive, multiple industry sources presumed to ESPN at the time, it would likely have to come through a so-called reverse merger with the Mountain West. In that scenario, the Mountain West would have added OSU and WSU, continued to be operated by its current leadership -- including commissioner Gloria Nevarez -- and adopt the Pac-12 branding. That was never the preferred outcome of OSU and WSU, however, and over the past two months, Gould -- as she was tasked to do when she was hired in February -- worked to secure an outcome more favorable for the two schools.

The Mountain West, sources said, felt protected by its bylaws and a poaching fee included in a football scheduling agreement it signed with the Pac-12 in December. To leave the conference, a school is required to pay roughly $18 million with two years of notice and $36 million with a one-year notice. And if the Pac-12 accepted a Mountain West school as a new member, the Pac-12 would be required to pay a $10 million fee, with escalators of $500,000 more for each additional school. (The four-school fee for Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State is $43 million.)

Even so, when the scheduling agreement was announced, it included an instructive comment from Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes: "We are still focused on re-building the Pac-12."

WHEN TALKS ABOUT extending the scheduling agreement started a few weeks after media day, little progress was made. The Mountain West overestimated how vulnerable the Pac-12 was from a negotiating position and asked for more than the $14 million it received last year, with the Pac-12 countering with less than half that. When it became clear the Sept. 1 deadline to extend the agreement would pass, the Pac-12 became more serious about attempting a true rebuild.

"There is a lot of negotiation that still needs to happen between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West and among the various schools on what that exit is going to look like, what scheduling alliances are going to look like and all sorts of different details," Colorado State president Amy Parsons said. "We have some time on that. We're playing out the Mountain West all of next year and into the following. We will not have those details pinned down for some time.

"We are grateful to the Pac-12 that they're investing in the four schools who are leaving the Mountain West in a way that makes us feel comfortable that we're going to come out strong and ready to really compete at that level. But a lot of details [to get figured out] going forward."

For years, the teams at the top of the Mountain West in terms of investment had grown tired of the bottom third's inability to keep up, which contributed to the appeal of this model as opposed to adding OSU and WSU to the Mountain West, sources said.

Nevarez caught wind of the possibility early last week, sources said, but the departing schools did not communicate their intention to leave before the deals were done. With six schools, the Pac-12 still has to add at least two more by July 1, 2026, and there is not a firm timeline for when those additions will be made.
The conference is expected to explore options in the American Athletic Conference -- namely Tulane and Memphis -- but it's too early to say what the true appetite will be. Without a significant increase in their current media deal -- AAC schools receive about $7 million annually -- it becomes tougher to justify the added logistical hurdles of playing in a conference with a larger footprint, especially as a geographic outlier.

There is a good chance additional Mountain West schools could eventually find their way to the Pac-12. UNLV, for example, was a surprising omission this round for many industry sources given its relatively similar profile to the four departing schools, but the conference was steadfast in starting with this group.

"I can't say I'm surprised [UNLV was not included] because I was pleased with the configuration, and actually the metrics and the metrics spoke to the decision-making process, and I and they were very, very objective in that sense," San Diego State president Adela de la Torre said. "So in my mind, I think it was the best four that were selected."

and now...

Air Force has emerged as a serious target to be added to the American Athletic Conference, sources told ESPN on Monday.

Air Force had been referenced in conversations as a potential AAC add in recent months, prior to the Pac-12 taking four Mountain West Conference schools last week.

Can’t seem to bring up MWC LINKS!

No use crying about what happened. Time to make the best of things moving forward. Obviously priority number 1 will be fixing our FB program, but priority 2 is ensuring UW involvement in intercollegiate athletics in a way that is competitive, additive to the UW experience, and as visible as possible to market the University (the last one is going to be tough).

With that said, there is still room for a MWC conference, and the league will have resources from the payouts to assist. As we look for candidates to join I believe we should avoid trying to expand for TV or some pie in the sky notion of earning the 5th AQ bid. Rather, focus on schools that share a vision and that will provide an opportunity to build long term rivalries and interest.

Primary targets should be regional FCS schools that are committed to athletics. Montana, Montana State, NDSU, SDSU, along with FBS UTEP and NMSU.

Avoid bringing in schools from Texas markets or large markets that are culturally very different. We never should have invited SDSU in 1978 or 1999. Having conference members that actively hate their conference peers (not like competitive hate, but serious personal dislike) is a recipe for failure.

Am I basically suggesting a bottom tier FBS version of the Big Sky? Yes, but that is way better than some poor man’s CUSA.

Can pound sand. The Border War should die with this move. Tom reaching out to keep the game going makes him look even more like a….female body part.

LARAMIE, Wyoming (9/17/24) – No team has been as impressive through two weeks of the National Football League season as New Orleans. The Saints are 2-0, having outscored their opponents 91-29, and a former University of Wyoming football player is a big reason for that success.

Carl Granderson has accumulated eight tackles with 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits from his defensive end position. New Orleans went into Dallas and throttled the Cowboys, 44-19, on Sunday and Granderson had five tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, and a pair of quarterback hits.
The Saints host Philadelphia in Week 3.
Below is a list of the other former Wyoming student-athletes and how they did in Week 2.

Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen and the Bills improved to 2-0 with a 31-10 win at Miami on Thursday. Allen didn’t have to do a whole bunch as the defense played well, but he finished 13-for-19 for 139 yards and one touchdown.
For the season, Allen is 31-for-42 for 371 yards and three touchdowns. He’s added 41 yards on 11 carries and two scores.
Buffalo hosts Jacksonville for Monday Night Football.

Logan Wilson, Cincinnati Bengals
Wilson and the Bengals fell to 0-2 after dropping a 26-25 decision at Kansas City on Sunday. Wilson did all he could with 12 tackles from his linebacker position.
For the season, Wilson has piled up 24 tackles. That ranks in a tie for second in the league.
Cincinnati hosts Washington for Monday Night Football.

Marcus Epps, Las Vegas Raiders
Epps and the Raiders moved to 1-1 on the season after a 26-23 win at Baltimore. Epps recorded four tackles and one tackle for loss from his safety position.
For the season, Epps boasts nine tackles and one tackle for loss.
The Raiders host Carolina in Week 3.

Chad Muma, Jacksonville Jaguars
Muma and the Jaguars fell to 0-2 after an 18-13 loss to Cleveland on Sunday. He registered one tackle from his linebacker position.
For the season, Muma has logged three tackles.
Jacksonville travels to Buffalo for Monday Night Football.

Andrew Wingard, Jacksonville Jaguars
Wingard did not play due to an injury in Jacksonville’s 18-13 loss to Cleveland on Sunday. He has yet to play this season.

Tashaun Gipson, Jacksonville Jaguars
Gipson did not play due to a suspension in Jacksonville’s 18-13 loss to Cleveland on Sunday. He has yet to play this season.

Frank Crum, Denver Broncos
Crum was inactive for Denver in the Broncos, 13-6, loss to Pittsburgh. Crum has yet to be active this season.

Treyton Welch, New Orleans Saints
Welch is currently participating on the Saints’ practice squad. He has yet to be elevated this season.

Following the 34-14 beatdown by the Coogs in Laramie, I'm thinking any day now we should be getting some spin from the gaslighters.
The very same people who tried to shine us about Craig Bohl leaving behind a “foundation,” should probably shift to a narrative that says something like…”Jay Sawvel simply needs “his own guys” that reflect his long-term plan”, and this disaster season proves this.

Remember, it’s never the coach or the AD—at least at first. Then when it’s completely obvious, it’s only the coach.

I know a lot of folks never bought the "Bohl left a foundation" line, but a lot did. It was a respectful departing line of easy rhetoric from the AD and their parrots in the media, so I'm expecting any day to start hearing how a complete rebuild of the program should happen, because, I guess, Bohl didn’t really leave a foundation for Coach J—he actually hamstrung him by leaving behind players ill-suited for the type of offense Coach J envisioned, and it's been 10+ years anyway and time for new vision. Much of this is actually true to some degree. In any event, Coach J shouldn't be blamed for this season.

The mass evac of players to the portal at season’s end will hasten/underscore the need for players “who want to be here,” which means more freshmen, and fewer transfers, y’know, to build this thing right. A rebuild is coming in any event, but there needs to be justification and an explanation for this season, so I'm waiting to hear how some of the coaches saw a lot of this coming when Bohl the Great retired, but were powerless to do anything at the time because of honoring scholarships, or loyalty by some players that stayed when they could have transferred, NIL limitations, etc. The Pokes simply were unable to make the transition to the Sawvel era at the time. “We always knew that this program was going to need to go in a different direction” they’ll say, and with your patience and donation(s) to 1Wyo, CJC, and bumps in ticket costs we can turn a corner in 2-3 years--maybe seven. Now that conference realignment is possibly underway, what better way for UW to position itself for future success?

Next year, the bar of expectations will be stowed in a closet somewhere so that if we win an extra game or two, it can then be said that success is coming soon, justifying a two-year extension for Coach J which Burman already has printed up I'm sure. Who's with us?