I have friends that are walking in the AA to avoid the mosquitoes and they said they heard positive things coming from a recent MBB practice (loud but fun). Wicks was calling out plays and the vibe was much different than what they observed/heard last year. They spoke with the Cowgirl coaches on another day, again hearing positive things. Cowgirls practice after the men.

Not much love for MWC here….. Colorado 36? Oregon State 48?….. U’mmmm don’t think so……


Go Pokes

Jeff,

What is your take on the "lack of tough questions" lobbed at Coach B at his weekly presser's?

Thanks,

Go Pokes

LARAMIE, Wyo. (July 23, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowboys have six players named to the East-West Shrine Bowl Preseason Watch List. The Shrine Bowl 1,000 was released on Tuesday with three defensive players, two offensive and on special teamer named to the list.



The Cowboy defense had three players named to the list. Defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole along with linebacker Shae Suiaunoa and safety Wyett Ekeler.



The Wyoming offense had two players with center Nofoafia Tulafono and Harrison Waylee on the list. UW Kicker John Hoyland was also featured on the list.



Defensive Tackle Jordan Bertagnole

Bertagnole started all 13 games en route to being named second-team All-Mountain West Conference. He was also named first team All-MW by Phil Steele. He ranked fifth on the squad with 60 tackles. Bertagnole added a team-best 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Bertagnole forced one fumble, had six quarterback hurries and two pass break-ups. He recorded multiple tackles in each game save for one. Bertagnole enjoyed a season-high nine tackles at UNLV, while adding eight and seven tackles against Appalachian State and Portland State, respectively. He registered back-to-back contests with a pair of tackles for loss against Hawaii and at Nevada.



Linebacker Shae Suiaunoa

Suiaunoa appeared in and started all 13 games for the Cowboys last season. He was named third team All-MW by Phil Steele. He ranked second on the team with 93 total tackles. He also added 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and an interception. He ranked tenth in the MW with 7.2 tackles per game. he had 10 or more tackles in three games last season. He recorded a career-high 12 tackles for the Cowboys in the win over Texas Tech. He added 13 tackles against another ranked opponent in Fresno State and added 11 against Boise State. Suiaunoa recorded an interception against Colorado State. He recorded a season-high 1.5 tackles for loss in the win over Portland State.



Safety Wyett Ekeler

Ekeler appeared in all 13 games for the Cowboys with 12 starts in 2023. He was named honorable Mention All-MW by the coaches and media and Third team by Phil Steele. He was named the MW Defensive Player of the Week following the Pokes win at Nevada. He was third on the team with 77 tackles with 49 solo stops and 28 assisted tackles. He also added 5.5 tackles for loss along with two sacks. He recorded two interceptions with one for a score coming against Nevada. He tied for the team lead with seven pass breakups. He recorded two forced fumbles and recovered one on the season. He recorded a season-high nine tackles for the Cowboys against Texas. He added eight against App State, Air Force and Boise State. He recorded a career-high two sacks against New Mexico and was named MW Player of the Week following the contest.



Center Nofoafia Tulafono

Tulafono started all 13 games. He helped pave the way for Harrison Waylee to rush for north of 100 yards on four different occasions with the high-water mark being 191 yards against New Mexico. Tulafono also helped protect Andrew Peasley who threw for at least 140 yards nine different times with a season-high 319 coming against Hawaii. Tulafono played a role in Wyoming ranking top-15 nationally in fourth-down conversion percentage at 66.7. The Cowboys were named to the Joe Moore Award Mid-season Watch list with the award going to the top offensive line in the nation.



Running Back Harrison Waylee

Waylee had an outstanding season for the Cowboys in 2023. He was named Honorable Mention All-Mountain West by the coaches and media. He was named to the Second Team All-MW by Phil Steele. He appeared in 10 games for the Poke with nine starts at running back. He rushed for 947 yards in those contests to rank sixth in the MW and No. 50 in the nation. He averaged 94.7 yards per game, a number that ranked fourth in the conference and No. 24 in the nation. He ended the season with 5.8 yards per carry to rank sixth in the MW and No. 34 in the nation. He also added 12 receptions for 66 yards. He finished the season with five touchdowns with a long of 75 yards that came for a touchdown against Texas. He rushed for over 100 yards against Texas, App State, New Mexico, and Colorado State. He rushed for a season-high 191 yards against New Mexico. He added 110 at Texas, 156 against App State and 128 against Colorado State. He has rushed for 2,876 yards in his career and has recorded 15 rushing touchdowns in his career.



Kicker John Hoyland

Hoyland appeared and started all 13 games at kicker for the Cowboys. He was 13-of-20 in field goals on the season. He was a perfect 10-10 from inside 45 yards a season ago. He recorded three field goals of 50 yards or longer. He recorded a career-high 56-yard field goal in both the Texas tech and Portland State games. He also hit a 52-yard field goal for the Cowboys in the Arizona Bowl. He was named the MVP of the Arizona Bowl recording a game winning field goal as the time expired. He was named the MW Special Teams Player of the Week following the win over Texas Tech. He was named the Lou Groza Star of the Week after going 4-for-4 against New Mexico.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (7/23/24) – The Mountain West Conference released its 2024 Spring Academic All-Conference Team on Tuesday. A total of 1,241 student-athletes were honored and 118 of those hail from the University of Wyoming.

Spring sports include women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, softball and baseball. In order to qualify a student-athletes must have completed at least one academic term at a member institution, have competed in at least 50 percent of their team’s contests and possess a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.

Below is a list of the Cowboys and Cowgirls that earned recognition.

Men’s Basketball (6)
Kenny Foster Master's in Business Administration
Oleg Kojenets Computer Science
Cam Manyawu Finance
Caden Powell Electrical Engineering
Mason Walters Master's in Business Administration
Brendan Wenzel Graduate Exploratory Studies

Women’s Basketball (9)
Tess Barnes Psychology
McKinley Dickerson Health Services Administration
Allyson Fertig Mathematics Education
Maren McKenna Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Emily Mellema Marketing
Kati Ollilainen Economics
Malene Pedersen Architectural Engineering
Madi Symons Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Ola Ustowska Psychology

Men’s Golf (6)
Patrick Azevedo Masters in Business Administration
Jaren Calkins Finance
Jimmy Dales Masters in Business Administration
Evan Johnson Finance
Kristof Panke Accounting
Davis Seybert Economics

Women’s Golf (6)
Tomine Bjerkelo Masters in Business Administration
Grace Dunkleberger Physiology
Jadan Gonzalez Masters in Business Administration
Morgan Ryan American Studies
Samantha Spielman Economics
Kyla Wilde Communication

Women’ Swimming and Diving (36)
Madeline Bane Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Tessa Bendokas Political Science
Heidi Billings Family and Consumer Sciences
Emily Burchett Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
Brynlee Busskohl Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Berkeley Christensen Pre Nursing
Kayla Cunningham Psychology
Sam Diaz Marketing
Brooke Ford Nursing
Kali Franckowiak Physiology
Karter Friesen Marketing
Ellie Fritscher Pharmacy
Emily Giles Elementary Education
Hannah Giles Mathematics
Alicia Gonzalez Family and Consumer Sciences
Gabriella Haigler Wildlife, Fish Biology, and Management
Rachael Horne Physiology
Marnie Howard Journalism
Lana Jeter Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
Tara Joyce Mechanical Engineering
Maisyn Klimczak General Studies
Nettie Knapton Agricultural Business
Brinkley Lewis Pre Pharmacy
Sydney McKenzie Marketing
Mikayla Moore Physiology
Sage Morton Animal and Veterinary Sciences
Britt Nichols Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Sophie Nutter Psychology
Veronika Ozimek Physiology
Carly Palmer Masters in Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Zoe Robison Physiology
Anna Roesler Civil Engineering
Natalie Six Marketing
Alex Stein Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
Lauren Swartz Agricultural Business
Kylee Theiler Economics

MWC-PAC 2 merger

Go Pokes

The 1WYO collective compensates athletes for working with charitable organizations while unitizing their NIL. This makes it a win for communities in Wyoming and a win for the athletes. Athletes I interviewed for this two-part story told me their experiences with charities opened their eyes to new skills such as teaching and advocacy. Part one focuses on University of Wyoming running back Harrison Waylee and his work with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming.

Article: https://www.pokesnews.com/post/part...ylee-s-impact-on-boys-and-girls-club-of-centr

USU Football transfer drowns

Sounds like he had potential to have been a good one.

Condolences to player's family and team mates.

Go Pokes

Saw this story today about the possible future of the MWC and the PAC-2 schools merging up.

A while back when the realignment of the conferences was hot and heavy, there were serious conversations between the MWC and the PAC-2 schools about merging. From what I have read in the past, it was OSU that truly put a halt to the talks. They saw a lot of money coming from their PAC "war chest" and they rated themselves very highly and didn't want to share more than they had to get football games with the MWC. Once that "war chest" is used up, since it is finite, then what are these schools going to do since they have no TV contracts or guaranteed monies coming from a conference affiliation? I do believe if it were up to WSU the merger would have happened, but OSU and WSU have stuck together. When the PAC-2 schools parked all of their sports with the exception of football with the WCC I really knew that OSU didn't want to have anything to do with the MWC. I said a while back that I don't trust OSU and I still don't, I do not feel that they would be a good school to let into the MWC.

Per the article it is clear that the committee that controls the collegiate playoffs did the MWC a bigger favor than what they did for the PAC-2 schools. The addition of the PAC-2 schools really does very little for the MWC as it is now constituted. The TV contractual negotiations coming up with Fox and CBS will be pivotal to the future of the MWC and from some of the people quoted in this article the addition of OSU and WSU can realistically only amount to about a 10% increase, so their worth will not be what they are thinking.

What is happening with the ACC right now might have some impact upon the whole scenario, but that is tough to judge at this point in time. There is talk that the BIG12 has made an agreement with FSU and Clemson to move over and that they will take 4 teams from the ACC with them. That will make the BIG12 a truly super conference. Will it mean that the ACC will approach OSU and WSU?? Will Cal and Stanford want to come back?? But it does appear that OSU especially overrated their own importance and value.

The TV money will drive much if not all of what will take place in the next year or two. It has been mentioned that they want things settled before the 2025 season so this winter and next spring will be an interesting time to watch about what is going on, but no matter what it appears the MWC will be together.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (July 10, 2024) – The Mountain West Conference released on Wednesday its 2024 Preseason Predicted Order of Finish and Preseason All-Conference Team as selected by Mountain West media members. Wyoming was picked to finish sixth in the 12-team Mountain West Conference and three Cowboys were named to the Preseason MW team. Mountain West Media Days being held at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.



Wyoming had two players earn Frist team All-MW honors on the offensive side of the ball with tight end John Michael Gyllenborg and offensive guard Jack Walsh garnering the honor. Defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole was named to the defensive team for the second straight season.



Bertagnole started all 13 games en route to being named second-team All-Mountain West Conference. He was also named first team All-MW by Phil Steele. He ranked fifth on the squad with 60 tackles. Bertagnole added a team-best 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Bertagnole forced one fumble, had six quarterback hurries and two pass break-ups. He recorded multiple tackles in each game save for one. Bertagnole enjoyed a season-high nine tackles at UNLV, while adding eight and seven tackles against Appalachian State and Portland State, respectively. He registered back-to-back contests with a pair of tackles for loss against Hawaii and at Nevada.



Gyllenborg participated in all 13 games with four starts, three of which were the final three contests of the season. He pulled in 23 passes for 360 yards with three touchdowns. Gyllenborg reeled in a career-long 89-yard touchdown pass against Hawaii, which also happened to be the longest passing touchdown of Wyoming’s season. He ended the game against the Rainbow Warriors with a career-high 128 yards receiving. Gyllenborg logged a career-high five receptions against Texas Tech, including the game-leveling touchdown pass on fourth down in overtime.



Walsh started all 13 games. Walsh was named All-MW by Pro Football Focus earning first team honors. He was also named third team All-MW by Phil Steele. He helped pave the way for Harrison Waylee to rush for north of 100 yards on four different occasions with the high-water mark being 191 yards against New Mexico. Walsh also helped protect Andrew Peasley who threw for at least 140 yards nine different times with a season-high 319 coming against Hawaii. Walsh played a role in Wyoming ranking top-15 nationally in fourth-down conversion percentage at 66.7. The Cowboys were named to the Mid-season Watch List for the Joe Moore Award going to the top offensive line unit in the nation.



Wednesday's Mountain West Media Day schedule will feature two football student-athletes from each Mountain West school being interviewed by MW television partners CBS Sports Network, FOX Sports, TNT Sports and the Mountain West Network, as well as media members from around the conference. On Thursday, all 12 head coaches from each Mountain West school will take center stage.



Wyoming is being represented by head coach Jay Sawvel, Bertagnole and running back Harrison Waylee.



2024 Mountain West Predicted Order of Finish

Rank Team (first-place votes) Points

1. Boise State (38) 543

2. UNLV (4) 471

3. Fresno State (4) 460

4. Air Force 384

5. Colorado State 337

6. Wyoming 296

7. Utah State 285

8. San Diego State 251

9. Hawai’i 214

10. San José State 185

11. New Mexico 85

12. Nevada 77




Offense

QB Mikey Keene Jr. Fresno State

WR Tory Horton* Gr. Colorado State

WR Ricky White III* Sr. UNLV

WR Jalen Royals* Sr. Utah State

RB Ashton Jeanty* Jr. Boise State

RB Malik Sherrod Sr. Fresno State

OL Kage Casey** So. Boise State

OL Jacob Gardner** Gr. Colorado State

OL Mose Vavao** Sr. Fresno State

OL Tiger Shanks* Sr. UNLV

OL Jack Walsh Jr. Wyoming

TE John Michael Gyllenborg Jr. Wyoming



Defense

DL Ahmed Hassanein* Sr. Boise State

DL Devo Bridges** Sr. Fresno State

DL Soane Toia** Sr. San José State

DL Jordan Bertagnole** Gr. Wyoming

LB Andrew Simpson** Jr. Boise State

LB Chase Wilson** Sr. Colorado State

LB Jordan Pollard Jr. San José State

LB Jackson Woodard* Sr. UNLV

DB A'Marion McCoy Sr. Boise State

DB Jack Howell* Sr. Colorado State

DB Cameron Oliver** Sr. UNLV

DB Ike Larsen* Jr. Utah State


Specialists

P James Ferguson-Reynolds* Jr. Boise State

PK Jonah Dalmas** Gr. Boise State

PR Jacob De Jesus* Sr. UNLV


KR Jacob De Jesus* Sr. UNLV



Offensive Player of the Year: Ashton Jeanty, Jr., RB, Boise State

Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Ahmed Hassanein, Sr., DL, Boise State

Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Jackson Woodard, Sr., LB, UNLV

Special Teams Player of the Year: Jacob De Jesus, Sr., PR/KR, UNLV

Great interview, the kid has the enthusiasm of Wicks and sounds like him. Says Obi can flat out score and Ebube will be a force in the MWC. Says Ebube at 6”10 can jump out of the gym!
Go Pokes

Cody’s Pick’s

Still think UNLV too highly rated, otherwise I think Cody is pretty much spot on…..

Go Pokes

Places 3rd at the prestigious Fargo USA Wrestling tournament.

I understand there were over 100 wrestlers in his bracket.

Good pickup Coach Branch.

First Pokes FB game. Get em’ tuned up coach as we’re stirring in the dirt and looking forward to your debut!

Welcome home Jovon


Go Pokes

What could have been

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Has given University of Oregon unlimited NIL funds.

Tough to compete with that…..

College sports are completely ruined.

LARAMIE, Wyo. (July 11, 2024) – The Cowboy basketball program and tournament officials with the Cancun Challenge announced seven of the eight men’s programs that will be participating in the tournament this season on Thursday morning.



The event takes place during Thanksgiving Week at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. Powered by Triple Crown Sports, this is the 17th season of the tournament (2020 event was played in Florida due to the Pandemic) – players and fans will be just walking distance from their rooms to the converted ballroom that hosts the competition.



The men’s tournament takes place Nov. 26-27, with the games of the Riviera Division set for broadcast on CBS Sports Network as FloHoops will broadcast games from the Mayan Division. The Mayan Division teams are Bethune-Cookman, Gardner-Webb, North Dakota and Southeastern Louisiana; making up the Riviera Division are the Cowboys, Loyola Marymount (CA), Tulane and a team to be announced.



“We are pleased to draw another intriguing mix of teams to the Cancun Challenge. These matchups are attention-getters, as we feature a competitive environment that teams love to see before the conference schedule begins,” said Sarah Molina, Cancun Challenge director.



More information, including schedules for the event, will continue to be released on the event website: CancunChallenge



Fan packages are available; check out your options for a relaxing, secure warm-weather escape over Thanksgiving: Fan Packages - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya - Cancun Challenge



About Triple Crown Sports

Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for more than 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering a “WNIT” concept events in D-I volleyball (NIVC), with that event debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features more than 10 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. Anchored by the 1,100-team Colorado 4th of July event, TC fastpitch tournaments draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the 700-team Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 550 teams compete in Kansas City, MO.

307 campaign starts today.

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Dead last. Wyo must win this opener.

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