2011-2012 Football Previews – Mountain West Conference – Wyoming Cowboys
An appalling season deserves no accolades, and that is what the Wyoming Cowboys turned in last year; an atrocious season. The only up side was the Boys’ final game when they shut out Colorado State 44-0. They will now try to make mends and built on that victory to get out of the cellar of the MWC.
2011 MWC | Wyoming Cowboys Football Preview
Coach: Dave Christensen
2010-11 Record: 3-9 (1-7)
Wyoming Cowboys Gambling Odds from Bodog.com to win BCS: 50/1
MVC Championship Odds: 33-1
Wyoming Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2011 Schedule –>
There isn’t much to say about the Cowboy’s season in 2010, that is, if you’re strictly looking for positive remarks.
Wyoming was outscored last season, on average, 30-19.
The 2010 season debacle was Dave Christensen’s first full one as the Cowboy’s head coach, and it went worse than his time as interim coach.
It seems so long since their 35-28 overtime victory over Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl at the conclusion of their 2009 season, and indeed it has been.
In 2010 they were beat by 45 points at the hands of the Boise State Broncos, by 27 against Texas, 24 by Utah, and shut out 45-0 by Texas Christian University.
Despite this, 2011 brings a fresh slate for the Cowboys, and every team is eyeing success.
On that note, why not take a look at how the team will fair on both sides of the ball going into the new season.
Offense:
The offense for the Wyoming Cowboys was lackluster at best, and that can surely be attributed to their 31 percent third down conversion rate. This also put their defense in bad spots consistently.
One area the team is likely to improve upon is their play at the quarterback position.
Junior Austyn Carta-Samuels will be in his third year as the starter, and will be expected to improve his play.
Carta-Samuels had a definitive drop in production and consistency in his sophomore year. In his freshman year the young quarterback looked promising; he passed for 1,953 yards and 10 touchdowns, while only throwing five interceptions.
In 2010, instead of improving upon his standout year, his numbers dropped to 1,702 yards and nine touchdowns, throwing eight interceptions.
In the rushing game, Carta-Samuels rarely had any help, but the backfield is young and full of potential. Sophomore running back Alvester Alexander rushed for 640 yards and seven touchdowns in 2010, but was only given the ball 10 carries per game.
If they want more success from their quarterback, they’re going to have to pound the ball on the ground more through their running backs, which will result in Alexander handling the rock much more in 2011.
Defense:
The defensive side of the ball is much different for the Cowboys, and they do possess impact players at key positions. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The defense did loose perhaps their best player in safety Chris Prosinski, who went in the fourth round of the NFL Draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they have talented young players ready to step into the leadership role that Prosinski left wide open.
One of those players is junior strong safety Shamiel Gary, who had 94 tackles and four passes broken up in 2010, this coming after his three-interception 98-tackle freshman season. He has shown through his play that he can step up and be a leader in the defensive backfield.
Senior Brian Hendricks heads a linebacking corps that has talent, but for the group to be successful they will need to push on the defensive line. The team moved Gabe Knapton, who had a monstrous season in 2009, from inside linebacker to the defensive end spot in hope of achieving this, but the project seemed to do very little.
2011 Wyoming Prediction: 8th in MWC
Wyoming is a promising team, and it is hard to put them this low, but the rest of the competition in the conference is so far ahead of them in nearly every aspect of the game.
But if Carta-Samuels turns out to be something close to what people thought he could be coming out of high school, then they’ll have a fighting chance.
2011 Wyoming Cowboys Schedule
9/3/11 9:00 PM ET WEBST
9/10/11 6:00 PM ET TEXST
9/17/11 12:00 PM ET @BGREN
9/24/11 7:30 PM ET NEB
10/8/11 8:00 PM ET @UTAST
10/15/11 2:00 PM ET UNLV
10/29/11 10:00 PM ET @SDST
11/5/11 2:00 PM ET TCU
11/12/11 2:00 PM ET @AIRFC
11/19/11 2:00 PM ET NMEX
11/26/11 2:00 PM ET @BOIST
12/3/11 2:00 PM ET
