2010 NCAA football preview: Wyoming
Ask most people in Wyoming about Cowboy football and they will probably assume you are talking about the Cowboys from Dallas, not the University of Wyoming.
The Wyoming Cowboys have not given their fans much to talk about since the 10-2 season in 1996 that Joe Tiller led the team to before departing for Purdue. The remainder of the 1990s was not bad to the team as they finished with winning records (7-6 in 1997; 8-3 in 1998; and 7-4 in 1999).
However, the new millennium has not seen the Cowboys at their best. Since the 2000 season the Cowboys have finished the year with a losing record seven times and from 2000-2003 the team only managed nine wins in all. Joe Glenn experienced a modest level of success in 2004 leading the team to their first bowl victory (in the Las Vegas Bowl) since the Sun Bowl in 1966.
When Dave Christensen took over prior to the 2009 season he knew he had his work cut out for him. Fast forward to the end of the season and he led the team to their first winning season since 2004 along with a victory in the New Mexico Bowl.
Wyoming will not be a threat to win the Mountain West by any means, but if Christensen can continue to get the most out of what talent he has they could find themselves playing in back to back bowl games for only the second time in school history.
Offense
The strength of the offense comes largely from the promise that it holds. Last year’s results were not too good; the passing game ranked 104th and the rushing game 74th.
However, that was with a very young group of inexperienced players at many positions. Austyn Carta-Samuels threw for less than 2000 yards last season, but showed a lot of promise with his decision making skills. For a freshman to have a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio is pretty good. His partner in the backfield was also a freshman, Alvester Alexander. In limited action last year he rushed for 640 yards and seven touchdowns. Christensen is hoping to see Alexander turn into the back that gained 1348 yards and scored 29 touchdowns as a high school senior.
If Samuels can improve as a passer his favorite target stands to benefit quite a bit. Leonard had an especially good season in 2009 considering how much the team passes catching 77 passes for just over 700 yards. A better season from Samuels could easily result in Leonard catching 100 balls and surpassing 1000 yards.
Defense
When your rushing defense ranks 93rd in the nation you need to do something different. The Cowboys have decided that they can do better if they shift from a 3-4 to a 4-3; with all three starting linemen gone there couldn’t be a better time to make the switch. To man the ends they will move two of their linebackers, Gabe Knapton and Josh Biezuns, down the ends. Both were among the better in the conference at linebacker last year; Knapton made 128 tackles and Biezuns had 65. The team is hoping that there speed on the end will help shut down the running game and rush the quarterback.
With those two moving positions the linebackers will end up being different. So far the team has penciled in Brian Hendricks, Keith Lewis, and Ghaali Muhammad to man the middle. Hendricks will lead the way and look to improve off the 102-tackle performance he had last season.
The secondary will be the strength of the team. Free safety Chris Prosinski was an all-conference player last season, and rightfully so after making 140 tackles. Strong Safety Shamiel Gary looked pretty good as a freshman and should be even better this year.
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