The 2011 football season is almost upon us with games starting on Thursday for some teams. The hometown Wyoming Cowboys will be in action against FCS opponent Weber State from the Big Sky Conference. The Cowboys and Wildcats met two years ago in Laramie where the Cowboys prevailed 29-22 in a contest that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The look of these two teams is considerably different this time around with a lot of turnover from graduations and attrition for both teams. Weber State is predicted 5th in the Big Sky. The game will kickoff at 7:00pm, and following the game will be a fireworks show. The Cowboys will be wearing the uniform that the fans choose, which will be unveiled this week. The Cowboys have 9 different uniform options to pick from this year, as Nike produced a new line of  uniforms for the Pokes. A new uniform combination will feature an all brown set, including a matte brown helmet with a brown bucking horse in a white outline.

True freshman Brett Smith has been announced as the starting quarterback against Weber State. Smith had a great fall camp, as well as getting familiar with the playbook during spring drills, to beat out freshman Adam Pittser and JC transfer Colby Kirkegaard. Smith is from West Salem, Oregon.
Smith should have some weapons around him whom Cowboy fans are familiar with including running back Alvester Alexander, wide receiver Mazi Ogbonna and wide receiver Robert Herron. The offensive line returns a lot of experience as well and should help to keep the true freshman upright this season. The Pokes will also have another true freshman scoring some points, and that’s kicker Daniel Sullivan from Snohomish, WA. In the last scrimmage the Cowboys had Sullivan booted a 64 yard field goal, 1 yard longer than the NFL record, and 3 yards short of the NCAA record. Other freshman who could make an impact for the Pokes this year is Domonic Rufran, Kody Sutton, Mark Nzeocha, Josh Doctson, and Eddie Yarbrough.

Following the game against Weber State the Pokes will be home for another game with Texas State, then will travel to Bowling Green, then home against the Cornhuskers of Nebraska. They’ll then be on the road at Utah State and home against UNLV. The first half shapes up nicely for the Pokes who should win a few of those games. They will likely need 7 wins to become bowl eligible this year as one of the FCS games does not count towards eligibility.

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Go Pokes!