Wyoming is coming off their second win of the season after defeating UC Davis 45-22 and roll into their final non-conference game 2-1. Crazy as it is, they have already matched their win total from last season. The Cowboys, although playing an FCS opponent, looked good on Saturday. FCS opponents are not the cupcakes they used to be and Wyoming has seen that first hand, they came in 4-2 in their last six against FCS teams and 3 of those wins were by 8 or fewer points. It was encouraging to see them score early and often and put this game away before half. This week Wyoming will travel to Eastern Michigan, who won one game last year. That game happened to be at Wyoming and the Cowboys will likely be out for revenge.
Here are 5 things I think going into week 4.
1. The defense is going to continue to get better as they play more games.
I think we have and will continue to see the defense improve, especially in the secondary. I think we are quick to point fingers at players when they make mistakes, but something to remember is that this defense is still very young. I think they played a very a good game on Saturday and one of the touchdown’s was not on them and another was late in the game. They have a number of play makers on that side of the ball, lead by sophomores Andrew Wingard and Carl Granderson. As other guys continue to get comfortable, they will only get better.
2. The attendance on Saturday was very disappointing.
18,781. That was Saturday’s attendance. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and couldn’t have been better football weather. It is a little embarrassing that at least 20,000 couldn’t make it for this game. Hopefully the Cowboys continue to play well and if they do that attendance should increase.
3. Brian Hill will become the all-time leading rusher Friday night.
Hill ran for 207 yards on Saturday and is now 98 yards behind Ryan Christopherson and 155 behind Devin Moore. Hill is coming off of his best game of 2016 and should continue to roll on Friday. Last year Hill ran 21 times for 242 against EMU and as a team UW ran 58 times for 430 yards. I can’t imagine the numbers will be that high, given we likely won’t be 6-17 passing for 32 yards. But the running game should be able to get going this weekend.
4. The Cowboys will avenge last year’s home loss on Friday night.
I think the Cowboys are out for some revenge after last year’s loss and they will come back to Laramie with a win. I truly believe they were better than EMU last year, but after Allen’s injury things went bad to worse. The offense should be able to do almost anything they want and the defense will provide enough to win. As long as the Cowboys don’t turn the ball over early and multiple times things should go their way.
5. Eastern Michigan’s field is… interesting.
The turf is gray and they call it “The Factory.” Interesting is the best word I could come up with to describe it and it will be interesting to see what it looks like on TV.
