The Good, The Bad, and The Fugly. Game 4.

[fromolwyoming]

The Good:
Our kicker nailed some clutch FGs, including a 50 yarder.
Wick and May both had good days, with Wick getting another 100 yard game and both getting TDs.
The defense allowed only 1 TD all game, and that was with a lot of bad spots.
The defense also forced and recovered 3 fumbles.
Our run blocking is still good.
Rufran is still a good reciever.

The Bad:
The defense was gashed several times on the ground, generally with read options.
Our pass blocking is still pretty bad.
Kirk does not like to throw the ball away.
Our special teams coverage, which had been pretty good, let some big plays happen. Not many, which is why they are only here, but still.

The Ugly:
Offensive playcalling. Our first drive of the game results in a TD due to good power running and a couple of well timed play action passes. From there on, Vigen tried to get cutesy and it nearly cost us the game. Truth be told, it would have any other day, but he lucked out big time near the end with a fumble by FAU and a BIG play by Dominic Rufran. When Bohl came here, he said he was bringing smash mouth, ground and pound, grind'em up football on both sides. The defense is well on it's way there, but Vigen is trying his hardest to make a liar out of Bohl for the offense.

[PCB]

Good: We won?
Ugly: Offense!
Ugly: Who is in control of or run the sound effects? Whoever it is that kept playing that doomsday bell I'd like to locate him and break his fingers. This moron had no idea if or when to play it. Embarassing.

[NowherePoke]

Our whole passing game is just a mess right now. It starts with a lack of protection up front, continues with Colby who simply doesn't exhibit the pocket awareness and command that is needed (stares down receivers, doesn't "feel" pressure, etc.), and finishes with a WR corp that isn't getting a lot of separation right now.

I think you can make do with Colby's arm. He's not in the top tier in terms of either velocity or accuracy, but he has a decent touch and in the right spots can make some decent throws, but he has to be able to conduct himself better in the pocket. Some QB's just don't handle pressure well and that appears to be the case. Having said all of that, I am very confident that Coach Bohl enjoys winning FB games and that he is going to play whichever QB gives us the best chance to win. He has clearly decided that is Colby, so I am confident he is correct. It doesn't bode well for the long term though although hopefully Coffman will be able to give us a bridge next year as we work to develop a younger player.

Other thoughts:

1. Really impressed with the 50 yd FG from Williams. Yes, it's Laramie, but that would have been good from 60 and he clearly was confident in his ability to hit it. That is huge for a team like ours that needs all the points it can get and will likely play a lot of close low scoring games.

2. Wick and May continue to impress. Will be a great combo this year and next.

3. Secondary is still and issue, FAU just couldn't exploit it.

4. Whitehead from FAU is faster than anybody on our team. Fortunately they were not very creative in finding ways to get him the ball in space. He did have to one fumble, but obviously made up for it with the punt return.

[WYCowboy]

I haven't seen (or heard) the stats, but I thought our D gave up way too many 1st downs on 3rd and long. I'm guessing the TOP was not in our favor and a good part of that is because of giving up all those 1st downs on 3rd & long.

[Subcanis]

I haven't seen (or heard) the stats, but I thought our D gave up way too many 1st downs on 3rd and long. I'm guessing the TOP was not in our favor and a good part of that is because of giving up all those 1st downs on 3rd & long.

Correct, TOP was in favor of FAU by a minute or two. We gave up a lot of third and longs and, conversely, didn't do shiit on our third and longs. We lucked out today.

[Wyovanian]

Two words- Special Teams.

[Subcanis]

Two words- Special Teams.

We lucked out there as well.

[Wyovanian]

Two words- Special Teams.

We lucked out there as well.

They were the biggest reason we should have lost. Terrible ST play.

[fromolwyoming]

Two words- Special Teams.

We lucked out there as well.

They were the biggest reason we should have lost. Terrible ST play.

Our kicker though was clutch on those FGs, especially that 50 yarder.

[Wyovanian]

Two words- Special Teams.

We lucked out there as well.

They were the biggest reason we should have lost. Terrible ST play.

Our kicker though was clutch on those FGs, especially that 50 yarder.

Kicking was fine. It's our coverage and returns. FAU had 171 return yards on 7 kicks versus 38 on 3 for Wyoming. This yardage was key to FAU's scoring and Wyoming's field position.

[joshvanklomp]

I think people need to get used to this. The Tampa 2 is a bend/don't break defense, obviously they are going to give up yards.

But at the end of the season, when we're preparing for a bowl game, I doubt anyone will be saying "if only we didn't give up so many 1st downs on 3rd and long against FAU. As a reminder, the BCS committee doesn't award bowl games based on the yardage the defenses allow. Wins and losses are all that matter.

We won the game.

[fromolwyoming]

Two words- Special Teams.

We lucked out there as well.

They were the biggest reason we should have lost. Terrible ST play.

Our kicker though was clutch on those FGs, especially that 50 yarder.

Kicking was fine. It's our coverage and returns. FAU had 171 return yards on 7 kicks versus 38 on 3 for Wyoming. This yardage was key to FAU's scoring and Wyoming's field position.

True. And the last few games, even against Oregon, we were actually fairly solid in that area.

[joshvanklomp]

Here's a stat our defense can be proud of:

In 3 of our 4 games (not Oregon), there have been ten times our opponent has been in the red zone. In those ten tries, they've come away with just 35 points (3 TDs, 5 FGs).

Bend, don't break.

[fromolwyoming]

Here's a stat our defense can be proud of:

In 3 of our 4 games (not Oregon), there have been ten times our opponent has been in the red zone. In those ten tries, they've come away with just 35 points (3 TDs, 5 FGs).

Bend, don't break.

Please don't ever use that phrase on here again. Dave Christensen implemented the "bend but don't break" defense, and it constantly broke. Badly. Shattered more often than not.

[WyoBrandX]

I can't argue for or against the play calling being bad. It is pretty obvious that if we had tried to run the ball on every play that we would have been 3 and out more. Some more PA and screens would have been nice though.

We had to throw the ball to keep them from playing the run and stacking the box. They were sneaking up on the line when we started running well and they needed to balance that. In some cases, time wasn't in our favor and throwing the ball made sense.

Tough call, but I don't think we have much of a passing game. But if we don't at least try to pass, they are going to completely shut us down.

Our O-line did pretty good and we had open recievers. Colby is getting better, but he is probably being encouraged for the fist time in his career instead of being berated.

Regardless, we got to work with what we have, and this is what we have. I hope they mix it up a bit more against Michigan State.

The defense actually did pretty good today IMHO. They were gashed a few times, the third quarter was bad, but overall, they did a pretty good job of keeping the other team from scoring.

That damn punt return by Whitehead was bad. That hurt us quite a bit and made this game closer than it should have been.

At the end of the day, I don't think we are going to be blowing anyone out this year. We will be playing in quite a few close games.

I'd like to say I'd love to see the DC offense with this defense, but i think its more than obvious this year that the DC offense couldn't move the ball against a good defense. They could thrash a bad defense. This year, we do move the ball, play the time of possession, and keep our defense rested. When they get on the field, they do a pretty decent job of getting our offense back on the field. This year is truly a team versus a gimmicky offense.

If anything, at least these guys are showing confidence and some toughness. Today was a good example of not giving up and finishing a game. I truly think this coaching staff does a great job of teaching, developing, and respecting their players. As long as they keep doing that, we will always have a chance to win.

[Cowboy Junky]

My good, bad and ugly,

Offense:

Good: The two minute offense looks good. It did against AFA. It did against Montana. It does against FAU. We finish the game with drives. That's great news.

Bad: I questioned the play-calling. We were missing two offensive linemen. Still, I would have liked to see more of a commitment to running between the tackles. We had success with it early. I would make them stop me a couple of times before I start passing on every first down.

Ugly: The third quarter was butt fugly offensively. We need to be more consistent on offense. We go long stretches with little to no offensive production. That has to stop. We need to win the time of possession battle and in order to do that, we have to move the ball the majority of the time.

Defense:

Good: Red zone defense is very good under Stanard and Bohl. The Tampa 2 is tough to move against in tight spaces. With the exception of Oregon, we've been very good in red zone defense this year.

Great: The defense forced three turnovers. Sometimes your offense isn't going to win the day. We won because we forced fumbles today. It's that simple.

Ugly: We gave up too many yards to FAU. They are solid offensively, but we have to get off the field early on some drives. We didn't produce many three and outs. That has to get better.

Special Teams:

Good: The field goal kicking looked terrific. Stuart Williams is doing a fine job this year. Here's to Stuart Williams and hopefully an army of college groupies to make him happy. He deserves it.

Bad: Field position wasn't great. We don't have a return weapon like FAU did. That brings up the ugly.

Ugly: Any time you give up the entire field on a punt return you get punished for it. Seven points from a short field will lose you a lot of games. We can't afford to do that.

[fromolwyoming]

We didn't throw any screens even when it was obvious they were blitzing. Would have taken pressure off of Kirk a bit. Make FAU back off. Especially on 3rd downs where they really went for blitzes.

[joshvanklomp]

Here's a stat our defense can be proud of:

In 3 of our 4 games (not Oregon), there have been ten times our opponent has been in the red zone. In those ten tries, they've come away with just 35 points (3 TDs, 5 FGs).

Bend, don't break.

Please don't ever use that phrase on here again. Dave Christensen implemented the "bend but don't break" defense, and it constantly broke. Badly. Shattered more often than not.

I can use whatever phrase I want. Dave Christensen was not a defensive coach with three national championships as a head coach, so I'm not sure how that's relevant.

Call it what you want, but Bohl's defense has played well this season. Maybe not perfect, but they've played well.

[joshvanklomp]

It is pretty obvious that if we had tried to run the ball on every play that we would have been 3 and out more.

Not if we were playing SJSU though...

[BeaverPoke]

Other winnable games this season: Hawaii SJSU Csu Fresno USU New Mexico Boise
Losable games: everyone listed above plus Michigan State.

The MW is a poop show.
WYO might win 7 more conference games. The MW title and a bowl game. How does 12-2 MW champs sound?
WYO might lose 8 more games. How does 3-9 sound?

Funny thing is though is that the difference between 10-2 regular season versus 3-9 is about 7 key plays/drives.

So far though we have been getting the right bounces though. Hope it keeps up.