We can't over-look EMU.

[NebraskaCowboy]

I just want to point out that App State finished 11-2 with a loss to Clemson and a loss to Arkansas Statr last year. So they were far from a crappy team. They also played Tennessee really tough and weren't awful against Miami this year.

But back to Eastern Michigan. I doubt players are going to overlook this game. This is a game they're going to want to go out and win by 30+. I know every time I see something about the 2015 Eastern Michigan Eagles I feel embarrassed as a fan of the Wyoming Cowboys so I can only imagine how the players feel. I hope they come out fired up and ready to show last years loss was just a fluke.

[Cowboy Junky]

I just want to point out that App State finished 11-2 with a loss to Clemson and a loss to Arkansas Statr last year. So they were far from a crappy team. They also played Tennessee really tough and weren't awful against Miami this year.

But back to Eastern Michigan. I doubt players are going to overlook this game. This is a game they're going to want to go out and win by 30+. I know every time I see something about the 2015 Eastern Michigan Eagles I feel embarrassed as a fan of the Wyoming Cowboys so I can only imagine how the players feel. I hope they come out fired up and ready to show last years loss was just a fluke.

Appy State is the North Dakota State of the south. Expecting to beat them last year was unrealistic. We shouldn't ever lose to Sun Belt teams that just transitioned to FBS. They just caught us in year 2 of the Bohl rebuild.

I agree that we probably won't over look them. I just think it's a good idea to have the same conversation that is going on in the locker room this week on Wyonation. I guarantee that's going to be a huge focus this week.

We know they're talking about it. The team knows we know.

Now, all they need to do is break the season and a half long road losing streak and bury the idea that we over-look teams we should beat.

[Wyovanian]

Junky, any game on the schedule that is circled is, by definition, NOT a trap game. I guarantee there's a circle around this one in the locker room.

I know our players have plenty of reasons NOT to over-look Eastern Michigan. I also know that last year we over-looked Eastern Michigan, North Dakota, and Appy State.

I'm sure it's one of the topics they're discussing right now. Still, I'm sure they we're told the same thing last year.

Since this is their first road game as a favorite in a very long time, along with it being a revenge game (with a good dose of the personal for Josh Allen), I highly doubt there's anyone looking past it.

How do you explain looking past North Dakota, Appy State, and Eastern Michigan last year? Was it the over-confidence that comes with losing your opener to a poop team in North Dakota, or the over-confidence that comes with following that up by getting beat by EMU? Where did we get the over-confidence to over-look anyone last year, with the seventh youngest team in the country?

They had no reason to be over-confident last year, and they still over-looked THREE poop ooc teams.

That was last year. And, quite honestly, App State wasn't really a shi--y team. We, however, were.

At the end of the day, it wasn't so much a matter of looking past anyone. We sucked last year. It's just that simple. We also saw progression as the season wore on, and so far this year, we're still seeing progress...

[Cowboy Junky]

Junky, any game on the schedule that is circled is, by definition, NOT a trap game. I guarantee there's a circle around this one in the locker room.

I know our players have plenty of reasons NOT to over-look Eastern Michigan. I also know that last year we over-looked Eastern Michigan, North Dakota, and Appy State.

I'm sure it's one of the topics they're discussing right now. Still, I'm sure they we're told the same thing last year.

Since this is their first road game as a favorite in a very long time, along with it being a revenge game (with a good dose of the personal for Josh Allen), I highly doubt there's anyone looking past it.

How do you explain looking past North Dakota, Appy State, and Eastern Michigan last year? Was it the over-confidence that comes with losing your opener to a poop team in North Dakota, or the over-confidence that comes with following that up by getting beat by EMU? Where did we get the over-confidence to over-look anyone last year, with the seventh youngest team in the country?

They had no reason to be over-confident last year, and they still over-looked THREE poop ooc teams.

That was last year. And, quite honestly, App State wasn't really a shi--y team. We, however, were.

At the end of the day, it wasn't so much a matter of looking past anyone. We sucked last year. It's just that simple. We also saw progression as the season wore on, and so far this year, we're still seeing progress...

I agree that Appy State was a better team last year. That doesn't change the common fans opinions. That doesn't change the elitist fans opinions. We should never lose to a Sun Belt team that just graduated to FCS. That's reality. Our program isn't there yet. We all want it to be, and hopefully expect it to be.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the theme is for the team this week. The team and the coaches will have this conversation on several occasions this week. Over-looking EMU IS and WILL be one of the most discussed topics this week. That's reality.

I want to see our young team learn that lesson. They need to go out and get this win, and bury the idea that we over-looked teams last year. They know. We know. The coaches know. The press knows. EMU knows.

Now, all they have to do is prove it.

[Wyovanian]

Last year was last year. This year, is this year. This game is personal, and NOT being overlooked.

If any game was to be overlooked, it would have been the FCS game. Not against a team that embarrassed us last year and cost Allen near an entire season after only getting a couple of series.

Agreed. Still, the guys on this team(most of them) are the ones that lost three times to crappy ooc opponents last season.

You may be confident that we've learned that lesson.

I'm not. We've sucked at football since Dana Dimel left.

We buried UC Davis like we should. I would like to see a little more evidence before I'm ready to put to bed the fears of getting beat by teams we should dominate. UC Davis was a home game. This is a road game.

If they don't come 100 percent focused, we'll get beat by the same poop team that finished last year 1-11, with their one win a 20 point blow-out of Wyoming in Laramie.

You say we overlooked those 3 teams last year as if UW should have won them because they were the better team. North Dakota I will give you, but Wyo wasn't better (at the time of the games) than EMU or App State. By the end of the year they would have beat EMU, but not App State. I don't think they overlooked those 2, they simply weren't good enough to beat them...last year that is.

I agree that Appy State was a better team. Still, we shouldn't ever lose to a team that just transitioned to FCS football. Call me an elitist. We should beat them every year. They were a better team than us last year.

EMU might have been the worst team in FCS. They got ass hammered by every team on their schedule aside from Wyoming.

Wyoming wasn't better than this last year?

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-15/mid- ... hedule.php

Hmm. Ever heard of Boise State?

I think you're uneasy about our team being on the road and keeping it together, and, somehow, you interpreted this as a "trap" game. It's an overused term, and one used by people who really don't grok its criteria and meaning. If we had a "trap" game on our schedule, the closest thing to it would have been UC-Davis, but, because the Nebraska game ended on a very down note, the team regrouped and focused on the game in front of them, not this one coming up. Sandwiched between Nebraska and a road revenge game, UC-Davis had the biggest potential for let down...

[Cowboy Junky]

Last year was last year. This year, is this year. This game is personal, and NOT being overlooked.

If any game was to be overlooked, it would have been the FCS game. Not against a team that embarrassed us last year and cost Allen near an entire season after only getting a couple of series.

Agreed. Still, the guys on this team(most of them) are the ones that lost three times to crappy ooc opponents last season.

You may be confident that we've learned that lesson.

I'm not. We've sucked at football since Dana Dimel left.

We buried UC Davis like we should. I would like to see a little more evidence before I'm ready to put to bed the fears of getting beat by teams we should dominate. UC Davis was a home game. This is a road game.

If they don't come 100 percent focused, we'll get beat by the same poop team that finished last year 1-11, with their one win a 20 point blow-out of Wyoming in Laramie.

You say we overlooked those 3 teams last year as if UW should have won them because they were the better team. North Dakota I will give you, but Wyo wasn't better (at the time of the games) than EMU or App State. By the end of the year they would have beat EMU, but not App State. I don't think they overlooked those 2, they simply weren't good enough to beat them...last year that is.

I agree that Appy State was a better team. Still, we shouldn't ever lose to a team that just transitioned to FCS football. Call me an elitist. We should beat them every year. They were a better team than us last year.

EMU might have been the worst team in FCS. They got ass hammered by every team on their schedule aside from Wyoming.

Wyoming wasn't better than this last year?

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-15/mid- ... hedule.php

Hmm. Ever heard of Boise State?

I think you're uneasy about our team being on the road and keeping it together, and, somehow, you interpreted this as a "trap" game. It's an overused term, and one used by people who really don't grok its criteria and meaning. If we had a "trap" game on our schedule, the closest thing to it would have been UC-Davis, but, because the Nebraska game ended on a very down note, the team regrouped and focused on the game in front of them, not this one coming up. Sandwiched between Nebraska and a road revenge game, UC-Davis had the biggest potential for let down...

Yep. If we played Boise their first year in FBS, I would have expected to beat them to. If NDstate moves up and we play them the first year in FBS, I'll expect to beat them.

Call it whatever you want to call it. We did it versus North Dakota. We did it versus EMU. Most fans see the Appy State game as over-looking an opponent(most fans don't know that Appy State was a 1aa powerhouse).

Brian Hill admitted that we did it at media days.

If you don't think the coaches are talking about this in the locker room right now, you've probably never played football. It IS being discussed with the team, regardless of the amount of reasons why we should take this game seriously(no road wins since November 2014, EMU gave us an ugly loss last year....) The coaches are telling our players that we can't afford to overlook EMU. They told them that last year as well and it didn't matter last year, at home.

Our staff is talking about this with our team this week. That's fact, regardless of what you chose to label it: the staff is focusing on not over-looking EMU this week. It will be one of the major focuses all week long. Anyone that's ever played sports knows that.

I don't care if you're intellect feels uncomfortable by the term "trap" game. This game is one.

I care if our team over-looks EMU. I want us to win. I want them to know that WE know they over-looked teams last year. I want the team to feel the pressure of the fan base expecting them to go on the road and perform. I want the team to learn how to deal with that pressure and further remove the memory of over-looking opponents, while ending our road losing streak at the same time.

If you don't want to call it a trap game, call it something else. You're smart, come up with something new to call it. Call it a "Can't afford to over-look EMU, must take this game seriously, it's not Ram week yet" game. I don't care what you call it. It's a game we can't afford to over-look and a game that we should win if we don't over-look.

The spotlight is on the team. I want to see how they handle that pressure.

[joshvanklomp]

How do you explain looking past North Dakota, Appy State, and Eastern Michigan last year? Was it the over-confidence that comes with losing your opener to a poop team in North Dakota, or the over-confidence that comes with following that up by getting beat by EMU? Where did we get the over-confidence to over-look anyone last year, with the seventh youngest team in the country?

You said it right there. We were the seventh-youngest team in the country. Players took them lightly on the practice field and in the games. There's a "oh they're not that good, we're better than them so we don't have to work as hard" mentality that creeps in. That's how you explain it.

That won't be there, not after what this team experienced last season.

[joshvanklomp]

Yep. If we played Boise their first year in FCS, I would have expected to beat them to.

1. FBS. Appalachian State is a FBS school, just like Wyoming is a FBS school.
2. Last year was their second year at the FBS level.

[Cowboy Junky]

Yep. If we played Boise their first year in FCS, I would have expected to beat them to.

1. FBS. Appalachian State is a FBS school, just like Wyoming is a FBS school.
2. Last year was their second year at the FBS level.

Thanks. Edited.

[cali2wyo]

Yep. If we played Boise their first year in FCS, I would have expected to beat them to.

1. FBS. Appalachian State is a FBS school, just like Wyoming is a FBS school.
2. Last year was their second year at the FBS level.

Unrelated, but do you think they'll change from FBS and FCS back to 1a and 1aa. I mean, we still play bowl games, but there's now a playoff to decide a champion.

[Kimball_Ne_Cowboy]

ESPN's football power index has the game pretty even with Wyo having a 50.3% chance of winning this contest.

[jessejames02]

Folks, a team coming off a 2 win season isn't over-looking any other team. So far this year we beat the worst NIU team in close to a decade in a game with a lot of weird variables, a FCS team and were obliterated by the Huskers.
Let the boys get a third win before we worry about "trap" games.

Also, the 'Pokes didn't over-look any teams last year. They were a really crappy team getting beat by other slightly less crappy that day teams.

[dakarpoke]

Pokes need to make this a revenge game and not leave any doubt who the better team is!

[Asmodeanreborn]

There's a distinct possibility that EMU has also improved from last year - I mean, they have two wins and they did score 3 TDs vs Mizzou, and none of them were in garbage time (yes, they also gave up 61 points). They also know they can beat us, because they did a year ago, even if we were a worse team then.

If we can shut down their run game and establish our own, we should be good.

[Cowboy Junky]

I just saw on their board that they lost their starting running back for the season. That might be a concern for EMU, as Wyoming has made every opponent we've played this season one dimensional by taking away the run game. I expect more of the same on Friday night.

[Kimball_Ne_Cowboy]

I just saw on their board that they lost their starting running back for the season. That might be a concern for EMU, as Wyoming has made every opponent we've played this season one dimensional by taking away the run game. I expect more of the same on Friday night.

Every Cowboy fan is concerned about the pass D... Despite being pretty good in the red zone, Nebraska was able to throw over the top on us. Bloop.

[McPeachy]

I just saw on their board that they lost their starting running back for the season. That might be a concern for EMU, as Wyoming has made every opponent we've played this season one dimensional by taking away the run game. I expect more of the same on Friday night.

Every Cowboy fan is concerned about the pass D... Despite being pretty good in the red zone, Nebraska was easily able to throw over the top on Marcus Epps. Bloop.

FIFY

[Cowboy Junky]

I just saw on their board that they lost their starting running back for the season. That might be a concern for EMU, as Wyoming has made every opponent we've played this season one dimensional by taking away the run game. I expect more of the same on Friday night.

Every Cowboy fan is concerned about the pass D... Despite being pretty good in the red zone, Nebraska was able to throw over the top on us. Bloop.

Agreed, but....

There's no f'ing way that EMU's pass game is as good as Nebraska's.

At least we have the ability to stop the run, unlike the the defense since Fletch and Unrein left, where teams could gash you for 40 yard deep balls or 20 yard interior runs, basically at will.

The secondary needs work, but you can tell how much better the defense is because the interior of the dline doesn't get blown off the ball. We can beat people by managing the damage through the air. We couldn't beat people when they could do whatever they wanted.

[SDPokeFan]

guys who took my orffice chair?!?!

HAS FOOTBALL Started yet? I'm at the stoure right now I went some dritos. did you know internet.......come on bullseyeeee and WAHOOOOOO GUYS WAHOOOOO!!!

Still more coherent thoughts than Paul Finebaum. Way to go, Fonz.

[Cowboy Junky]

I don't know if we over-looked EMU again, but we sure looked flat and uninspired that first half.

We're still very young. We'll see how they do in the second half. There's still a chance we'll correct the crappy way we perform against inferior opponents on the road.

Go Pokes.