SCRIMMAGE # 2 REPORT

[seattlecowboy]

Depending how you look at it, the University of Wyoming’s defense made great improvements or the offense suffered a significant setback.

The second scrimmage of fall camp Tuesday at Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium was nothing like the first one last Friday, for either side of the ball. The defense won 29-28, four days after the offense recorded a 70-38 victory in the first scrum of camp.

The defense was better. It allowed 424 yards of total offense compared to 815 last week. It forced three turnovers, had six quarterbacks sacks and nine tackles for loss.

The offense, however, struggled. Give the defense some credit for many of those struggles. But not all of them.

There were at least five dropped passes, and a handful more that probably should have been caught.

The quarterbacks weren’t as sharp. The line didn’t block as well. The running backs didn’t run as well.

“I thought offensively, I was very, very disappointed in our mechanics in running the spread offense. Communication, lining up, mental errors — I thought the offense took a huge step backwards and that’s something we’ve got to get corrected.

“Like I told the kids, if you’re up one day and have a great practice, then the next day you’re not so good that’s how you’re season’s going to go. ”

The quarterback race continues to be a two-man battle between senior Karsten Sween and junior-college transfer Robert Benjamin. Benjamin’s four-touchdown performance (three throwing, one running) in last week’s scrimmage was a far cry from what he did in this one. He was 5 of 10 for 89 yards and an interception. He also had a fumble, which the offense recovered. Benjamin ran for just one yard on seven carries. He took all the snaps with the starting offense and went against the No. 2 defense.

Sween was solid in leading the No. 2 offense against the No. 1 defense. He was 9 of 13 for 107 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown, but also didn’t turn the ball over for the second straight scrimmage.

It will be interesting to see how Christensen divides the reps up in practice between these two leading up to Saturday’s third scrimmage.

Some other highlights from the scrimmage:

–Sophomore receiver Brandon Stewart had scrimmage-highs with seven catches for 92 yards. He added 14 yards on two carries, including a short touchdown run.

–Benjamin’s lone highlight was a 48-yard pass to redshirt junior receiver Zach Bolger on the second play of the scrimmage.

–Sophomore walk-on receiver Lorne Bridgeford, a transfer from Central Washington University, had a nice 20-yard touchdown run near the end of the scrimmage.

–Senior defensive tackle Mike Neuhaus had two sacks for a loss of 16 yards and an interception of Benjamin.

Some lowlights include:

–No touchdown passes and barely over 50 percent (22 of 42) completion percentage of the five quarterbacks.

–Stewart accounted for nearly one-third of the offense’s catches, even though 12 other players caught at least one pass.

–The offense lost 49 yards rushing. Thirty-four came on six quarterback sacks.

“I think we came out flat and weren’t mentally ready to go,” junior running back Darius Terry said. “I think some people were a little bit satisfied with what we had done in the past scrimmage. “The defense came out and put one on us. The scoreboard showed it.”

The Cowboys have three practices to gain that mental edge back before their third scrimmage Saturday morning.

[seattlecowboy]

That was written on the Cowboy Chronicles blog by the way .

http://blogs.wyomingnews.com/blogs/cowboys/

[seattlecowboy]

The thing that catches my eye on this is that Sween sounded like he performed well and had to do it with the second team offense going against the first team defense while Benjamin struggled against the second team defense and he had the starters wit him . Does this mean anything? Who knows , it is just an observation .

[McPeachy]

The thing that catches my eye on this is that Sween sounded like he performed well and had to do it with the second team offense going against the first team defense while Benjamin struggled against the second team defense and he had the starters wit him . Does this mean anything? Who knows , it is just an observation .

Thanks for the info. I think the results (or lack of) by the offense may have been a case of being overly confident (Benjamin especially after the 48 yard toss on the second play from scrimmage). It sucks if it is the case, but it is fixable, and why practice happens before games begin.

[MrTitleist]

DC isn't going to stand for this, I hope. Gonna be a lot of ass chewing tomorrow. The CWU transfer WR should help, they're a quality team. I'd like to see the QBs start to separate, one of them taking control, but they seem to be playing pretty on-par with each other.

[seattlecowboy]

Actually I would say Sween has been the most consistent as he threw a touchdown pass against the first team defense the first scrimmage and got all of his yardage today against the first team defense . If I remember right Benjamin didn't score on the first team the other day and got all of his scores against the second and third team . I think the first team defense has only allowed one touchdown between both scrimmages which is good on their side . The thing Benjamin has on his side right now is that he can run the best out of all of them , not sure if thats enough or not .