2018 Wyoming Football Expectations [WyoNation Blog]

[Adv8RU12]

I hate to say that, but we HAVE NEVER travelled well to the islands.

It seems that I remember that long ago a Poke team tried traveling to Hawaii ON THE DAY OF THE GAME and won. Am I remembering correctly?

 

[McPeachy]

Hawaii ranks 127th in returning experience and will be starting TWO true freshman on the OL as a result of that rampant inexperience. History says Wyoming is guaranteed to have a bad loss this season, but Wyoming should eat that day.

Getting off the fence, I'll say...8-4. Losses to Missouri, Boise, Fresno, New Mexico. The annual "crap ourselves" game has been during the final weekend of the regular season two years running, soooo let's make it three years. Other three losses are because those teams matchup well with Wyoming. Pokes get a solid P5 win in the home opener. I have no idea where they would be bowling in this case.

I think it could be argued that the UNLV loss was worse than New Mexico in 2016. Both were an embarrassment but the Lobos had a decent team that year and ran the ball on a lot of teams (not to the extent that they did on us). UNLV hasn't been good in years and they dropped 69 points on us and we needed a miracle drive and touchdown throw to even get it into overtime.

One of the biggest in-game mistakes Bohl has made at UW was not going for 2 after the TD at the end of that UNLV game. We had no fire on D, and could have lined up and tossed it to Tanner again for the 2 point conversion and walked out of the MF'er with a W.

 

[WyomingAg]

Those who want to put the blame on the offensive coordinator are wrong, imo. Blame the recruiting, but not the game plan. How bad was the offensive line? We had 27 yards rushing against Gardner-Webb. San Jose state gave up nearly 50 or 60 points against everyone except us. Bohl has had 4 years to recruit and we have arguably the worst offensive line in the MWC. If Bohl didn't hire a new D-coordinator last year, we might have won about 2 games. And yet, the 2016 offense was the best I can remember since the Roach era. Is this Joe Glen 2.0? Maybe. Put me down for 5 wins.

Recruiting is to blame, but you'd need the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to make this predictable, abomination of an offense work.

I consider recruiting the offensive players, developing the offensive players and coming up with a game plan to maximize the use of your offensive players all part of the offensive coordinators responsibilities. Whichever aspect is to be blamed for last year doesn't really matter, to me it all still falls under Vigens umbrella of responsibility

 

[calpoke25]

Those who want to put the blame on the offensive coordinator are wrong, imo. Blame the recruiting, but not the game plan. How bad was the offensive line? We had 27 yards rushing against Gardner-Webb. San Jose state gave up nearly 50 or 60 points against everyone except us. Bohl has had 4 years to recruit and we have arguably the worst offensive line in the MWC. If Bohl didn't hire a new D-coordinator last year, we might have won about 2 games. And yet, the 2016 offense was the best I can remember since the Roach era. Is this Joe Glen 2.0? Maybe. Put me down for 5 wins.

Recruiting is to blame, but you'd need the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to make this predictable, abomination of an offense work.

I consider recruiting the offensive players, developing the offensive players and coming up with a game plan to maximize the use of your offensive players all part of the offensive coordinators responsibilities. Whichever aspect is to be blamed for last year doesn't really matter, to me it all still falls under Vigens umbrella of responsibility

Who ultimately falls under Bohl. For some reason, because he dresses nice?, Bohl is never mentioned even though he is the man ultimately responsible.

 

[LanderPoke]

Those who want to put the blame on the offensive coordinator are wrong, imo. Blame the recruiting, but not the game plan. How bad was the offensive line? We had 27 yards rushing against Gardner-Webb. San Jose state gave up nearly 50 or 60 points against everyone except us. Bohl has had 4 years to recruit and we have arguably the worst offensive line in the MWC. If Bohl didn't hire a new D-coordinator last year, we might have won about 2 games. And yet, the 2016 offense was the best I can remember since the Roach era. Is this Joe Glen 2.0? Maybe. Put me down for 5 wins.

Recruiting is to blame, but you'd need the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to make this predictable, abomination of an offense work.

I consider recruiting the offensive players, developing the offensive players and coming up with a game plan to maximize the use of your offensive players all part of the offensive coordinators responsibilities. Whichever aspect is to be blamed for last year doesn't really matter, to me it all still falls under Vigens umbrella of responsibility

Who ultimately falls under Bohl. For some reason, because he dresses nice?, Bohl is never mentioned even though he is the man ultimately responsible.

Bohl is Teflon!! I seriously like him and he's good for the program and our university. Plus he's a defensive guy and I'd bet he doesn't have too much to do with the offensive playcalling. Overall offensive philosophy, yes. You can still keep our current identity and general offensive philosophy and have it be effective. It just needs an infusion of new blood/mojo. If we suck again on O, I'll bet he makes a change. He surely won't hitch his wagon to a freaking inept coordinator?

I really believe we've got talented O players, but you'd never know it

 

[WyomingAg]

Those who want to put the blame on the offensive coordinator are wrong, imo. Blame the recruiting, but not the game plan. How bad was the offensive line? We had 27 yards rushing against Gardner-Webb. San Jose state gave up nearly 50 or 60 points against everyone except us. Bohl has had 4 years to recruit and we have arguably the worst offensive line in the MWC. If Bohl didn't hire a new D-coordinator last year, we might have won about 2 games. And yet, the 2016 offense was the best I can remember since the Roach era. Is this Joe Glen 2.0? Maybe. Put me down for 5 wins.

Recruiting is to blame, but you'd need the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to make this predictable, abomination of an offense work.

I consider recruiting the offensive players, developing the offensive players and coming up with a game plan to maximize the use of your offensive players all part of the offensive coordinators responsibilities. Whichever aspect is to be blamed for last year doesn't really matter, to me it all still falls under Vigens umbrella of responsibility

Who ultimately falls under Bohl. For some reason, because he dresses nice?, Bohl is never mentioned even though he is the man ultimately responsible.

Also agree with this. I was very vocal at the end of last season that Bohl needed to make changes in the offensive side. In the end we didn't get a transfer qb, we didn't get any changes to staff or any new staff. In a few days we will see how that turns out. Lets hope his decision to not make any changes pays off.

I think Bohl gets more of a pass right now because we had a really bad defense and he made the changes necessary to turn that around. He is not graded on just the offensive side but by the whole team. The difference is Vigen is graded by just the offensive side.

 

[KeepitrealWyo]

Great input but I find it interesting not many are taking the Josh Allen effect into consideration.
Before JA 2-10
With JA Two consecutive Bowl years

I expect 5 wins without JA as he was the catalyst to the Success.
We still have Vigen- Which means first down off tackle Second down Off the other tackle
Third down Josh scramble and throw it to Tanner. UH-OH No Josh or Tanner
Washington State will score on our stellar D not sure we will do the same.
If we beat Washington State all bets are off and we may win 8 but highly unlikely with Vigen calling plays

 

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

I hate to say that, but we HAVE NEVER travelled well to the islands.

It seems that I remember that long ago a Poke team tried traveling to Hawaii ON THE DAY OF THE GAME and won. Am I remembering correctly?

I think you may. When I wrote that I hadn't gone and looked at the actual series results. Apparently a couple huge stinkers have completely warped my views. We actually have faired quite well against Hawaii over the years. Still very concerned about this game this season.

 

[stymeman]

As much as I hate to be the ho hum here I see another 7-5 season, BUT we win an away game at Mizzou and I'll see it live for a change, still mad I went to the TCU shellacking in Ft Worth a week b4 we went to Knoxville and beat Tennessee.

 

[JimmyDimes]

This is year 5 for Bohl. I find it funny reading all the sky is falling shit considering what he has accomplished, etc. The team isn't taking a step back even without JA. Newsflash....the offense can't get much worse than it was last....and it won't.

 

[calpoke25]

Great input but I find it interesting not many are taking the Josh Allen effect into consideration.
Before JA 2-10
With JA Two consecutive Bowl years

I expect 5 wins without JA as he was the catalyst to the Success.
We still have Vigen- Which means first down off tackle Second down Off the other tackle
Third down Josh scramble and throw it to Tanner. UH-OH No Josh or Tanner
Washington State will score on our stellar D not sure we will do the same.
If we beat Washington State all bets are off and we may win 8 but highly unlikely with Vigen calling plays

I am most definitely taking the JA effect into consideration. 15-9 with him, 6-20 without him. This year will tell us a whole lot about what kind of program Bohl has been building. I’m skeptical given the sample we got at the end of last year and if you put the over under on wins at 6, I’d be betting the under until we see otherwise. Fortunately we don’t have much longer to wait.

I don’t foresee us beating Washington St (not sure if I see us beating NMSU but we have 2 days left to find out), as good as our defense is they (and everyone else) will score on us, especially if the offense keeps going 3 and out.

This team is currently surrounded by a very dense fog cloud of offensive uncertainty. The good news is that fog is going to clear up real quick on Saturday night. I just hope that what we see isn’t what we saw at the end of last season minus JA but my gut tells me it will be the same.

 

[calpoke25]

This is year 5 for Bohl. I find it funny reading all the sky is falling shit considering what he has accomplished, etc. The team isn't taking a step back even without JA. Newsflash....the offense can't get much worse than it was last....and it won't.

What has he accomplished? His overall winning % is on par with Glenn and DC. His first two years do actually count even though most fans seem to discard them. He didn’t inherit a dumpster fire Koening program that Glenn did. He inherited a 5-7 team with much better infrastructure in a weaker conference. He hasn’t accomplished anything, yet. I stress the yet part.

Sure the offense can’t get much worse but that’s no guarantee of it getting better. 3/4 years we’ve been absolutely atrocious on offense.

 

[laxwyo]

This is year 5 for Bohl. I find it funny reading all the sky is falling shit considering what he has accomplished, etc. The team isn't taking a step back even without JA. Newsflash....the offense can't get much worse than it was last....and it won't.

What has he accomplished? His overall winning % is on par with Glenn and DC. His first two years do actually count even though most fans seem to discard them. He didn’t inherit a dumpster fire Koening program that Glenn did. He inherited a 5-7 team with much better infrastructure in a weaker conference. He hasn’t accomplished anything, yet. I stress the yet part.

Sure the offense can’t get much worse but that’s no guarantee of it getting better. 3/4 years we’ve been absolutely atrocious on offense.

I believe it was the D holding us back the first 3 years. Offense wasn’t stellar but D was bad

 

[joshvanklomp]

Great input but I find it interesting not many are taking the Josh Allen effect into consideration.
Before JA 2-10
With JA Two consecutive Bowl years

So basically, you're saying the last two years have everything to do with Josh and nothing to do with Craig Bohl or the defense or anything else. I just can't get behind that.

At the end of the day, our projections aren't that far off. I probably would only have 1-2 more projected wins than you. I just don't see the need for doom stats like that. That 2-10 season was in the first year of a brand new culture and vastly different schemes and personnel needs. A step back was bound to happen.

Yeah, Josh is gone.....should we just fold up the program because of it?

 

[joshvanklomp]

What has he accomplished? His overall winning % is on par with Glenn and DC. His first two years do actually count even though most fans seem to discard them. He didn’t inherit a dumpster fire Koening program that Glenn did. He inherited a 5-7 team with much better infrastructure in a weaker conference. He hasn’t accomplished anything, yet. I stress the yet part.

First coach with two 8-win seasons since Joe Tiller

 

[WyomingAg]

Back to the original topic of season expectations, my expectations are:
- Be in every game in the 4th quarter.
- No blowout losses (I'll define that as don't lose by more than 2 touchdowns in any game.)
- No embarrassing losses (Don't lose to Wofford or any team in our conference if they have 0 wins going into the game).
- Go to a bowl game.

My hope is we see vast improvement in the running game making our offense much more consistent and we compete for the mw title, and a bigger bowl game

 

[J-Rod]

He's unreal with player development too. I know people scoff at recruiting rankings, but reality is you can count highly successful programs who don't recruit well (on paper anyway) on one hand. Turning Allen, Ghaifan, Wingard, and Granderson (more to come) into respected draft assets despite the fact that all of those guys are lucky if they had three P5 offers between them is frankly...crazy. Borderline unheard of. There is definitley something to be said for that.

Keep in mind, NDSU wasn't thoroughly kicking ass until Bohl had been there for a long time.

Yes, two 8-5 seasons does not make a Group of 5 powerhouse...but there are clear and obvious signs of huge progress being made. This isn't a finished product.

 

[fromolwyoming]

The defense of 2016 showed flashes by players, but kept getting gashed. Change the coordinator, and we suddenly have the best defense in the conference.

Offense, let's just say Vigen's seat should be pretty toasty this season.

 

[Pokes fan 24-7]

This team gets between 7 and 10 regular season wins and win their bowl game. 10 is the max because even if they can beat Boisie or Missouri they are bound to have at least one bad loss.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Keep in mind, NDSU wasn't thoroughly kicking ass until Bohl had been there for a long time.

They were actually pretty good before him, too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not underselling his accomplishments there but it was not turning around a losing program. It was more taking a winning program and making it better.