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Coaches in Make or Break Year

ProudWYOAlum

ProudWYOAlum

Well-known member
So it's pretty clear that this is a make or break year for Dave Christensen and staff. We've come a long way considering we've been to two bowls and he won coach of the year in 2011...

Out of all the coaches in recent memory, Joe Glenn and Vic Koening, who were on the hot seat heading into a season... I feel pretty good about Christensen and really believe they are an 8-4 team and have a chance to be pretty special.

I knew we were in for bad seasons with Koening and Glenn. I sat there in 2008 in dismay that we couldn't score on New Mexico, CSU, UNLV, and Air Force.


I'm pumped about this season and believe that Christensen will be getting calls from other schools or another extension. Much of that is due to recruiting, we've never had a WR or QB corps this deep since Tiller was here. I'd be shocked if we aren't in a bowl game this year.

Thoughts?
 
It will come down to defense and whether they create turnovers. The offense hasn't been the issue, not once since Arroyo has left. The numbers do not lie, when the fumbles/INTs rack up for UW on defense, they win (2009, 2011) when they do not create those turnovers, they don't (2010, 2012). The bend but don't break defense is the best anyone can hope for, and its been done by CDC before. The trends suggest Wyoming will be in a bowl game this year, but the Pokes cannot look past anyone after what happened last season. Not one team. I personally think Wyoming will go exactly 7-5 (not worth much, I predicted 7-5 last year....look how that turned out)......but I wouldn't be shocked to see them finish 4-8 again. All comes down to whether the defense can survive and if the O-Line can protect Smith. Those are the variables for this team....and by no means are they going to come easy....

If Brett gets hurt.....all bets are off.

:twocents:
 
To be fair we had a very good TO ratio last season and that didn't work out very well, so I don't see that as the all important stat. I could see Wyoming winning anywhere from 10 wins as a best case scenario and as low as probably 5 worst case scenario, but my prediction is going to be 9-3. I think with the increase in speed in our offense it will be that much better and we will put up at least 30 points a game, and I think the d will be improved enough where it won't kill us every time like in the past and be a not fantastic, but not horrible d either. I think also we are more prepared for injuries even to key people like Brett with JT backing him up.
 
I agree with J-rod that we have to create turnovers. But guys....think about last season. We couldn't stop the run to save our lives!!!!!! There were so many 3rd and 8 situations and the opponent would then run for 13 yrds!!! If we can't stop the run then we will go 4-8 or worse. It all lies in our defense. Stopping the run and turnovers. Our offense will be just fine.
 
It's all going to come down to defense. The offense will score plenty of points if Smith is healthy. More specifically it comes down to rush defense when you rank 121st, 115th, 106th and 90th as we have the last four seasons you have no real shot to be an elite team.

The coaches say rush defense is now a focus but honestly I don't think we have enough talent in the front seven to make significant improvements. Our only real hope is three or four of the JUCO transfers step in right away and play at a high level. Players like Boyland (DT), Lark (LB), Muhammad (LB), Sampson (DB) and Stanton (LB) along with some redshirts will decide the fate of our defense. If the defense can just be average we have a chance to win 8 or more games with the fire power we have on offense.
 
I'm going to disagree on a make it or break it year. I think we need to show improvement, but everything is aligning for next year. Just scanning the roster and looking at the potential starters, there might be 3 senior starters in the entire group.

Personally, I think we'll see a nice improvement over last year. If that happens, next year we'll be in contention.

Go Pokes!
 
From what I'm reading in the WTE the O-line has been a concern this spring. It sounds like the coaches are really hoping a JC transfer expected this fall can come in and start at center. For right now however, it sounds like much of this spring has been spent mixing and matching offensive linemen in an attempt to find a group that can function as a unit. That's a little scary to me.
 
Cheywypoke said:
From what I'm reading in the WTE the O-line has been a concern this spring. It sounds like the coaches are really hoping a JC transfer expected this fall can come in and start at center. For right now however, it sounds like much of this spring has been spent mixing and matching offensive linemen in an attempt to find a group that can function as a unit. That's a little scary to me.
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more. This is not what I want to hear. It sounds like a long season of Brett Smith running for his life
 
It sounds like mainly the question mark is at center. We have the two guards returning and the new guys at the tackles I think they are gonna be solid. The center position could give us issues though. But it sounded like wednesday was much better than monday so appartently they are improving.
 
While there is a great deal of concern about the offensive line, I'm more worried about the Defensive line. There are some big bodies, but a lot of big bodies with short arms. Having arm length is critical for creating space and separation against an offensive lineman. While this is more critical with the interior down lineman, I worry about this fact. Take a look at some of the arm lengths of some redshirt freshmen. I hope the can compensate this with a powerful lower body push. This to me is a concern.
 
Cheywypoke said:
From what I'm reading in the WTE the O-line has been a concern this spring. It sounds like the coaches are really hoping a JC transfer expected this fall can come in and start at center. For right now however, it sounds like much of this spring has been spent mixing and matching offensive linemen in an attempt to find a group that can function as a unit. That's a little scary to me.
Click to expand...
Yep, could be a very big deal. Smith is only great is he is upright.....season goes down the shiter otherwise.
 
mwc fan said:
While there is a great deal of concern about the offensive line, I'm more worried about the Defensive line. There are some big bodies, but a lot of big bodies with short arms. Having arm length is critical for creating space and separation against an offensive lineman. While this is more critical with the interior down lineman, I worry about this fact. Take a look at some of the arm lengths of some redshirt freshmen. I hope the can compensate this with a powerful lower body push. This to me is a concern.
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And this could potentially be a big deal too.......lots of concerns that could hurt bowl chances next season. We've been saying it all off-season (and last off-season)......you need more than a QB and a collection of WRs. O-Line/D-Line were the overwhelming issues last season that sent UW 4-8 bound.

I'll stick by my 7-5 prediction, but this is all definitely a potential deal killer next season.
 
I understand the concept behind the 4-3 defense, in that the 4 downlinemen are genrally supposed to be able to generate enough of a pass rush and stop the run that you shouldn't need to blitz, but other than 1 D-linemen (who is actually rated one of the better NFL prospect at his position), the rest were lucky to get a tackle, let alone get pressure on the QB. So, DEs need to generate a pass rush, at least semi-consistently, and the DTs need to clog up the middle.

For o-line, we had Carlson (also rated one of the better NFL prospects at his position), and the rest well, we saw how that went. The guys up front, if NOTHING else, need to at least pass block more effectively period. There were times when a 3 man rush would easily penetrate and get pressure in the backfield. 4 or more, well, sometimes they would give Brett all day, and other times, it was reminiscent of our o-line under Arroyo and Glenn. Basically, 4 man rushes would tear through the o-line and sack Brett before he could look downfield. Don't even get me started on blitzing.
 
J-Rod said:
It will come down to defense and whether they create turnovers. The offense hasn't been the issue, not once since Arroyo has left. The numbers do not lie, when the fumbles/INTs rack up for UW on defense, they win (2009, 2011) when they do not create those turnovers, they don't (2010, 2012). The bend but don't break defense is the best anyone can hope for, and its been done by CDC before. The trends suggest Wyoming will be in a bowl game this year, but the Pokes cannot look past anyone after what happened last season. Not one team. I personally think Wyoming will go exactly 7-5 (not worth much, I predicted 7-5 last year....look how that turned out)......but I wouldn't be shocked to see them finish 4-8 again. All comes down to whether the defense can survive and if the O-Line can protect Smith. Those are the variables for this team....and by no means are they going to come easy....

If Brett gets hurt.....all bets are off.

:twocents:
Click to expand...

It comes down to stopping the run. Relying on turnovers to stop teams from scoring is a fools errand because there is such an element of luck to them and playing defense with the specific intent to create turnovers means taking risks that blow up in your face. Which explains our defense's wild inconsistency from game to game and season to season. Stop the run. If you can't do that, you will lose over the long haul.

This team's run D has been putrid in the Christensen era. Like, historically shitty. Here's a year by year breakdown of how our rushing defense ranked nationally (out of 120 FBS teams, YPG conceded) by Wyoming in that span:

2009 - 93rd
2010 - 109th
2011 - 115th
2012 - 117th

As you can see, it started off horrible and has been trending the wrong way. The only good news is that with 120 FBS teams it can't trend downwards much more. Last season we gave up over 200 yards on the ground in 8 games out of 12, including the 325 in the Cal Poly disasterbacle, 396 to fucking UNM (how we managed to win that one I'll never know), and a cool 400 in the blowout loss to SDSU.

DAVE C, FIX THE RUN DEFENSE. THIS IS A FUCKING EMBARRASSMENT. YOU CALL THIS SHIT COWBOY FOOTBALL???
 
Interesting stuff that I learned today talking with a football guy. DC says that he wants the offense this year to be the fastest in the nation, and yes that does include faster than Oregon. He wants them to be sprinting to the line to get the next play off, not jogging, not trying to find what play it is, but a full out sprint and snap the ball right away.
 
laxwyo said:
I'm sure they'll sprint to the line, then stand up and stare at sideline for 20 seconds
Click to expand...

Hahaha that bugs the hell outta me. They get there so quick, then just slow down and stop...and wait....and then finally snap it.
 
BeaverPoke said:
laxwyo said:
I'm sure they'll sprint to the line, then stand up and stare at sideline for 20 seconds
Click to expand...

Hahaha that bugs the hell outta me. They get there so quick, then just slow down and stop...and wait....and then finally snap it.
Click to expand...

In a no huddle offense and in particularly a spread zone offense the reason the line sprints up there and looks is because they have to identify the Mike or "Zero Target" LB and identify who they need to block in the zone scheme. Problem is the targeted blocker often changes when the defense reacts to offensive shifts or if they show blitz. What many people don't realize is that the unaccounted defender is actually the responsibility of the QB. They intentionally leave one defender unblocked so that the QB can hold them with his "Read" Generally it is the outside defender (the DE or Will LB). So there is a reason for what they do.
 
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