What is Sawful?

[PorkerPoke]

I'd say, overall, failure. The recent win over csu keeps it from being an epic and spectacular failure. Wins over 3-6 Akron, 2-6 Northern Iowa, 2-5 SJSU, and 2-6 csu has a lot to do with how bad the other teams are

Not to rag on Bohl but his teams worked hard to get to the 6 win plateau and often peaked at 7, won over 75% against teams as the 4 wins in 2025. Sandwich in 1 win per season against a team that finishes at 6-6 or better and you have the perfect CB 6-7 win season.

If you look at it with a critical eye, beating only lousy teams but losing to better teams that aren’t good enough to get national notice means we are a mediocre team struggling to break even against a overall mediocre schedule.

We have 3 teams currently over .500 on the schedule and 1 at 1-7 in Laramie. SDSU, Fresno and Hawaii have all played the easier part of their schedules so we will see how we stack up. Everyone of those 3 can be beaten if Wyoming plays solidly and scores points.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Not to rag on Bohl but his teams worked hard to get to the 6 win plateau and often peaked at 7, won over 75% against teams as the 4 wins in 2025. Sandwich in 1 win per season against a team that finishes at 6-6 or better and you have the perfect CB 6-7 win season.

If you look at it with a critical eye, beating only lousy teams but losing to better teams that aren’t good enough to get national notice means we are a mediocre team struggling to break even against a overall mediocre schedule.

We have 3 teams currently over .500 on the schedule and 1 at 1-7 in Laramie. SDSU, Fresno and Hawaii have all played the easier part of their schedules so we will see how we stack up. Everyone of those 3 can be beaten if Wyoming plays solidly and scores points.

You're not wrong. Bohl was king of cupcake beaters with some seasons better than that.

The point is PBJ and Junior were hired under the bullshit line on continuity and the most seasoned roster coming back to build on a 9 win season. They tanked the D, kept the same miserable O output, and derailed season 1. They've done little this season to right other than blank a bad csu team that just fired their coach and packed it in. It was a good win and I'm super grateful to the players and coaches for beating the hell out of the sheep, but it is what it is.

Even if the POKES get to 6 wins, the hire is still a failure because of the situation of the hire and year 1 results coupled with an upper end of bad season 2 thus far.

If the POKES win out, then it moves to a tbd hire depending on next season. As it sits, so far it is a failure.

 

[307bball]

You're not wrong. Bohl was king of cupcake beaters with some seasons better than that.

The point is PBJ and Junior were hired under the bullshit line on continuity and the most seasoned roster coming back to build on a 9 win season. They tanked the D, kept the same miserable O output, and derailed season 1. They've done little this season to right other than blank a bad csu team that just fired their coach and packed it in. It was a good win and I'm super grateful to the players and coaches for beating the hell out of the sheep, but it is what it is.

Even if the POKES get to 6 wins, the hire is still a failure because of the situation of the hire and year 1 results coupled with an upper end of bad season 2 thus far.

If the POKES win out, then it moves to a tbd hire depending on next season. As it sits, so far it is a failure.

Got it...Burman is not good at hiring coaches.

The question I was asking in the original post contains little appreciation or admiration of Sawful's coaching skill. I am noticing, particularly after watching the border war, that the Wyoming football team does show signs of being coached. There is little consistency, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that the wheels fall off if we get crushed at SDSU and at Fresno....but there is *some* competency in Sawful at running a middling program. That competency reared it's head on Saturday....Wyoming is not a great team and plenty of *not great* teams can and have beaten CSU this year. I am merely noticing the pleasant realization that Sawful can at least lay a licking on a poorly prepared and poorly coached program. If he can let his coordinators cook and keep in his lane of motivation and leadership...maybe he can build something?...my money is no...but it's at least message board material.

As a side note...I've never understood the line of criticism at Bohl that puts his programs ability to consistently beat the bottom of the conference in a negative light. Like....what do people think is likely for 6 to 8 win teams (which is what Bohl did basically)? Does anybody think it's a crap shoot on which teams you beat and which teams you lose to? Every team in that category will be beating the bad teams and losing to the good teams. Why is that noteworthy? I'll criticize him for not beating the good teams but i've watched too many years of terrible Wyoming football to feel bad about having a program that can consistently beat the bottom half of the conference.

 

[Wyolie Coyote]

Sawvel was a better dc . I suspect that the reason he stuck with Johnson had more to do with friendship than anything else. As a head coach I am still not satisfied that he is good fit for the job. He reminds me of Fritz Shumur, great dc but a bad head coach.
PS Sawvel was an ok dc , not great like Fritz

I don't think it was friendship. It is the same reason he stuck with Svboda last season, he can't stand to be wrong. Arrogance and stubbornness are not a good mix.

 

[PorkerPoke]

As a side note...I've never understood the line of criticism at Bohl that puts his programs ability to consistently beat the bottom of the conference in a negative light.

Beating the bottom consistently was great.

Losing consistently to the top not so great.

Depending on the OOC the win totals would look like this:

8-5 (5-3) tied for 3rd MWC
7-6 (4-4) tied for 5th MWC

CB finished sub .500 in his MWC tenure while slightly over .500 overall. I personally feel a whole lot better winning conference games as compared to beating an FCS by a field goal.

I admit that if Wyoming gets to at least 6-6 then it neutralizes the disappointment a bit if the expectations were low, but 6-6 when the expectations are far higher is disappointing.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

Got it...Burman is not good at hiring coaches.

The question I was asking in the original post contains little appreciation or admiration of Sawful's coaching skill. I am noticing, particularly after watching the border war, that the Wyoming football team does show signs of being coached. There is little consistency, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that the wheels fall off if we get crushed at SDSU and at Fresno....but there is *some* competency in Sawful at running a middling program. That competency reared it's head on Saturday....Wyoming is not a great team and plenty of *not great* teams can and have beaten CSU this year. I am merely noticing the pleasant realization that Sawful can at least lay a licking on a poorly prepared and poorly coached program. If he can let his coordinators cook and keep in his lane of motivation and leadership...maybe he can build something?...my money is no...but it's at least message board material.

As a side note...I've never understood the line of criticism at Bohl that puts his programs ability to consistently beat the bottom of the conference in a negative light. Like....what do people think is likely for 6 to 8 win teams (which is what Bohl did basically)? Does anybody think it's a crap shoot on which teams you beat and which teams you lose to? Every team in that category will be beating the bad teams and losing to the good teams. Why is that noteworthy? I'll criticize him for not beating the good teams but i've watched too many years of terrible Wyoming football to feel bad about having a program that can consistently beat the bottom half of the conference.

POKES are 2-1 against bottom half with NV remaining.

In 2024, we were 1-2 against bottom 6 or 2-3 if you consider the ties in conference records for the rankings.

At best, PBJ is .500 against the bottom half of the conference.

 

[307bball]

POKES are 2-1 against bottom half with NV remaining.

In 2024, we were 1-2 against bottom 6 or 2-3 if you consider the ties in conference records for the rankings.

At best, PBJ is .500 against the bottom half of the conference.

Sawful be awful....it is what it is...I'm probably mostly grasping here....I just want to have a good team.

 

[307bball]

Beating the bottom consistently was great.

Losing consistently to the top not so great.

Depending on the OOC the win totals would look like this:

8-5 (5-3) tied for 3rd MWC
7-6 (4-4) tied for 5th MWC

CB finished sub .500 in his MWC tenure while slightly over .500 overall. I personally feel a whole lot better winning conference games as compared to beating an FCS by a field goal.

I admit that if Wyoming gets to at least 6-6 then it neutralizes the disappointment a bit if the expectations were low, but 6-6 when the expectations are far higher is disappointing.

From what I read on here, and in my own opinion, the 6 to 8 win seasons were a bit like kissing your sister. It's something but it never really led anywhere.

I think when you slice and dice the records by how good the opponnet is, you end up making it needlessly complicated. If you are like BSU and win 8 to 11 games consistently, those are good seasons with a few great ones sprinkled in. If you are like Wyoming with Bohl at the helm winning 6 to 8 consistently, those are mediocre seasons with a few good ones sprinkled in. My recolection of Bohl was that it was not just being unable to ascend to the upper echelon of the conference, but that he mightily struggled to win on the road even when we were facing a lower team. That, to me, is probably one of his bigger flaws.

 

[stymeman]

Although I didn't go to the coal game I did listen and pay attention to alot of what was going on. I think yes it was rivalry(the last true one), yes the kids were ready to show off their coal unis and yes Jovon had it cranked up with his new twists etc. But(like always) we shall see when they play a long ways from 7220...SDSU is decent but not great, 1 game does not make or break a season, but imo to make bowl eligibility this one is much needed as I only see us winning 1 more(Nevada)....I am lucky enough to be going to San Diego on Saturday to see it from the press box so I'll give ya my report as I see it(unimportantly as it may be) Excited to see Snapdragon for the last time in MWC...we shall see how Jovon takes his O on the road!!!

 

[Brew_Poke]

"Outplayed" may not have been the best word choice. However, I maintain that the 2nd half was a pretty even half overall. We had a couple great moments on defense with the INT in the end zone and the turnover on downs in the red zone. The offense had the one good drive to start the half.

Total yards in the 2nd half were 219 to 142 in favor of CSU. After our initial scoring drive, we only had 64 total yards of offense in the 2nd half. Three of our four non-scoring drives in the 2nd half were 3-and-out. The fourth was 4-and-out.

The 2nd half felt better than it really was because we had already built a large lead and we were able to stop them from scoring. In reality, I felt like we lost our intensity once we felt like we had the game in hand and reverted back to the same Poke team I had seen for the first seven games of the season.

First half was fantastic. Like MWC champion fantastic. If we had played like that consistently for the entire season, I think we would be 7-1 right now (L to Utah). 2nd half, in my opinion, was nowhere close to that level.

The goal in the second half was to eat clock, not score points. What was the TOP differential in the 2nd half?

 

[cowpoke pride]

CSU possessions for the game....
Q1- punt, INT
Q2- punt, INT, punt
Q3- punt, downs, INT
Q4- punt, punt, downs

At no point in, nor for any stretch of the game did CSU "outplay" Wyoming.
Before the game, I said on here, that we needed to stomp out any optimism they had for the rest of the season by firing Jiffy Lube Jay. Wow, did the Cowboys come through.