Dion: Final two games present Wyoming with opportunity to improve (2024)

LARAMIE — How do you energize a football team with nothing to play for over its final two games?

That’s the task Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel has in front of him now following a disheartening loss to rival Colorado State in the Border War last week.

At 2-8 on the season, the Cowboys have been eliminated from the Mountain West Conference title race and bowl-game inclusion. With no postseason trophies or accolades available to this group, what’s left is the opportunity to get better over 10 practices and two games.

Sawvel understands the task completely.

“We’ve got two games left with a senior group that’s done good things here and had big wins, but we’ve got two games left with a lot of guys that are going to be back for awhile that have a lot more growth to do and we get to go play a great opponent,” Sawvel said. “This is great for Kaden Anderson, this is great (for) Justin Stevenson, this is great (for) Jake Davies, Jayden Williams and Jaden Williams and Dante Drake … and all the way down the line, because we have a ton of growth to do in this program.”

UW will graduate 20-plus seniors at the conclusion of this season. It’s an average-size senior class and, despite that, the Cowboys’ roster is largely comprised of youth and inexperience. Four of five offensive linemen are set to return. Both Anderson and Evan Svoboda return at quarterback, five of Wyoming’s top-six pass catchers should return and leading rushers from this season and last — Sam Scott and Harrison Waylee — are back for 2025.

On defense, an entire two-deep depth chart of defensive linemen are back with the lone exception of tackle Jordan Bertagnole. Key losses come at safety and linebacker, which makes it all the more important the Cowboys utilize these last two games against Boise State and Washington State to get the underclassmen backing those positions up quality playing time.

The task, then, remains improvement across all fundamental football principles be it blocking, tackling, route running, gap discipline and on down the list. Every underclassmen athlete on UW’s roster has something tangible he can improve upon.

Wyoming has struggled versus the run this season, as evidenced by its 116th ranking in the country for yielding more than 202 yards per game. Tackling, gap discipline and ability to shed blocks at the point of attack are all consistent weaknesses for the Pokes.

The team also has had problems starting games on the right foot. Opponents have scored touchdowns on their first possession in six of Wyoming’s 10 games. The Cowboys also have failed to execute late in games, which has cost the team wins. UW is 1-3 in one-score games this season, losing to Idaho, San Diego State and Utah State.

Following a breakthrough 600-yard offensive performance at New Mexico, UW was held under 240 total yards by Colorado State. The dichotomy of the two performances is yet another example of the Pokes’ inconsistencies this season.

Wyoming offensive coordinator Jay Johnson attempted to explain the setback against the Rams.

“I think when you look at it, we needed to improve our execution,” he said. “We had guys in the right places, but we struggled with our techniques and fundamentals at point-of-attack times. That’s the thing about football — there’s 11 of us out there and each position took a different turn at a certain time.”

In addition to the names Sawvel mentioned, these last two games against top-25 opponents will be great opportunities for freshman wide receiver Chris Durr Jr. and sophomores Keany Parks, Tyler King, Ethan Day and Malique Singleton.

Players improve by completing repetition after repetition against above-average opponents. Wyoming has two more 60-minute contests filled with perhaps 150 total snaps for its players to learn and develop.

“It’s getting guys that haven’t played a ton of football that we got to (have) make (strides),” Sawvel said. “Jake Davies has to come along, our defensive tackles have to come along, so there’s a lot of people there that we have to get advanced.”

Junior running back Sam Scott had the perfect response to the question of how do you stay motivated after the team lost to Utah State four weeks ago. Scott said there’s always something to play for. Whether it’s for your family, your teammates, the program, the state or for yourself, a player finds his ‘why?’

Over the next two weeks, that ‘why?’ is to get better.