Inside the Locker Room: Raw Emotions After Wyoming’s Loss at Air Force
- Jeff Bugher
- Oct 22
- 3 min read
I asked a simple question after Wyoming’s gut-punch loss to Air Force in Colorado Springs:
What’s it like in the locker room right now?
Fair and obvious question, right? Wyoming had just lost to one of the worst defenses statistically in the Mountain West, and I wanted to know whether the emotion in the locker room matched the frustration fans felt outside. I wasn’t looking for a typical sugarcoated answer. I wanted the truth. The raw version. No excuses.
Were guys throwing helmets?
Were Gatorade bottles flying?
Were leaders yelling?
Was the team still together...not pointing fingers?
Was it silent and stunned? Angry and chaotic? Or united, even in disappointment?
Head coach Jay Sawvel was angry postgame on Saturday, and he didn’t pretend the locker room was calm.
When I asked him what it was like in the locker room, he fired back:
“Well, what do you think it's like? You know what I mean? Like, we lose a game by three points, it's not, we're not happy. Everybody's pissed.”
But Sawvel drew a line in the sand - angry, yes. Divided, no.
“Everybody's supposed to be pissed right now. Everybody's supposed to be upset right now… They're not going to point fingers at each other. There's too much leadership and pride… We all need to take ownership of the things that we've got to do better.”
Sawvel brought up the collapse:
“We gave up 18 points in the second half defensively… and we turned the ball over twice offensively in the second half.”
That part stung…because it was the truth.
After a home loss against Utah in September, senior guard Caden Barnett launched a chair just like legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight. So I asked Caden on Monday because I wanted to know if that same emotion was still there?
As a leader on the team, Barnett didn’t hide from it.
“Obviously, losing…makes me furious because I want to go 1 and 0 every week,” he said. Despite the anger, he added, “I will say I'm very proud of our guys right now because you can tell that there's a mindset of, okay, well, this week it's a new week.”
Barnett admitted he’s an emotional player and didn’t sugarcoat the scene.
“I'm a very emotional guy. So when we got in the locker room, I had some just some stuff to say. I mean, I was yelling,” he said. But even in that frustration, the leadership tone kicked in: “We have 24 hours to learn from this… nobody likes losing. But as soon as you let those 24 hours pass, now it's on to the next.”
That "next" is Colorado State University in Laramie on Saturday, a team that fired its head coach last Sunday after only two wins this season. Then, on Wednesday, it was announced that quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi had left CSU.
And then came the fallout on Sunday. Less than 24 hours after the loss in Colorado Springs, Sawvel demoted offensive coordinator Jay Johnson to offensive analyst, something I had confirmed through multiple credible sources on Sunday. I released the news shortly before the Monday press conference. I intentionally held onto the news out of respect for the University.
The message from Sawvel was clear: accountability isn’t just for players - it's on the coaching staff, too.
Wyoming fans wanted offensive creativity, not chaos. There's no doubt that the intent was there. Yet, something needed to change regarding offensive play calling, so that’s why receivers coach Jovon Bouknight was tabbed.
Sometimes, being pissed is exactly where the next win starts. If Wyoming wants a chance to be bowl eligible, it starts with a victory over CSU on Saturday.
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