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Wyoming Was Down, But Not Out: How the Cowboys Revived Their Season
LARAMIE, Wyo. - About a month ago, the Wyoming football team appeared headed toward another rough season. A bowl game? No way!
Now, the Cowboys have won three straight games and enter November at 5-3 overall and 4-1 in Mountain West play. Wyoming also sits second in the conference standings behind New Mexico.
So, what was the team's low point? What finally woke the Cowboys up?
It wasn't the 35-13 loss to rival Colorado State in the season opener on Sept. 5, or the struggle to beat FCS opponent Northern Colorado 21-13 at home a week later.
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It was the 24-10 beating at Central Michigan on Sept. 19.
Chippewas quarterback Angel Flores ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, helping Central Michigan pile up 339 rushing yards.
The worst part? CMU kept running the football, and Wyoming couldn't stop it. CMU played the same old song on repeat.
"I thought the low point was after the Central Michigan game," Sawvel said during his weekly press conference last Monday.
Sawvel put it bluntly. "We played like crap.”
He also admitted he couldn't remember what he told his team in the locker room afterward.
Following the loss, Pokes News published an article about the team's bright spots. We wrote about the talent on the roster and how the pieces simply weren't coming together at the same time.
Not everyone appreciated that perspective.
We received some unhappy comments, and even a member of the media tweeted "Bright Spots???" alongside a picture of our article.
Fair enough. We get it. That loss was a low point for plenty of Wyoming fans, too.
But something happened after that embarrassing loss at CMU.
The players called for a players-only meeting, approached Sawvel about a no-phones policy in the locker room and began taking greater responsibility for the team's culture.
"They came to me, said, hey, we want to have a players-only meeting," Sawvel explained following Wyoming's Sept. 26 victory over Hawai‘i.
"We were missing a love, we were missing a spark, we were missing of some of those things," Sawvel said.
Wyoming responded with a 27-10 victory over Hawai‘i in week four.
But the Cowboys weren't out of the woods yet.
On Oct. 4, new Mountain West foe North Dakota State shut out Wyoming 28-0 inside the Fargodome. The Cowboys managed just 96 yards of total offense.
It was another ugly performance, and Sawvel believed his team had become too worried about making mistakes.
"We played so tense last week, we played so tight, we played so much to not make a mistake that we didn't play fast and we just sat on our heels," Sawvel said following the San Jose State game.
The coaching staff made adjustments, but one of Sawvel's biggest messages was directed at quarterback Tyler Hughes.
Stop worrying about mistakes. Trust your instincts. Play football.
"All I told him to do during the week [was] just go play. Go play football. Just go, if something breaks down, go play. Go be yourself and go lead..."
The message came during preparation for San Jose State.
Hughes responded, and so did the Cowboys.
Wyoming defeated the Spartans 16-13 in overtime on Oct. 9, converting five of six fourth-down attempts and snapping an eight-game road losing streak. Hughes also found his footing and began to use his legs as another weapon to propel his team.
The Cowboys followed with a 41-23 victory over winless Northern Illinois on Oct. 17, piling up 510 yards of total offense.
Hughes rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns while completing 16 of 19 passes for 196 yards.
The Cowboys carried that momentum into their Oct. 23 matchup against Air Force, defeating the Falcons 28-14 at War Memorial Stadium.
Wyoming forced three fumbles and didn't allow Air Force an explosive play of 25 yards or longer.
Three straight victories. A 5-3 record. And suddenly, a team that looked lost in September was back in the Mountain West race.
During last Monday's press conference, Sawvel pointed to something that never changed, even when the Cowboys were struggling.
The team never turned on itself.
"There was never a time when coaches turned on players or players turned on coaches or players were turning on each other," Sawvel said.
That would've been the easiest, lazy thing to do.
Instead, the players stuck together, challenged one another and took ownership of what was happening inside their locker room.
The results haven't always been pretty. But the Cowboys have found ways to win games they were losing earlier in the season.
And Hughes? He's playing with the confidence Sawvel want and his offensive coordinator Christian Taylor want to see.
Now, Wyoming is one victory away from bowl eligibility, something that seemed like a long shot after Central Michigan and nearly unthinkable following the shutout at North Dakota State.
Wyoming also has a chance at something more, with the Cowboys ranking 2nd in the conference.
But first comes another road test.
Following their week-nine bye, the Cowboys return to action Saturday at UNLV. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. MST at Allegiant Stadium, with the game televised on CBS Sports Network.
A few weeks ago, Wyoming was trying to figure out how to win.
Now, the question is: how far can these Cowboys go?
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