2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Wyoming Cowboys
Wyoming Cowboys
Location: Laramie, WY
Coach: Craig Bohl (28-35 @ Wyo., 132-67 overall), 6th Season at Wyoming
Stadium: War Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 29,181)
CSJ Projections:
8th: Mountain West (5th: Mountain Division)
1st: Wyoming
99th: FBS
36th: Group of Five
125th: Division I
2018 in a Sentence: After a 2-6 start against a brutal schedule, the Cowboys made a quarterback change and found its identity, rallying for four straight wins to finish bowl eligle at 6-6 (though they were one of four elgible teams to not get a bid).
Biggest Shoes to Fill: S Marcus Epps and S Andrew Wingard were the stable force in the Cowboy secondary that will be missed. The duo combined for 779 tackles, 44.5 TFL, 30 pass break-ups and 19 interceptions in their four years in Laramie. Epps was a sixth round draft pick of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, while Wingard was signed as an undrafted collegiate free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Key Player: QB Sean Chambers or Tyler Vander Waal will be the starter for the Cowboys. True freshman Chambers replaced redshirt freshman Vander Waal mid-way last and the team started to win but not with the passing game but rather a smashmouth style running attack. While it might seem Chambers would get the node, he only threw 23 passes in his three full games. Vander Waal passed for 1,310 yards to go along with five touchdown passes and four interceptions. Whichever quarterback gets the nod, they likely will continue to lead a strong running attach with sophomore RB Xazavian Valladay, who must carry the load more with MW leading rusher Nico Evans lost to graduation.
Fearless Prediction: The Cowboys are still going to be awfully young this year, and the rest MWC is still going to be awfully good. Wyoming is primed to be a very good team in 2020 but it might take some ups and downs this year. Still, there is enough talent on this team to get to the six-win mark and get a bowl bid.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
