Laramie, Wyoming – The BYU Cougars bested the struggling Wyoming Cowboys (0-3) to win its tenth straight contest in the 80-game rivalry, 34-14. Cougar QB Jake Retzlaff completed 22 of 36 passes for 291 yards and three TDs. With Brigham Young now a member of the Big XII, this will probably be the last game of this series for a long while. However, with the recent announcement of four other Mountain West teams joining to form a new PAC 12 (6?), who will Wyoming and other MWC foes play on a regular basis? Several options remain open, but for the short-term, this will probably cause a mess for college football teams once again.
BYU stumbles; recovers quickly
Brigham Young University got off to an awry start. Cowboy CB Wrook Brown made a diving interception on his back to halt the Cougars’ first possession. However, it put the Wyoming offense at a disadvantage. They started from their one-yard line. As the first of many three and outs for the Cowpokes, BYU started again at the Wyoming 44. QB Jake Retzlaff connected with TE Jeanu Hill for a 20-yard score. Wyoming punted once again after three plays. The BYU Cougars drove 74 yards and into the second period. This time, Retzlaff passed three yards to WR Kody Epps to go up, 14-0.
Wyoming responded with a 75-yard scoring drive when QB Evan Svoboda ran it in from the two. Later in the period, BYU extended the final score at the end of the half on Will Fenner’s 49-yard kick, 17-7.
BYU fireworks in the third, then tough D
BYU opened up the second half with an explosion. Keelan Martin took the kick two yards deep in the end zone. At about the 25, he veered left and took it the distance fending off a couple of tacklers to give BYU an early 24-7 to start the third. The Cougar defense stifled the Cowboys through the second half. Brigham Young forced an immediate three-and -out. They followed with Ferrin’s 27-yard FG. The next Cowboy series also lasted only three snaps. BYU stopped the next on fourth down to take possession on their 35. Retzlaff’s third TD pass of the day went 20 yards to Darius Lassiter to go up, 34-7.
Fourth period – building for the future
After that, BYU HC Kilani Sitake replaced his starters with players in clean jerseys. At that point, his defense yielded only 147 yards of total offense and eight first downs to the Cowboys. With Wyoming HC Jay Sawvell leaving his first team in, they drove 76 yards and gained four first downs before Svoboda dove in from the one to finalize the score, 34-14. BYU takes its home its 3-0 record into Big XII play just like they did last season.
Cowboys need to wrangle in their season – fast
At 0-3 following a 9-4 season that filled the faithful in Laramie with optimism this season, the remainder of this season looks rather bleak now. The retirement of former HC Craig Bohl seemed to assure the program with continuity. Naming his four-year Defensive Coordinator, Jay Sawvel, who has 21 successful seasons with an impressive array of mentors seemed like a great start. In addition, Bohl’s son, Aaron, stepped up to take over for Sawvel at DC. However, it seems the drop in optimism probably stems from this coaching change. For Sawvel, he serves now as HC for the first time. Maybe the leap comes too early. We’ll watch with interest to see what happens to the Cowboys over the balance of 2024.
We saw Mountain West foe New Mexico open our season with a last-minute 35-31 loss to FCS power Montana State. Wyoming also lost to FCS Idaho a week ago, 17-13. From this objective viewpoint, the Lobos showed indications of a much better team than the Cowboys. New HC Bronco Mendenhall brought in years of experience as a head coach to UNM. These two teams will meet in Albuquerque on November 2.
Next Up
On Saturday, Wyoming visits North Texas State (2-1) who fell big to Texas Tech, 66-21. After the Mean Geen, the MWC slate lies ahead for the Pokes. Things have to change quickly if Sawvel’s squad still wants to challenge. Hard to believe after what we saw from this offense. BYU immerses itself the next nine weeks against Big XII competition. It begins at home in Saturday against No. 13 Kansas State who defeated Arizona on Friday night, 31-7. The Cougars look to improve their initial 2-7 conference record from a year ago. They also look to qualify to get back in the bowl business with six wins overall.
Collegefootballfan.com has two games on our docket this week. On Thursday night, we’ll see South Alabama (1-2) visit Appalachian State (2-1) in the Sun Belt opener for both. On Saturday night, we’ll see two teams we saw play a few weeks ago. Duke comes to Murfreesboro with a record of 3-0 to play Middle Tennessee (1-2). It’s unusual to see a Power Four program visit a Group of Five team, but we’d like to see this happen more often.
Extra Points
Special thanks to the Groner family in Laramie for hosting me this past weekend. I worked with Gary about 20 years ago at AlliedSignal. His wife Susie, sister Shawna, daughter Bailey, son-in-law Keenan and friends attended the game with me. Keenan, a Wyoming grad, like Gary, gave me a tour around the Wyoming campus not far from the Groner residence.
This game marked my 688th college football game. Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium, named in honor of state residents serving in WWII, became the 92nd Football Bowl Subdivision venue I’ve attended. In total, this makes 184 stadiums I’ve seen a college game in. As of now. Wyoming becomes the 40th state (including Washington, D.C) where I’ve attended a college football game.
My historical Wyoming “connection”
Not only did Keenan take me to some sites like the University of Wyoming Geological Center, with locally excavated dinosaur bones, and the book store, but we also toured the Wyoming Arena and Auditorium know to Wyoming fans as “The A-A.” There, the basketball team practiced as Keenan helped guide me in my quest to find some kind of tribute to my fellow Boonton (NJ) High School alumnus, Jim Kiick, who played football at Wyoming from 1965-1967. We found his name and action photo on their wall depicting the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 1966, Kiick led Wyoming in rushing and won the MVP award for the 10-1 Cowboys in the Sun Bowl that season. Wyoming defeated Florida State, 28-20. I remember watching that game on television with my late father, Allen. We had seen Jim play for the Boonton Bombers in high school a few years prior. He played under the same football coach that I would eventually, the late Joe Molotoris. A season later, Wyoming with Kiick finished 10-1 again. They lost in the Sugar Bowl, 20-13, in comeback fashion late in the game against LSU. Both seasons, the Pokes as they are also known, averaged about 35 points per game while allowing only 10.5 per game. In ’67, they ranked No. 6 in the final Associated Press poll.
Super Kiick
Kiick played for the Miami Dolphins in three consecutive Super Bowls including the unprecedented 17-0 Super Bowl VI team. He scored a TD in that game in the 14-7 win over Washington and the following year in Super Bowl VII win over Minnesota, 24-7. He and his FB Larry Csonka earned the moniker of “Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid,” named after the Western movie adventure featuring stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Jim passed away in 2020 at 73 years old from complications due to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Fond memories of him are still shared by many of his fellow classmates and alumni from Boonton High School. Jim was inducted into the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Thanks to Keenan Mumm for helping me to follow up on such great memories in Laramie.
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America
Author of Fifty years of Tailgate tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. Click on the title to buy from Amazon and give us your review! We really appreciate it. Thanks.
