#6 Wyoming

5-7 (2-6)
Same old story, different year. Yes they brought in a new offensive coordinator who was stellar at Montana and Florida A&M, but he's going up against a lot better coaches than he has been. He also doesn't inherit a great QB situation. After a solid freshman campaign, Sween had a ROUGH sophomore slump. He turned it over a lot, he threw a lot of ducks, and he got yanked several times. Coach Glenn isn't even ready to call him the starter yet. That is a bad sign at a position that is supposed to be the leader of the team, and when you have a guy returning who started there for two years! They do bring back their version of thunder and lightning with Devin Moore and Wynel Seldon, who combined for over 1500 yards last year. Seldon, at times, was very like thunder, loud and harmless. In the games against arguably the four best teams they played (Boise State, New Mexico, Utah, and BYU) they had sub-100 yard games as a team, hitting a low against BYU with NINE yards. With a question mark at QB and a running game that got most of its stats against poor defenses, I'd say the outlook isn't too great offensively. However, if Sween gets back to his freshman season form, they may go bowling after all. If nothing else, improved line play can keep Sween, Moore, and Seldon from having to run for their lives all season.
Defensively, they are very strong at linebacker, which should help them shore up their inconsistent run defense from last season. That aforementioned inconsistency is evidenced by the fact that they held a 9-4 ACC Virginia squad to -3 yards but gave up 278 to lowly can't-contend-in-the-WAC Utah State. The new corners won't get tested much until that fourth game of the season at BYU. BYU has thrown for over 300 yards against the Pokes each of the last two seasons, the only team to accomplish that even once. The defense has been the epitome of Cowpoke football the last two years: sprinting out of the gates (against inferior competition) and hobbling to the finish line (against decent competition). They'll have to hold some of the in-conference foes at bay for this season to finish any better than the last two did.
A weak non-conference schedule early in the season helps Wyoming start out of the gates strong again, before fading at conference time, again. Another problem: a late-season game at Tennessee. That could be ugly, not the best of scheduling moves as they will need a late-season push to get bowl eligible. They will fall short again this year. The final game will be 5-6 Wyoming against 5-6 CSU, with the winner going bowling.
Bad losses: CSU, final game, border war (name of the rivalry, in case you didn't know, as they are about 65 miles away from each other-made the drive myself last week), senior night, bowl eligibility on the line, and they choke...again. UNLV, week 12, would have made them bowl eligible by my count, making the CSU game all about bragging rights. Oh well.
Big wins: Bowling Green is about the best win they'll get all season. Air Force might be a better win, at least it's in conference?
Potential season-changing games: BYU, week 4. 3-0 heading to Provo where they got beat down 55-7 in 2006. The score might not be as lopsided, but the game will be.
Game I want to see: Utah. Is this the beginning of a new rivalry? It may not be much of a rivalry (Utah will beat them handily), but it should be some kind of a blood bath. After Utah's 3rd quarter onside kick attempt with a 6-touchdown lead and Wyoming's last second alley-oop with a double-digit lead in basketball, there may be something brewing besides beer in Laramie in mid-October!