Wyoming Cowboys 2022 College Football Preview
July 11, 2022
2021 Recap
Record – 7-6
ATS – 6-7
The Pokes blasted out of the corral and won the first four games of the season. Three of those victories were close shaves but they were full of confidence heading into conference play. Then….GLUG GLUG GLUG….their divisional hopes went down the drain as they lost four (!) Mountain West contests in a row. Wyoming ended the campaign with with an impressive 52-38 win over Kent St in the Potato Bowl, an 88 STAR MEGALOCKS POTATO BOWL PLATINUM LOCK winner.
Wyoming Cowboys 2022 Outlook
OFFENSE
Wyoming did the vast majority of their work on the ground LY (212 YPG, #20 FBS) and have now averaged 199+ YPG in each of the last four seasons. The Cowboys lose 1,000-yard rusher Xazavian Valladay at RB as well as a pair of mobile QBs so it’ll be interesting to see if they can get their vaunted ground attack going. Utah St transfer Andrew Peasley is set to be the starting QB and he’s a bit of an unknown quantity. He’ll be working without his top two targets from 2021 and it’s an absolute killer to lose WR Isaiah Neyor who was one of the most dangerous weapons in the Mountain West LY (878, 12 TD, 20 YPC!). They lose three starters up front including star center Keegan Cryder. It feels as though the Pokes are gonna struggle BIGLY on offense in 2022.
DEFENSE
The Cowboys have allowed between 17.5 and 23.7 PPG in each of the L5Y and can almost always be expected to play good defense (#5 MW scoring defense LY, #6 scoring defense in 2021). They were a major disappointment vs the run LY (181 YPG, 2nd worst MW) and have to get things cleaned up. It doesn’t look great on this side of the football heading into 2022 as they bring back a mere four (!) starters and lose the impossibly-talented LB Chad Muma who tallied 142 tackles and 8 TFL in 2021. Wyoming appears to be lacking talent at DE and they’ll feature four new starters in the secondary. It’ll be up so a small handful of Power 5 (!) transfers and the usual excellent coaching to have this defense playing up to its normal standards.
SPECIAL TEAMS
There’s continuity at most of the key positions but they could use some SPICE at KR and PR. Punter Ralph Fawaz did a good job LY (42.4, 40.0 net) but PK John Hoyland was brutal on long-range FG attempts (1-5, 40+).
Schedule Analysis
Overall – Wyoming has three winnable games in non-conference action but also have a road date with BYU. There’s no San Diego St on the schedule but they travel to play Hawaii and Fresno St. Three of their final four games are away from Laramie.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – September 24 – at BYU
This is a tough road venue and note that this is a conference SANDWICH spot (Air Force, San Jose St).
Season Win Total
per BetOnline July 11
Over 5 +100
Under 5 -130
MEGALOCKS says:
No leanage.
The roster doesn’t inspire much confidence but it’s tough to bet against these scrappy doods (see below).
MEGAmazing Tidbits
The Cowboys have been bowl eligible in each of the last six (!) seasons other than during the ludicrous 2020 SCAMDEMIC season. Wear dose masks, yo.
HC Craig Bohl almost always has the Cowboys playing good football at home (29-17, .630) but he’s had a hard time in true road games (13-32, .289).
MEGALOCKS Outlook:
We always like cheering for the Wyoming Cowboys but don’t feel super warm and fuzzy about the 2022 edition. The QB situation is scary, they lost their most explosive THROW GAME weapon, and must move on without their best overall player in Chad Muma. They’ll be in a lot of MEAT GRINDER games and will have to find a way to gut out more close ones than they lose.
It’s gonna be tough to make a bowl game, but in any event, Go Pokes!
Want more Wyoming Football ?
WEBSITE
https://gowyo.com/sports/football
FORUM
http://www.wyonation.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
https://wyoming.forums.rivals.com/forums/hells-half-acre.12/
NEWS
http://trib.com/sports/college/wyoming/football/
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/2751/wyoming-cowboys