2010 Wyoming Football Predictions
The Wyoming Cowboys are coming into the 2010 season off a pretty productive year
, as the Cowboys went 4-4 in the Mountain West Conference, good enough for a fifth place finish. The Cowboys finished up the regular season at 6-6 and were invited to the New Mexico Bowl, where they upset Fresno State 35-28 to finish up the season at 7-6. This year they have 15 starters back, and will look for an even better finish. Here is a quick breakdown of what the Cowboys will send to the field on both offense and defense this season, plus my thoughts on where they finish the year in the MWC.
Offense:
The Cowboys welcome back 2009 MWC Freshman of the Year Austin Carta-Samuels to run the show on offense, as Carta-Samuels threw for 1,953 yards with 10 touchdowns to just five interceptions. This year the Cowboys will likely ask for even more out of their young quarterback, and I got a pretty good feeling he is ready to deliver.
One reason that has me believing that Cara-Samuels is going to be even better this season, is the fact that he has his top three threats in the passing game back this year, led by senior wide out David Leonard, who had a team best 77 catches for 705 yards and three scores. Senior Zach Bolger finished second on the team with 28 receptions for 314 yards, but the Cowboys are hoping that they can get more out of sophomores Chris McNeill and David Tooley this season.
At running back the Cowboys return sophomore starter Alvester Alexander, who led the way with 640 yards and seven touchdowns. I look for Alexander to come much closer to the 1,000 yard mark this season, and could being one of the top backs in the MWC.
Up front the Cowboys will have to replace both starters on the right side of the line, and overall this unit was pretty average last season. senior Jack Tennant is expected to step in at right guard, while sophomore Josh Leonard is the projected starter at right tackle. If the two new starters can come in and get a hold of things early, I think we will see some improved play up front for the Cowboys.
Defense:
The Cowboys have seven starters back to a defense that wasn't too bad last season, allowing just over 27 points a game. The Cowboys return one of the top defenive end in the conference in junior Gabe Knapton, who finished second on the team with 126 tackles last year. Also back is fellow junior starting defensive end Josh Biezuns, who finished second on the team with 3.5 sacks. The Cowboys however will have to find two new starters at defensive tackle this fall. It looks as though it will be sophomore Mike Purcell and junior Alex Stover who get the first crack at taking over in the middle.
Junior middle linebacker Brian Hendricks is the only starting linebacker back for the 2010 season, who also figures to be one of top playmakers on this side of the ball for the Cowboys. For this defense to be as good as it was in 2009, the Cowboys are going to need solid play out of new starters Ghaali Muhammad and Devyn Harris.
If the front seven can get the job done the Cowboys figure to be much improved on this side of the ball, as they should have one of the top secondaries in the MWC this season with all four starters back from last year, and all four are being considered as one of the best at their respective positions.
MWC Prediction - 6th: The problem for the Cowboys is the top four teams of BYU, TCU, Utah, and Air Force all figure to be pretty good this season, which really doesn't give the Cowboys a lot of room to improve in the standings. Overall I think they finish right around the seven win mark again in 2010, but don't be surprised if they sneak a win or two against the top teams.
For a different look at how the MWC will finish up this season, check out Jimmy Boyd's
2010 MWC predictions.
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2010 Wyoming Football Predictions
By: Jimmy Boyd
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