Wyoming Cowboys vs Boise State Broncos Football Preview

With a week of rest to prepare for the remainder of the season and their season-opening ‘playoff’ out of the way, the third-ranked Boise State Broncos will head to Laramie to play Wyoming on September 18.

The Cowboys from the Mountain West Conference had managed to hang tough for nearly the entire first half at No. 5 Texas last weekend, in an eerily similar replay of their 2009 tussle with the Longhorns. However, as was the case one year ago for Wyoming and head coach Dave Christensen, a tidal wave of Texas athleticism quickly broke down Wyoming's defenses in the second half. Two big plays in rapid-fire succession sucked the life out of a team already reeling from the car-crash death of linebacker Ruben Narcisse, with three other players injured in the incident earlier this month.

Look for Wyoming quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels to have his hands full with Boise State, regardless of moral sentiment or how well he may play. There simply isn’t enough talent around the San Jose native to give the Boise defense much trouble. Carta-Samuels has the legs to get outside of the pocket comfortably and repeatedly, and he’ll need them this weekend. While his efficiency statistics have been thus far more than respectable - he is currently tied for fourth in the nation with a 75-percent completion rate, and he stands as the 17th-highest-rated QB in the country - he has been sacked three times in both of his appearances this year. The majority of his 21 rushing attempts were categorized as such because he’s been running for his life, not because he's been planning to run the moment he takes a center snap. Carta-Samuels is going to need a lot of help if the Cowboys expect to improve to 2-1 on the season.

On the other side of the field in this game, a nearly two-week break will help the Broncos to avoid overlooking their opponent en route to next week’s showdown versus Oregon State. Before dealing with the one other adversary that stands in the way of a potentially perfect regular season, Boise State must take care of business this weekend against a pesky foe. The Broncos will need to demonstrate the focus and poise for which they've become known on a national level. They can't be comfortable with committing as many potentially costly mistakes as they did against Virginia Tech in week one. 

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Heisman candidate Kellen Moore returns to the field after a week-one performance that exemplified everything his reputation rides upon. He was efficient if not spectacular, did not commit any turnovers, and led the Broncos down the field in less than a minute for the game-winning score against the Hokies.

No one is expecting a need for Moore’s heroics this week. The Boise defense stopped Tyrod Taylor and the rest of the Virginia Tech offense when it mattered, and Moore's supporting cast is supposed to be much better than the one Carta-Samuels has at his disposal for Wyoming

For better or for much, much worse, the Broncos have become a national media darling. That same national media is not likely to further examine BSU’s ‘inability’ to deal with a smash-mouth rushing attack, nor are they likely to decry Boise’s own rushing attack. The Broncos’ pass-first offensive scheme had the Hokies' defensive linemen flying too far upfield, enabling Boise to sneak the run up the middle between the tackles. Boise's game plan against Virginia Tech allowed the Broncos to average 7.4 yards per carry. Texas’s three top rushes pulled over 6 yards per carry on Wyoming last week, and there isn’t any reason to expect these convergent trends to change this weekend. Boise should be able to pound Wyoming inside.

If Wyoming can’t put together three or four time-consuming drives it is going to be a long evening in Laramie. That's the long and short of this test in the Mountain West for Boise State.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer