Lobos sneak past Pokes 70-68

A.J. Hardemen (pictured) had a career night to lead the New Mexico Lobos in a road victory 70-68 over the Wyoming Cowboys. The Lobos (16-3, 2-2) needed Hardemen to step up as they struggled with their long range shooting all game. Wyoming (8-10, 1-3) led by eight midway the first half but the lead was narrowed to 30-29 at halftime. A tight game the rest of the way with New Mexico coming out on top.

The Lobos have now won two in a row and are again setting their eyes on the Mountain West title. Hardemen went 7 of 10 for 18 points. Phillip Robinson added 15 points including a trio of triples on eight attempts. Robinson was the only Lobo to connect from long range as the rest of his teammates went 0 for 11. Darington Hobson scored 15 points with 11 coming in the second half.

Wyoming had it's opportunities to win this one but Afam Muojeke and Jaydee Luster both failed to convert on three point plays near the end. Muojeke was also called for an offensive foul while driving to hoop with under a minute remaining and trailing by three. The zone defense of the Lobos kept the Pokes from driving to the basket and forced Wyoming to settle for jumpers most of the game. Wyoming did hit 7 of 21 on three pointers but disappointed by sinking only 11 of their 19 free throws.

Muojeke led the Pokes with 15 points but took many bad shots and went 5 for 17 from the floor.
Desmar Jackson provided a nice spark off the bench for Wyoming. In twelve minutes he had 8 points and four steals. Even when he did turn the ball over Jackson kept alert on defense and grabbed a steal to score on a breakaway early in the second half.

Both teams will be action again on Wednesday, January 20th. The Lobos travel to Colorado Springs to tangle with the Air Force Cadets while the Cowboys hit for the road for Provo and the #18 BYU Cougars.

Box Score


AWARDS

Cowboy Joe: Ryan Dermody hit three treys in the second half to keep the Pokes in the game. Also grabbed 8 rebounds.

Cowboy Low: Jaydee Luster went 0-5 from the FT throw including three in the final minutes to kill the chances of a Cowboy comeback. He did drive to basket which most of his teammates weren't able to do, as well as dish out nine assists.

Cowboy Foe: Hardemen stepped up and hit big shots all game long. Only a 54% free throw shooter for the season he went 4-5 in the game.

Preview: New Mexico at Wyoming

New Mexico Lobos at Wyoming Cowboys
Arena-Auditorium
1:30pm MST
TV: The Mtn

Wyoming looks to pull off another Mountain West upset when the New Mexico Lobos make their way up to Laramie on Saturday. The Lobos come into the game at 15-3 (1-2 MWC) and trying to get their season back in the right direction. Nex Mexico started the season 12-0 but are just 3-3 in their last six including an 0-2 start in conference play. Wyoming sits at 8-9 (1-2 MWC) and pulled off an impressive upset over San Diego State last weekend. Saturday's game will be a "White Out" game where fans are encouraged to wear white shirts.

G-F Darington Hobson can and has done it all for the Lobos this year. Listed at 6'7 205lbs the Junior transfer leads the Lobos in points (16.7), rebounds (8.1) and assists (4.2). Ramon Martinez provides great Senior leadership and can be deadly from behind the arc. The Lobos have plenty of depth and are used to altitude so it will be tough for the full court press of the Pokes to do as much damage as it during the second half against the Aztecs.

Wyoming appears to be gelling as team over the last week and will need solid teamwork if they hope to hang with New Mexico. Afam Muojeke is averaging 27 points over his last two games and has been hitting a ton of shots. He's also done a much better job of ball handling with just 6 turnovers over his last four games. Jaydee Luster has become an outside shooting threat for the Pokes by hitting 8 treys over the last three games compared to four in the first 17 games.

New Mexico won both matchups last year including one point victory in the regular season finale. They will meet again in Albuquerque on February 17th.

W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	STK
UNM	15-3	78.3	67.4	11-1	3-2	W1
WYO	8-9	78.6	74.9	8-5	0-4	L1

Sage hiring as WR Coach now official

It just took awhile to get the lengthy press release typed up but Dan Sage is now officially the newest member of Wyoming Football Coaching staff. Check out the full release from UW.

With his Nevada roots would Sage try and help recruit 3 star WR Evan Weinstock from Henderson, NV? He doesn't appear to be on Cowboys radar but at 6'4 185 he could bring some nice size to receiving corp.

Ghaali predicted to have breakout 2010 season

Steve Megargee from Rivals.com is doing a season recap of each conference in college football and Wyoming certainly got some love in his recap.

ACS was named Freshman of the Year, Cowboys were the biggest surprise and Ghaali Muhammad is high on his charts.

Next season's breakout defensive player: Wyoming OLB Ghaali Muhammad. As a true freshman, he showed a knack for making big plays. Muhammad returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against Texas and made a game-clinching interception in a 17-16 victory over Colorado State that made the Cowboys bowl eligible. Muhammad could move into the starting lineup next fall and will get a chance to develop into even more of a playmaker.

I can't agree more. Ghaali just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and coming up with the big play. Very excited to see what he does next year at OLB. Muhammad has the inside track on the LB spot vacated by Senior Weston Johnson.

Happy New Years!!!

Is that what bankers and politicians wear?

Hope you had a great time celebrating the New Year. 2009 was a great year for the Pokes and December was the best month in the short history of Cowboy Altitude. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great 2010.

Great new Wyoming Football website

The Wyoming Cowboys Football team has a slick new website that appears to be geared towards attracting recuits. Great interface and really helps to show the tradition of Cowboy Football.

Hopefully it will help attract some of those recruits that were on the fence.

Cowboys compete early but lose 45-10 to TCU

Can anyone or any team stop TCU you this year? Not likely. The Horned Frogs improved to 11-0 for the first time in 71 years and are keeping the National title hopes alive with a 45-10 over the Wyoming Cowboys on the road. To complete their perfect season TCU will just need a victory next week over a New Mexico team that has lost their first 10 games.

The Cowboys kept things close for most of the first half and the game was was tied 10-10 at one point. But just as fast as Wyoming thought they had an upset on their hands TCU took back the lead with a 81 yard kickoff return by Greg McCoy to make the score 17-10. After that TCU never looked back and went on to score 28 unanswered points.

This wasn't as crisp a victory as TCU was looking but it was probably good enough to keep them in the #4 BCS spot. Losing three fumbles is uncharacteristic of the Horned Frogs and one was returned by Safety Chris Prosinski for the Cowboys lone touchdown. Andy Dalton was 10 of 19 for 170 yards and a touchdown but also intercepted once. Dalton also added 90 yards rushing to give him 260 total yards for the game.

The ground game was dominate for the Horned Frogs who put 358 yards rushing. Matther Tucker had 134 yards on only 12 carries. Tucker and Joseph Turner each had two touchdowns a piece.

Wyoming could do nothing with all the ball all game. QB Austyn Carta-Samuels was 4 of ten for only 84 yards. He was then replaced by Robert Benjamin who also struggled and went 2 for 5 and just 11 yards. Karsteen Sween the came in to try his luck to jump start the offense and went 0 for 4. David Leonard had his longer catch of the season for 43 yards and give him 64 receptions on the year.

The TCU defense was stout and made things rough all game long for the Cowboys. Though only getting one sack on the day they kept constant pressure on QB and bottled up the running game. The Cowboys rushed 36 times for 84 yards an average of 2.3 yards per rush. The Horned frogs allowed the Cowboys only 58 total yards in the second half.

Beating Wyoming should help TCU with the computers. Wyoming has one of the toughest schedules in the nation with losses to ranked teams: Texas, BYU and Utah. Texas played in Laramie this season and were actually down 10-6 at one point before prevailing 41-10.

It would have been great to see this game be closer but with the team the Cowboys have right now they've shown they just can't compete with big time programs yet. Playing against this level of competition will be great down the road though as all the freshman are getting valuable experience. Keeping things close in the first half like we did against Texas was nice to see. Definetly better than the BYU loss which had no redeeming qualities.

Next week: TCU host New Mexico and Wyoming travels to Colorado State for the Border War. Wyoming needs a victory over the rival Rams to become bowl eligible.

Awards

Cowboy Joe: Senior Chris Prosinksi scooped up a TCU fumble and returned it 98 yards for the Cowboys only touchdown.

Cowboy Low: Cowboys ground game. 36 carries for onl 84 yards and a long of 8.

Cowboy Foe: Matthew Tucker averaged over 12 yards a carry while gaining 126 yards and 2 touchdowns.

New Award System

For each game we cover we will hand out of the following awards:

Cowboy Joe - MVP for that game. Or player that came up with the biggest play for the Cowboys.

Cowboy Low: Poke player that just didn't have it.

Cowboy Foe: Opposing player that has the best night.

Awards will be handed out for both football and basketball games for the rest of the season.

#4 TCU comes to Laramie

The Horned Frog express rolls into Laramie, WY on Saturday looking for their 11th win this season. TCU (10-0) will put their perfect record on the line as they face a young and dangerous Wyoming Cowboys (5-5) squad. Currently #4 in the BCS the Horned Frogs will need another quality win plus a loss or two by one of the teams ranked ahead of them if they hope to have a shot at playing the National title game.

Coming off a stellar 55-28 victory over Utah last week the Horned Frogs are operating on all cylinders. Boasting one of the top defenses in the nation and led by DE Jerry Hughes the Horned Frogs wreak havoc on opposing teams QB's. Andy Dalton leads an offense that has been getting better and better each week. Their balanced attack put up 549 yards on a Utah defense that had been fairly stingy in the previous weeks.

I have been a head coach for five years, and that is the best team I’ve
faced."—Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, after his team’s loss to TCU.

The Wyoming Cowboys are coming off their most impressive victory of the season last week. Down 27-6 after three quarters the Cowboys put 24 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to win 30-27 and keep their bowl chances alive. Jekyll and Hyde is a great way to describe the Cowboys offense this year. After scoring at least 30 points in three consecutive victories earlier in the season the Pokes then managed only 10 total points in three consecutive losses.

TCU has scored in 213 cosecutive games - longest in the nation.

Wyoming
has been shutout three times this year.

Freshman QB Austyn Carta-Samuels has earned Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors three times this year. The Cowboys have switched to a spread offense this year after bringing in new Coach Dave Christensen. WR David Leonard has stepped up as big time possesion reciever this year and has 63 catches for 533 yards.

The Horned Frogs can really do it all: Offense, Defense and Special teams.

Andy Dalton has passed for over 2,000 yards this season with 17 TD's and only 4 interceptions. He also averages nearly 40 yards rushing a game.

TCU has four players with over 380 yards rushing this season. Joseph Turner gets the most carries: 120 for 622 yards and nine touchdowns. Freshman Edward Wesley has 598 yards and put up 120 against the Utes. Matthew Tucker adds 471 yards and six touchdowns to the mix.

Dalton loves to the spread the ball around and three recievers have 25 or more catches this year: Jimmy Young (25 for 405), Jeremy Kerley (33 for 370) and Bart Johnson (25 for 343). Kerley is a speedster and one of the most dangerous returnmen in the NCAA. He averages nearly 15 yards per punt return and has taken two back for scores.

Everything points towards an easy TCU victory but a couple factors could make this game closer then expected: elevation and weather.

The last time the Horned Frogs played in Laramie two years ago they lost 21-24. Coming from Fort Worth to 7220 feet can be a big shock to the system.

In the TCU's closest victory they beat Air Force 20-17 in Colorado Springs. That weekend a huge snowstorm hit the front range and game time tempratures were in the teens. TCU had a hard time scoring on a stout Air Force defense and the weather conditions certainly didn't help.

There is snow in the forecast for this weekend in Laramie but tempratures should be in the mid 30's so things won't be as cold as the Air Force game.

Cowboys come out flat in opener

The inexperienced Wyoming Cowboys (0-1) came out slow out of the gate and never led in a 77-61 loss to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits Friday night.

South Dakota State (1-0) returned all their starters from last season and they took advantage of a young Cowboy team. The Jackrabbits were 11 of 21 from 3 point range and shot 53% from the field.

The Jacks held a 45-25 lead at halftime and were led by Clint Sargent with 18 points and Kai Williams with 17 in the game.

Wyoming tried to come back in the second half but couldn't dig themselves out of the deep hole they found themselves in. Afam Muojeke led the Cowboys with 19 points followed by AJ Davis with 14. No other Cowboy scored in the double digits. The Cowboys shot poorly from 3pt range (3 of 13) and despite getting to the charity line 27 times they only made 18 shots.

Cowboy of the Game:

AJ Davis - 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting. 2 for 2 from the FT line. Plus 4 steals in 24 minutes

Poor Poke:

Jaydee Luster - 3 points on 1 for 7 shooting. 4 rebounds 2 assists 4 fouls in 33 minutes.

The Cowboys will continue their quest for the first win of the season on 11/18 when they host Peru State.

Box Score

Pokes add WR recruit

The Wyoming WR corp just added another weapon for the 2010 season when Snow College WR Mazi Ogbonna verbally commited to the Cowboys over the weekend. Speed is something the team has been missing this year and hopefully Ogbonna can help provide that spark for the Cowboys next year. Listed at 6'1 190 lbs has caught 32 passes for 678 yards and 8 touchdowns so far this year.

Austyn Carta-Samuels has had a hard time finding anyone to throw to besides David Leonard this season. And while Leonard has tons of receptions most of them are short passes that go for less than 10 yards.

According to the article from Bommerang Mazi's teammate WR DeJay Lester might also commit to the Cowboys shortly after going over his options.

Mountain West Action

Preview of what is happening around the Mountain West this weekend.

Army at Air Force
1:30pm MST

ESPN College Game Day is coming to Colorado Springs for a Veterans Day themed Military game. The Falcons need just one more win to become bowl eligibile but the Black Knights aren't the pushovers they used to be. Except a rough and tough game with Air Force pulling it out at the end.

#6 TCU at San Diego State
2:00 pm MST

The Aztecs have been playing some of their best football this season during the last couple weeks. Unfortunately they are hosting the Horned Frogs and even their best won't be good enough to stop the TCU juggernaut this year.

New Mexico at #17 Utah
4:00pm MST

After a couple of close games the past two weeks the Utes can finally let loose and blowout a team in style. Coach Whittingham hasn't announced who will start at QB for Utah yet but they could probably use their punter at QB this week and still trounce the punchless Lobos.

Colorado State at UNLV
8:00pm MST

One of these two teams will earn their fourth victory and and still keep their slim bowl berth hopes alive. While the loser will be able to start planning their offseason a little earlier. The Rams have lost five in a row and really need a victory to help out the fans in the sheep country.

Preview: BYU at Wyoming

#25 BYU at Wyoming
12pm MST
TV: The Mtn


Series history: BYU leads 42-30-3

Last year: BYU shutouts Wyoming 44-0 in Provo. Ugly performance by the Cowboys as they gave little challenge to the Cougars.

Point Spread: BYU by 13

There is no love lost between these two teams and don't expect anything to change soon. The Cowboys fans certainly don't make the Cougars feel very welcome when they come to Laramie. That hasn't stopped the Cougars from dominating this series lately. The Cowboys haven't beaten the Cougars since a 13-10 home victory on October 18, 2003.

Wyoming: For the second game in a row the Cowboys (4-4, 2-2) blew a victory with a weak second half performance. Wyoming led Utah 10-3 at halftime but gave up 19 unanswered points and took the loss. The offense which was cruising during the beginning of October has only scored 10 points in the last eight quarters. The Cowboy defense has been doing a good job of containing their opponents but is now longer getting any turnovers like earlier in the season.

QB Austyn Carta-Samuels has been effective for the Pokes but no one has else stepped this season and shown they can be a be a big time play maker and take some of the load off. WR David Leonard is having a great season with 52 receptions but is averaging only 8.7 yards per catch.

BYU: With the bye week the Cougars (6-2, 3-1) are rested and hopefully can forget the 38-7 loss to TCU off their minds. Thanks to the some losses by other teams the Cougars moved back in to the rankings and now sit at #25.

Senior QB Max Hall has led the offense for three seasons has completed 170 passes for 2231 yards so far this season. His favorite target has been Dennis Pitta with 38 catches for 533 yards. The Cougars also will have WR McKay Robinson back on their roster this weekend as he returns from a hamstring injury. Robinson is the only real deep threat on the team and can really open up the field for the Cougars.

Harvey Unga brings a power running game is the leading rusher in the Mountain West and is averaging just a tick under 100 yards per game. Unga has found the endzone 10 times already this season.

Why Wyoming will win: The Cowboys are 3-1 at home with their only coming against #2 Texas. The weather will good and the Cowboys will be playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in nearly a month. Max Hall has thrown 11 interceptions so far this and by taking advantage of those mistakes the Cowboys can really throw a wrench into the Cougars season.

Why BYU will win: The high powered Cougar offense will just be too much the young Cowboy team. The Cougars are rested and want to blow out Wyoming just like TCU did to them two weeks ago.

Prediction: Upset special here the Cowboys pull a few surprises and earn a victory in front of the home crowd: 28-24.

The Mtn Preview: BYU at Wyoming

James Bates shows off his Tennessee roots and gives us way too much information on High School. He also discusses the BYU-Wyoming game a little. At least he isn't wearing the orange creamsicle blazer he had on last week.

This Week

Cowboy Altitude is back.

I was out of town this weekend and then got sick the last couple days. Feeling much better so there is stuff to do.

So we'll use what is left of this week to get you caught up with things in Cowboy land.

Thursday: Preview of Wyoming vs BYU

Friday: Mountain West Weekend Preview

Saturday: BYU game recap

Next Week: Wyoming Mens Hoops Preview

Pokes up 10-3 at the half

A field goal on the opening drive and a trick play with Robert Benjamin in as a WR throwing a 30 yard TD pass to Austyn Carta-Samuels has shocked the Utes.

Hopefully the second resembles the first.

Go Pokes!!!

Happy Halloween from Cowboy Altitude

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday.
Let's hope the Cowboys have some TRICKS for the Utes and TREAT us with a fifth win this season.

Saturday is a Blackout Game in Utah

This how people get wild and crazy in Salt Lake.

I prefer Brown and Gold. Go Pokes!

MWC Matchups this weekend

Wyoming @ #19 Utah
6:00pm MST
TV: The Mtn

This our pick for game of the week in the Mountain West. There is no love lost between these squads but Coach Christensen has the Cowboys in a new era. Hopefully that results in a different outcome.



Air Force @ Colorado State
2:00pm MST
TV: The Mtn


Can the Rams actually win another game this year? Air Force can move within one game of bowl eligibility if they take down CSU.

UNLV @ #8 TCU
2:00pm MST
TV: Versus

TCU should roll at home. This could get ugly for the Rebels.

New Mexico @ San Diego State
5:30pm MST
TV: CBS College

What will San Diego State do after their amazing come back last week? Will the Lobos learn how to win?


BYU

The Cougars have the week off to lick their wounds after being embarrassed by TCU last Saturday.

Cowboy Chatter 10-29-09

Cowboys in the Media

Laramie Boomerang: Cowboys can force plenty of fumbles they just need to recover more.

Laramie Boomerang: Freshman nose guard Mike Purcell has stepped up to the challenge.

Casper Tribune: David Leonard has provided a spark at punt returner.

Casper Tribune: The O-Line got things sorted out during the bye week.

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah knows the Cowboys are improved this season.