WE'VE MOVED!!!!

Cowboy Altitude is now part of SB Nation and has it's own site! Click on the logo to be sent directly to Cowboy Altitude.com!

This site will no longer be updated so please update all your bookmarks and become a member of the new site.

Cowboy Altitude is coming back this Fall!!

I'm sure many folks wondered what happened to this blog back in March when I stopped posting all of a sudden. Well family duties called as our first child was born. Things have been pretty crazy the last few months I now have a 4.5 month old daughter that is lots of fun and still kept my passion for the Wyoming Cowboys.

When I first started my blog my main goal was bring up to a level where I had solid readership and join SBNation the webs premier sports blog portal. Well my dream is coming true and I am in the midst of restarting Cowboy Altitude and launching it as part of the SBNation network.

A big shout out goes to Jeremy of Mountain West Connection who let me cover the Cowboys on his site and helped me become part of the SBNation family.

This blog has always been a one man show before but the Cowboys deserve as much coverage as they can get. As part of this relaunch I'm looking to add two or three other writers to the fold. If you have a passion for Wyoming and an interest in blogging let me know. If you're interested just send me a quick email. My contact information is in the right hand toolbar.

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

New Cowboy Altitude Store

Added a new feature to the site today. The Cowboy Altitude store is up and running and power by Amazon. I added a bunch of Wyoming shirts, hats and sweatshirts so check them out. For every item that you purchase a small % helps out Cowboy Altitude. The checkout is done secure and run by Amazon.com so you can be sure that it is safe.

Now you can update your wardrobe from the safety of your computer. The link is on the right side of the page. Just click on an item of interest and you will go directly to that screen. There is also a link to take you back to the blog.

Hope you like the items and if you see any other Wyoming gear you want me to add just let me know. Happy shopping!

Easier Comments Now

I've made it easier for you to give feedback on articles now. You no longer have to register for any Google account and waste your time with that.

Just use the "Comment As:" pulldown menu and select Name/URL. You don't have to type in a URL just a username you want to use. You could also select anonymous but that isn't very fun.

I just ask that all comments not have any offensive language or hate speech. If you disagree with something I wrote that is fine, just keep it clean.

Hope this helps everyone interact more with Cowboy Altitude.

New Year = New Format

Decided to start off the New Year with a quick face lift to the site. The border is much smaller now which provides for room for the content and sidebar. Also added a couple different pictures on the sidebar and sections for Wyoming and Mountain West links. The links are still a work in progress so expect them to grow over the next few weeks.

Would love to get a NEW logo for the blog header. Let me know if you have any graphic talents and would be willing to help out. Of course I would give you recognition on the site. The current logo is one I was able to create myself but I'm sure some of you are gifted than I am with photoshop.

Let me know what you think of the new look and feel free to post any suggestions.

Have a great 2010 everyone!

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.

Merry Christmas from Cowboy Altitude

Thanks for reading and supporting Cowboy Altitude. Hope that you are enjoying the holiday wherever you are today. The New Mexico Bowl victory was one of my favorite presents this year.

Go Pokes!

Wyoming Team Awards

Coach Christensen has done a great job of starting new pregame ceremonies and is now starting a new post season team award banquet. Below is full list of awards winners. Check out the full UW release to find out the history behind each award.

Coach Paul Roach Team MVP - John Fletcher, Sr., DT, Erie, Colo.

Brent Schieffer Most Inspirational Player - Weston Johnson, Sr., LB, Wray, Colo.

Brian Lee Scholar-Athlete - Jesson Salyards, Sr., TE, Haxtun, Colo.

Gosar Family Walk-On Award - Ian Watts, Fr., K, Philadelphia, Pa.

Gen. Pete Schoomaker Special Forces Award - Austin McCoy, So., P, Winter Haven, Fla. - Luke Ruff, Fr., CB, Castle Rock, Colo.

Iron Man (Top Performer in Strength and Conditioning Program) - Weston Johnson, Sr., LB, Wray, Colo.

Hammer Award (Player With the Most Big Hits in Games) - John Fletcher, Sr., DT, Erie, Colo. - Ghaali Muhammad, Fr., LB, St. Joseph, Mo.

Team Captain Awards - Russ Arnold, Sr., C, Westminster, Colo. - John Fletcher, Sr., DT, Erie, Colo. - Weston Johnson, Sr., LB, Wray, Colo. - Darius Terry, Jr., RB, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Freshman of the Year - Austyn Carta-Samuels, Fr., QB, San Jose, Calif.

Defensive Back of the Year - Chris Prosinski, Jr., FS, Buffalo, Wyo.

Linebacker of the Year - Brian Hendricks, So., LB, Burlington, Colo.

Defensive Lineman of the Year - Mitch Unrein, Sr., DE, Eaton, Colo.

Offensive Back of the Year - Brandon Stewart, So., RB, Evansville, Ind.

Receiver of the Year - David Leonard, Jr., WR, Overland Park, Kan.

Offensive Lineman of the Year - Clayton Kirven, So., OT, Buffalo, Wyo.

Cowboy Chatter: Border War Edition

More Border War News.


WR Coach Hammerschmidt is a CSU Alum who has 17 years of experience of trying to win the Bronze Boot. His experience will be valuable to all the underclassmen.

CSU QB Grant Stucker is questionable for the Border War. Stucker has started game for the Rams this season.

Photos from the Bronze Boot ceremony.

News and notes from around the league.

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.

Coach Christensen Press Conference

Press Conference from earlier this week.

Hoops: Rematch with Boise State on Saturday

Last year Mark Sanchez (no, not the QB for the Jets) used a last second layup to give the Broncos a 86-85 victory over Wyoming last year. Sanchez and former Cowboy Ike Okoye helped lead Boise State to a come from behind victory on their home court.

This year the rosters are fairly different for both teams but there are still some familiar faces on the Broncos. Okoye returns for his final season and is currently the leading rebounder for the Broncos pulling down 8.3 boards per contest. La'shard Anderson (16.7) and Paul Noonan (15.7) lead the scoring so far this year.

Currently sitting at 2-1 on the season the Broncos started their season with a 90-86 victory over (1-3) Loyola Marymount. They followed that up with 85-92 loss to the (3-1) Montana Grizzlies. A 75-60 victory on Sunday over winless (0-3) North Dakota was the Broncos most recent action on the court.

This should be a tough matchup for the Cowboys as Boise isn't an overly talented team but it is a team with plenty of experience and depth. Game time is 7PM MST.

No more snow

Earlier forecasts had the the temprature on Saturday dipping down into the 30's and snow in the forecast for Saturday. Well the weather looks to be improving and Saturday should be much warmer with no chance of snow.

Current predicitions say game time temp should be 44 with with partly cloudy skies.

TCU struggled in the cold and snow at Air Force earlier in the year and similar conditions could helped the Cowboys slow down the Horned Frogs.

At least we still 7220 feet of elevation in our favor.

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.

Cowboys host Peru State tonight

Looking to bounce back from their season opening loss to South Dakota State last Friday the Wyoming (0-1) will host the Peru State Bobcats tonight at 7pm MST. Peru State is a NAIA D2 program out of Peru, NE.

Currently sitting at 2-5 on the season the Bobcats are led by Senior Forward Sean Burks who leads the team in points (13.86) , rebounds (4.48) and steals (1.86).

Hopefully the Cowboys can shake off the jitters they showed in the first game against the Jackrabbits and earn their first W of the season.

The Cowboys next game will be on Saturday November, 21st when the Boise State Bronco's come to town. Game time is at 7pm.

#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.

MWC Standings - 11/16/09

TCU stays at #4 in the rankings. #19 BYU slides ahead of #23 Utah.

Mountain West Standings

	Conf	All
TCU (4)	6-0	10-0
Brigham Young (19)	5-1	8-2
Utah (23)	5-1	8-2
Air Force	5-2	7-4
Wyoming	3-3	5-5
San Diego State	2-4	4-6
UNLV	2-5	4-7
Colorado State	0-6	3-7
New Mexico	0-6	0-10

San Diego State highlights from the Mtn

Relive the amazing fourth quarter comeback in all it's glory. I'm so glad that winning FG by Ian Watts decided to hook towards the inside of the uprights.

Hopefully the Pokes can keep the momentum going for the next two weeks.

Cowboys pull out a thriller in San Diego

Down 27-6 heading into the fourth quarter it looked like the Wyoming Cowboys dreams of a bowl berth were fading faster then the seconds counting down on the clock.

But suddenly things started to click for a team that had managed only 16 points in the last 15 quarters. QB Austyn Carta-Samuels scored on a 10 yard run on the second play in the fourth quarter to make the score 27-13 in favor of the Aztecs. The Cowboys stopped the Aztecs and got the ball back on their own 27. After working down the field and into Aztec territory Alvester Alexander busted a 33 yard touchdown run to make the score 27-20 with ten and a half minutes remaining in the game.

San Diego State got the ball back and put together a 11 play 5:29 long drive that stalled on the Wyoming nine yard line. A 28 yard field goal attempt by Lane Yoshida was blocked and recovered by Tashaun Gipson of the Cowboys and returned to the Wyoming 38. The Pokes put together a solid drive highlighted by long runs by Alvester Alexander and Brandon Stewart. Austyn Carta-Samulels found freshman TE David Tooley for a 9 yard TD pass and tied the game at 27-27 with 2 minutes and 3 seconds remaining.

The Cowboys kicked a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff that was fumbled by the Aztecs and recovered for Wyoming by Kenny Browder at the San Diego 44 yard line. Slowly the Cowboys crept down the field before Ian Watts kicked a 43 yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining to give the Cowboys an improbable 24 point come back and 30-27 victory.

With the victory the Cowboys improved to 5-5 (3-3 Mountain West) and kept their bowl chances alive. The Cowboys will now need to win one more of their remaining games: 11/21 vs TCU or 11/27 @ CSU to secure a bowl game.

San Diego State (4-6,2-4 MWC) was in control most of the game and looked they were cruising towards a victory with their 27-6 lead after three quarters. The Aztecs will have to beat Utah on the road next week and UNLV in Vegas if they want a shot at a bowl game. Buzz had been building the last couple weeks as the Aztecs had won some big games in the middle of the season over Colorado State and New Mexico that gave them hopes of playing in December.

QB Ryan Lindley didn't have the offense humming for the Aztecs like he usually does and finished 18 for 29 for just 200 yards and no touchdowns. The Aztecs did have one of their best performances on the ground this season as Brandon Sullivan rushed 18 times for 105 yards and two TD's in the first half.

The Cowboys had a rather balanced offense that put up 446 total yards compared to 357 for the Aztecs. Austyn Carta-Samuels went 16 of 22 for 246 yards passing plus 51 yards rushing. He also had one touchdown passing and one rushing.

The rushing attack for the Cowboys was impressive as they put up 200 yards on ground. They were led by Brandon Stewart with 76 yards and Alvester Alexander with 72. Alexander also had a 56 yard reception.

Dave Tooley had his best game of the season as he finished with 4 catches for 70 yards and the game tying touchdown.

The Cowboys won because they played their best in the fourth quarter and made some big plays on special teams. The Aztecs let this one slip away and their bowl chances probably went with it.

Cowboy of the Game: Special Teams/Ian Watts

Made some big plays when we needed it the most. No way this win would have happened without them. Watts had three key field goals including the game winner.

Poor Poke: Adam Berry and Cory Orth who left the program this week and missed out on this big win. Good luck to both players in the future.