Praise for Wyoming and Coach DC

Rivals actually put together a pretty nice article detailing the success of the Cowboys under new head coach Dave Christensen.

Article actually appeared on the front page of Yahoo Sports today. Some of the best press the Pokes have gotten all year.

The Mtn Preview: New Mexico Bowl

NM Bowl Preview from James Bates of The Mtn.

Preview: New Mexico Bowl

New Mexico Bowl
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
2:30 PM MST
TV: ESPN

College Bowl season kicks off on Saturday and it all begins in Albuquerque with the New Mexico Bowl. This is the fifth edition of this bowl that features a WAC-MWC match up. This year the Fresno State Bulldogs take on the Wyoming Cowboys. This will be the second consecutive appearance for the Bulldogs (8-4) in the Land of Enchantment. Meanwhile the Cowboys (6-6) have exceeded expectations all year long under new head coach Dave Christensen and a youthful roster.

The media has written this bowl off but there are several reasons to tune in on Saturday.

- Ryan Mathews of the Bulldogs leads the nation with 151 yards rushing per game. This could be your final chance to see him as he may bolt for the NFL after Saturday.

- Wyoming is led by true freshman and dual threat qB Austyn Carta-Samuels. ACS has led the Pokes to four fourth quarter comebacks this year including a 24 point comeback over San Diego State.

- Fresno features the nations 14th rated offense averaging 34 points a game. Their defense has struggled this year and this could turn into a high scoring affair. Wyoming averages just 17 points a game but has averaged nearly 29 points in their victories. The Cowboys have not lost when scoring more than 11 points this year.

These two teams have met six times before with the home team winning each time. The Bulldogs are favored by 10-13 points but are 0-4 versus Mountain West teams in bowl games including a loss to 6-6 Colorado State in last years New Mexico Bowl.

Fresno Coach Pat Hill was rumored to be on his way out but just had contract extended this week. Coach Christensen is making his appearance in a bowl game as a head coach but has a 5-2 record as an assistant and has this will be his fifth straight year with a bowl game.

Players to watch:

Fresno State

QB Ryan Colburn - 2333 yards passing and 18 touchdowns.

RB Ryan Mathews -1664 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns.

WR Seyi Ajirotutu - 671 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Wyoming

QB Austyn Carta-Samuels -1752 yards passing and 295 rushing yards plus 10 total touchdowns.

WR David Leonard - 70 receptions for 645 yards.

RB Alvester Alexander - 503 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

Pokes sign JUCO Linemen

Nick Puetz a 6'4 315 OL will be a nice addition to the Pokes line next year. Rated two stars by Rivals Puetz should be able to contribute right away for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys signed Puetz as well a WR's DeJay Lester and Mazi Ogbonna yesterday. Check out this article that talks about all three additions.

7 reasons why Wyoming will win the New Mexico Bowl

Cowboys look to add some hardware to their mantle

Why 7 reasons? What about 5 or 10? Well 7 is a lucky number and the Cowboys are going for win #7 this season. So there you have it.

1. Crowd - Wyoming fans were buying tickets for this game before there was an official announcement. Once the official bid was accepted fans started calling their friends and neighbors and gobbling up tickets. Expect a huge carvan heading down I-25 from Cheyenne down to Albuqurque. The University has only sold about 4,000 but many fans probably got their tickets directly from the Bowl.

It's only 582 miles from Cheyenne to ABQ which is an easy one day drive. Obviously it is longer from Casper but that shouldn't stop the Wyoming faithful from making the trip.

Compare the 918 mile 15 hour trip from Fresno to Albuqurque which is a two day drive and could deter plenty of fans from spending all that extra money on gas and hotels.

Since the University of New Mexico is essentially hosting the game the Mountain West connection should only help the Pokes. Local fans should be pulling for their MWC counterpart to once again knock off their WAC foe.

2. Turnovers - One huge advantage Wyoming has over Fresno is turnover margin. Wyoming improved considerably over last years dreadful turnover numbers and was a big reason they had six victories this season. On the season Wyoming was a +7 in turnover magin compared to -9 for Fresno State. Fresno will give the ball up at some point - the important thing is that the Cowboys score points from those mistakes.

3. Desire - The players, coaches and fans are excited for Wyoming to be in the New Mexico Bowl. For the younger players this is a great way to reward an exciting season. For the Seniors on the team this is the perfect way to end their collegiate career.

Fresno feels they should be playing a better opponent or be in a different bowl. Their motivation is deflated after their season didn't turn out like they'd hoped.

4. Familarity - The Cowboys are no strangers to Albuqurque. They play in University Stadium every other year to face the Lobos. The upperclassmen have all been here before and won't awestruck about traveling to some new and exotic locale.

5. Pokes don't give up - We saw it not once or twice but four times this season - four fourth quarter come backs for the Pokes this year. Without those come from behind victories this team could be 2-10 but instead they finished the season 6-6. The Utah game is the only game where the Cowboys held a lead late in the game and lost. Austyn Carta-Samuels is young but has shown that he doesn't crumble under pressure. 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of the San Diego State victory shows that this team can do some damage under pressure.

6. Coach Christensen - He is a winner. Regular season or post season - he wins. As an assistant Christensen had a 5-2 record in bowl games and this will be his fifth bowl appearence in a row. He has changed the atmosphere in Laramie from Day 1 and has the team believing in the system.

7. History - Fresno is 0-3 in Bowl games versus current Mountain West teams. Last year's 40-35 loss to Colorado State in the New Mexico Bowl. A 37-34 loss to Air Force in 2000 Silicon Valley Bowl. In 1999 Utah won 17-16 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Fresnso State thought that they were "too good" to play a 6-6 Colorado State team last year and they were sent home losers. This situation is almost identical and the Bulldogs are still feeling slighted by their bowl situation.

Buy a ticket: Help UW and the Armed Forces

Great way to help UW fulfill it's ticket requirement for the New Mexico and help those in the Armed Forces. Every ticket purchase helps.

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Dear Cowboy Joe Club Member:

You are the backbone of our success, and we can always count on you to step-up when called upon. Over the past 40 years Cowboy Joe Club members have been a tremendous asset to our Athletics Department, and we could not have success without your support.

While we appreciate so very much your annual contribution to the Cowboy Joe Club, in this particular instance, we would like to ask for your consideration to assist us financially in a separate cause – the New Mexico Bowl ticket requirement. It has been well publicized that we are required to meet a certain amount of tickets sold in regards to the Cowboys bid to the New Mexico Bowl. This requirement totals $125,000, which results in 4,167 tickets needed to be sold at $30 each.

With just two days remaining before the Cowboys face off against Fresno State in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl, we are approximately $39,000 short of that $125,000 requirement. This means, in short, that for the athletic department to take on no additional ticket requirement debt, and to help ensure future bowl game invites, we would need to sell 1,300 tickets in just two short days.

While Wyoming fans have purchased tickets at a higher rate than what Fresno State or Colorado State did in last year’s 2008 New Mexico Bowl, we still have some work to do and we are hopeful you may be able to help.

If you are unable to attend the game, or if you already purchased game tickets, we have set-up an option online for fans to assist the University of Wyoming meet its ticket requirement and purchase $30 tickets for donation, with NO handling fee. Those tickets will then be donated to United States Military Personnel located at Kirtland Air Force Base in southeast Albuquerque.

We know that you already go the extra mile for UW Athletics through your annual membership contribution and we thank you. We hope you will consider this opportunity to assist us further by purchasing at least one $30 ticket for donation. If just 1 out of every 3 Cowboy Joe Club members assisted us, we would meet our ticket requirement!

If you are interested in helping us with a minimum $30 ticket donation purchase, you can do so online at: http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerc ... =&appCode=

You are also welcome to contact the University of Wyoming ticket office via phone at 307-766-4850 or 800-922-9461.

Again, we cannot thank you enough for ALL you do for the young men and women of Wyoming Athletics. Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you in Albuquerque this weekend.

GO COWBOYS – BEAT THE BULLDOGS!!!

JUCO signings start today

From today until January 15th Junior College players can sign letters of intent with Division 1 football programs as long as their season is complete.

Right now the Cowboys have a nice crop of JUCO WR's that have verbally commited to UW for 2010.

None of these players have officially signed yet but we will let you know once they sign or any other JC player signs a letter of intent.


Here is a look at the three pack of JUCO recievers that will be Pokes next year.

Jonathan Aiken -WR Ellsworth Community College
Hometown: Sunrise, FL

Listed as 6'4 205 lbs, Aikens runs a 4.4 for the 40 and is rated three stars by Rivals. His combination of size and speed will give the Cowboys a threat on offense that they were missing this year. Caught 31 passes for 449 yards and 6 touchdowns this past year.


Mazi Ogbonna - WR Snow College
Hometown: Hicksville, NY

A talented reciever from nearby Snow College. Ogbonna is an athletic 6'1 200lbs with solid speed. Averaged over 30 yards on kick returns as well as 721 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns. Currently rated 1 star by Scout he could be a diamond in the rough for the Cowboys next year.


DeJay Lester - WR Snow College
Hometown: Layton, UT

6'2 195bs Lester can play on both sides of the ball. Not to be confused with Jaydee Luster the Pokes mini PG. A DB his first year at Snow he converted to WR this season. A one star recruit Lester could see time at WR, DB or special teams next year. Handed some kick returns for Snow this year and averaged 24 yards per return.

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Ogbonna and Lester both graduated from Snow College in December and have already moved to Laramie and are ready to enroll for the spring. They can participate in spring practices and give themselves a leg up in getting ready for the 2010 season.

Cowboys compete but can't outlast Vols

Muojeke gets stuffed


For 15 minutes it looked as if the Wyoming Cowboys were on their way to a stunning upset over the #8 Tennessee Volunteers. Wyoming started with a 7-0 lead before Tennessee came back to tie the game, the Cowboys kept fighting and surged to a 35-25 with 5:30 remaining in the first half. The Vols clawed their way back and took a 42-41 lead at halftime.

Coach Bruce Pearl gave his team one heck of a pep talk as they came storming out of the gates to start the second half. They turned the pressure up on defense and outscored Wyoming 35-17 in the second half en route to a 77-58 victory. Tennessee improved to 8-1 on the season while Wyoming drops back to .500 and now sits at 5-5.

The Cowboys are typically a terrible three point shooting team but they actually had some success early on from long range. Afam Muojeke and Ryan Dermody both hit two treys early and they 4 for 7 early on. That early success probably hurt the Pokes as they continued to shoot from long range and missed their last 14 attempts finishing 4 for 21 for the game.

Ball control was issue all night for Wyoming with 16 turnovers in the first half and 29 for the game. Afam Muojeke just needed three more rebounds for a triple double: 15 points 7 rebounds and 10 turnovers. Muojeke shot 4 for 15 from the field and was 2 for 11 on three pointers.

Scotty Hopson was a spark plug in the second half for the Vols and led the team with 14 points. Tyler Smith finished with 10 points and 4 assists. Tennessee shot 47% from the field but knocked down only 4 of 20 three pointers.

While this does go down as a loss this was mostly a great experience for a young Cowboy team. Competing against a top 10 team on their own court and leading them for nearly the entire first half hopefully boosted the confidence of some players. Sure the second half was pretty ugly but the Cowboys can compete and should hopefully improve their game as the conference schedule starts up soon.

The Vols shutdown the inside game for the Cowboys in the second half and forced them to shoot from outside. Three point shooting will never be a strength for the Pokes this season but developing a mid range game would certaintly help. The Pokes made 20 of 25 free throws during the game with 17 attempts coming in the first half. They continue to lead the nation in free throws made with 254. When Tennessee stopped Wyoming from getting inside they also stopped the Pokes from getting to the free throw line. Instead the Cowboys settled for off-balance jumpers and 24 foot three pointers.


AWARDS

Cowboy Joe: A.J. Davis put up nine seven rebounds and was hustling all game long. Really attacked the basket in the first half. Only had two turnovers.

Cowboy Low: Afam Muojeke - Yes, he led the team in scoring with 15 but kept shooting 3 pointers from five feet behind the line and had 10 turnovers. Really tried to do too much himself and took tons of bad shots.

Cowboy Foe: Scotty Hopson blew up in the second half and made tons of athletic plays on both sides of the court.

Cowboy Chatter: New Mexico Bowl Edition

Green Chili is popular in the Land of Enchantment

Lots of great articles coming out now as the Cowboys prepare for Albuquerque in just a few days. Take a look at these great reads to make sure you are up to date for the game on Saturday.

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A look at some important stats for the matchup between Fresno State and Wyoming.

The Cowboys are sticking to their routine as they prepare for the Bulldogs.

There are a few perks involved with kicking off the bowl season.

Coach Christensen has a great record in bowl games and will the Pokes ready.

My New Mexico Bowl shirt arrived!

My bowl shirt arrived today and I'm even more pumped for the game. It smells like a future victory.

Only 4 days and 13 hours till kickoff!