August 28, 2024 |
Photo – Cowboy fans – Courtesy gowyo.com
Head Coach Jay Sawvel is ready for the Cowboys to get off the practice field and play a game.
Sawvel held his first news conference as head coach this week as the Cowboys get ready to take on Arizona State in a Saturday night prime time matchup.
Evan Svoboda, the 6-5, 245 pound quarterback, who stepped in at the end of last year’s Arizona Bowl after Andrew Peasley went out with an injury. Svoboda scored on a one-yard sneak that pulled the Cowboys within two points.
Svoboda then moved the Cowboys quickly down the field — with the help of an unnecessary roughness penalty— and punter John Hoyland split the uprights to finish off Wyoming’s best season since going 10-2 in 1996.
The Cowboys will begin where they left off—playing against a quality opponent in a televised game on Saturday night in prime time. Coach Sawvel said yesterday he wouldn’t want to start any other way.
Wyoming’s opening week opponent feels the same way. Arizona State’s head coach, Kenny Dillingham, is actually in favor of preseason football games to tune up his squad.
The monotony comes to an end Saturday night for the Cowboys and the Sun Devils. Arizona State did a lot of rebuilding over the offseason after last year’s 3-and-9 season. Dillingham brought in a lot of position players during the offseason. In Laramie this week, Coach Sawvel said the Sun Devil’s new roster presents its own set of challenges.
Wyoming will have a new quarterback, but Svoboda came of age in the program. Wyoming is returning a number of veterans this year, including a seasoned veteran at Defensive Tackle, #96, Jordan Bertagnole, who returns as a graduate student this year.
Bertagnole started all 13 games in route to being named second-team All-Mountain West Conference.
Notes from Tempe on Tuesday indicate that starting defensive end Prince Dorbah will miss at least the first two games of the season for the Sun Devils due to leg injury suffered in camp. A few other players will miss the opener against Wyoming, as well, according to reports.
ASU’s offensive coordinator, Marcus Arroyo, who spent two seasons at Wyoming early in his career summed up the Cowboys this way for reporters. “I don’t see much of a change in regards to the DNA of that football program,” Arroyo said.
Coach Sawvel’s philosophy was clean and simple this week, headed into the season opener.
The season kicks off Saturday night in Tempe. We’ll be on the air with the pregame show at 7 p.m. here on Bigfoot 99.
