Monday, AUGUST 25, 2025 |
Photo – Football under stadium lights – Bigfoot99 file photo
Week 1 of the Wyoming football season is here. Game night is Thursday.
The Cowboys will open the season in Ohio against the Akron Zips. Mountain West versus Mid-American conference.
The game is set for a five p.m. Mountain Time kickoff in InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field.
Akron starts the season with the Zips knowing that they are already ineligible for postseason play because of the team’s poor academic scores.
The updated NCAA national APR data gives Arkon a score of 914, below the 930 minimum for postseason eligibility.
Akron has not played in a bowl game since 2017, which also was the last time the Zips won more than four games in a season.
The big buzz in Ohio is that Akron will earn a big cash payout in week 2 of the season when the Zips travel to Lincoln to take on Nebraska on September 6. According to their contract with the Nebraska athletic department, they will receive $1.45 million for traveling to Lincoln. Big Red and the Zips last met in 1997 in a 45-point loss for Akron.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, Akron is the first FBS team to be ineligible for a bowl for academic reasons since Idaho in 2014.
Several of Akron’s starters transferred to other colleges since last season.
Akron has not had a winning season since Bowden guided the 2015 team to an 8-5 season and a win over Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
The Zips open the 2025 season Aug. 28 at home against Wyoming.
Akron compiled a 4-8 record in 2024 under third-year coach Joe Moorhead, the Zips’ best record since the 2018 team went 4-8 under former coach Terry Bowden. Akron last played in a bowl game in 2017 when the Zips lost to Florida Atlantic in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Zips finished that season 7-7 with Bowden as their coach.
Akron’s fortunes have changed since then.
Still, Wyoming Head Coach Jay Sawvell was measured in his assessment of the Zips and the Mid-American Conference during his news conference, which was held this past Friday because of the short schedule this week.
The Wyoming Cowboys are looking for a better start to the season after Sawvel’s debut last year, with the curtain coming up on the 2024 season with a 48-7 loss at Arizona State.
Call it opening day jitters. The Cowboys committed a pair of costly turnovers against the Sun Devils. A “gut punch,” Sawvel called it, and Wyoming never really recovered.
Wyoming finished the season with a 3-9 record.
The Cowboys start this season with a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball. The first depth chart came out on Sunday. Coach Sawvell previewed it on Friday. This year’s Wyoming team is very much a work in progress.
In the coach’s booth, offensive coordinator Jay Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Bohl will be back this year. Three new coaches are part of a makeover, including Jovon Bouknight overseeing the wide receivers, Deonte Gibson coaching defensive tackles, and the new running backs coach Gary Harrel. Competition, in those groups through camp, is a sign of good things to come.
Coach Sawvel began the news conference by saying he’s ready.
Wyoming returns with a lot of familiar names, including quarterback Kaden Anderson, tight end John Michael Gyllenborg, center Jack Walsh, right guard Caden Barnett, and wide receivers Jaylen Sargent and Chris Durr, junior defensive tackle Jayden Williams, and defensive end Tyce Westland.
A lot of new names are on the list, especially on defense.
Everybody wants to turn the page on a new season. The curtain comes up Thursday night at 5 p.m.
All systems are a “go” here at Bigfoot 99. The pregame show starts at 3:30 p.m. with Keith Kelly and Kevin McKinney in the booth and Erick Pauley on the sidelines.
