2012 Wyoming: A look back

Wyoming Cowboys (4-8, 3-5 Mountain West Conference):

2012 Season:

• Lost to Texas 37-17
• Lost to Toledo 34-31
• Lost to Cal Poly 24-22
• Beat Idaho 40-37 OT
• Lost to Nevada 35-28 OT
• Lost to Air Force 28-27
• Lost to Fresno St 42-14
• Lost to Boise St 45-14
• Beat Colorado St 45-31
• Beat New Mexico 28-23
• Beat UNLV 28-23
• Lost to San Diego St 42-28

After making bowl games in two of the last three season, the Wyoming Cowboys had a very disappointing 2012 season going 4-8 and missing on a bowl berth. The Cowboys started the season with a trip to Austin, Texas to face the Longhorns where they lost 37-17 in a game that they were never really in. After the disappointing start to the season, Wyoming played a very talented Toledo squad play for play before falling 34-31 in a hard fought loss. With some positives built by the close loss to Toledo, everything fell apart with the Cowboys losing 24-22 to FCS opponent Cal Poly. The Cowboys were able to rebound from that horrible loss with a 40-37 overtime win over Idaho before going on a 4-game losing streak to 4 straight bowl teams. Wyoming was able to turn a 1-7 record into a 4-7 record with three straight wins over Colorado State, New Mexico, and UNLV before falling in the season finale to the San Diego State Aztecs 42-28 to end with a 4-8 record and disappointment.

Team Statistics WY OPP	WY	OPP
SCORING	322	401
Points Per Game	26.8	33.4
FIRST DOWNS	248	298
Rushing	96	138
Passing	129	141
Penalty	23	19
Rushing Yardage	1502	2788
Yards gained rushing	1857	2986
Yards lost rushing	355	198
Rushing Attempts	441	531
Average Per Rush	3.4	5.3
Average Per Game	125.2	232.3
TDs Rushing	13	23
PASSING YARDAGE	3185	2855
Comp-Att-Int	249-411-8	243-372-6
Average Per Pass	7.7	7.7
Average Per Catch	12.8	11.7
Average Per Game	265.4	237.9
TDs Passing	29	26
TOTAL OFFENSE	4687	5643
Total Plays	852	903
Average Per Play	5.5	6.2
Average Per Game	390.6	470.2
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards	30-541	31.644
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards	14-188	26-293
INT RETURNS: #-Yards	6-264	8-130
KICK RETURN AVERAGE	18	20.8
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE	13.4	11.3
INT RETURN AVERAGE	44	16.2
FUMBLES-LOST	13-5	22-14
PENALTIES-Yards	54-514	72-642
Average Per Game	42.8	53.5
PUNTS-Yards	63-2690	47-1942
Average Per Punt	42.7	41.3
Net punt average	36.1	36.5
KICKOFFS-Yards	59-3575	73-4560
Average Per Kick	60.6	62.5
Net kick average	44.6	41.0
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game	28:38	31:22
3RD-DOWN Conversions	75/178	94/183
3rd-Down Pct	42%	51%
4TH-DOWN Conversions	12/20	14-21
4th-Down Pct	60%	67%
SACKS BY-Yards	14-86	26-211
MISC YARDS	-10	77
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED	43	53
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS	7-12	11-17
ON-SIDE KICKS	0-0	0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES	(33-38) 87%	(43-53) 81%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS	(28-38) 74%	(35-53) 66%
PAT-ATTEMPTS	(35-37) 95%	(50-51) 98%

Offense: 

Departing:

The Cowboys lose 4 major contributors to the offense in Nick Carlson, Josh Leonard, Kyle Magnuson, and Chris McNeill. Those four players combined for 124 starts in their careers for Wyoming. Center Nick Carlson led the team with 45 starts, including 37 straight to end his career. Offensive tackles Josh Leonard and Kyle Magnuson also made double digit starts for the Cowboy offensive line. Chris McNeill made a team leading 63 catches for 722 yards and 5 touchdowns on the year and 150 catches for 1600 yards and 12 touchdowns in his career. Those four players will be tough to replace with all four being not only contributors but mainstays for the 2012 season.

• #60 Nick Carlson C 6-4 292 Sr. 3L Arlington Heights, Ill. (Prospect)--45 career starts. 37 straight to end his career. 12 starts at center in 2012.
• #76 Josh Leonard OT 6-4 296 Sr. 3L Helena, Mont. (Helena)--25 career starts. 12 straight to end his career.
• #65 Kyle Magnuson OT 6-6 300 Sr. 1L Elkhart, Ind. (Concord)--14 career starts. 11 starts at right tackle in 2012.
• #80 Chris McNeill WR 6-1 180 Sr. 3L Simi Valley, Calif. (Notre Dame)--63 catches for 722 yards and 5 touchdowns. Team's leading receiver. 40 career starts. 12 starts at wide receiver in 2012. 

Returning:

While losing some significant players to graduation, Wyoming returns a strong group of skill players led by quarterback Brett Smith. During an injury plagued sophomore season, Smith passed for 2837 yards and 27 touchdowns in 3 fewer games played than his freshman season. Smith should benefit from a long offseason to recover from his extensive list of injuries to come back at 100% and scare some defenses in 2013. The rushing game returns all of its major contributors but the run game was horrible with only 124 yards per game rushing. Within its stable of running backs, DJ May (374 yards), Brandon Miller (352 yards), Shaun Wick (350 yards) should all split carries with several other running backs seeing limited duty in a deep group or running backs. The Cowboys return 6 players that made 10+ catches in 2012 with upcoming junior Dominic Rufran looking to take over the #1 receiver duties after making 39 catches for 529 yards and 5 touchdowns last fall. Flanking Rufran are upcoming junior Jalen Claiborne (34 catches), upcoming senior Robert Herron (31 catches), and upcoming junior Trey Norman (18 catches) while running backs Brandon Miller and Shaun Wick combined for 43 catches and over 400 yards catching passes out f the backfield. The Cowboys have many question marks on the offensive line after losing three starters that made 35 of a possible 36 starts with Magnuson missing the Boise State game. The Cowboys do have two returning starters who both made all 12 starts in 2012 with upcoming senior Tyler Strong and 2012 freshman Jake Jones. Both are solid blockers who will be the leaders for a very inexperienced offensive line in 2013

Defense:

Departing:

The Wyoming Cowboys have 6 players that will be sorely missed from the Wyoming defense in 2013. Led by linebackers Korey Jones and Ghaali Muhammed, the defense was a bit of a letdown with some players shining individually. Jones made 103 tackles from his linebacker spot flanked by Muhammed and his 106 tackles and 4 fumble recoveries from his linebacker position. Defensive linemen Mike Purcell (83 tackles), Kurt Taufa'asau (22 tackles), and Miraldo Michel (29 tackles) were mainstays that made several solid plays with Purcell leading all defensive linemen nationally in tackles with his 83 stops. BJ Sumter made 15 tackles in backup duty throughout the season as well. Rounding up the group of senior contributors is free safety Luke Ruff who was on pace for a great season with 34 tackles in 5 games before an injury ended his season prematurely.

• #23 Ghaali Muhammad LB 6-0 221 Sr. 3L St. Joseph, Mo. (Central)--11 starts.
• #05 Korey Jones LB 6-2 233 Sr. 1L Fort Collins, Colo. (Garden City CC, Kan.)--12 starts.
• #50 Mike Purcell DT 6-3 303 Sr. 3L Highlands Ranch, Colo. (Highlands Ranch)--12 starts.
• #98 Kurt Taufa'asau DT 6-2 284 Sr. 1L Pago Pago, American Samoa (New Mexico Military)--7 starts.
• #54 Miraldo Michel DT 6-3 265 Sr. SQ Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Ellsworth CC, Iowa)--6 starts.
• #29 Luke Ruff FS 5-11 200 Sr. 3L Castle Rock, Colo. (Douglas County)--5 starts.
• #09 Patrick Hartford LB 6-0 222 Sr. 2L Rock Springs, Wyo. (Rock Springs)
• #35 Oliver Schober LB 6-0 235 RSr. 1L Munich, Germany (Feodor-Lynen)
• #58 B.J. Sumter DT 6-1 305 Sr. 1L Columbia, S.C. (New Mexico Military) 

Returning:

Replacing two 100+ tackle linebackers is never an easy task and the Cowboys will struggle at those positions until some players step up and replace Muhammed and Jones. Of the 12 leading returning tacklers from the 2012 season, only one of them was a linebacker with 2012 freshman Siaosi Hala'api'api making 57 tackles with 3 forced fumbles in his first year playing for the Cowboys. Even with losing several important players on the defensive line, the Cowboys played many different linemen in a rotation that sees 4 players return with 20+ tackles in 2012. 2012 freshman Eddie Yarbrough made 42 tackles with 4 sacks from his defensive end spot while junior Patrick Mertens added 34 tackles and another 2.5 sacks with junior Justin Bernthaler made 22 tackles and sophomore Sonny Puletasi made 20 tackles with 2 sacks for the deep Cowboy defensive line. Wyoming went with a long rotational group of defensive backs in 2012 with 7 returning members of the secondary making 20+ tackles last fall. Sophomore Blair Burns made 60 tackles and had a 99 yard interception return for a touchdown with fellow cornerback Marqueston Huff made 57 tackles from his side of the field. Safeties Chad Reese and Luke Anderson return after making a combined 102 tackles and 3 interceptions last fall with Reese making all three of those interceptions. Darrenn White, Mark Neocha, and DeAndre Jones all made contributions in the secondary rotation with a combined 92 tackles and 2 interceptions on the season.

Special Teams:

Departing:

None.

Returning:

The Wyoming special teams was nothing impressive in 2012 save for punter Tim Gleeson. Gleeson punted for 43.0 yards per attempt with a long of 66 yards and 13 punts making it over 50 yards. Upcoming junior Stuart Williams was the field goal kicker making 7-12 attempts with 5-6 attempts from inside 40 yards. Williams had 2 kicks blocked on the season.  Justin Martin handled the kickoff duties with 44% of his kickoffs going for touchbacks. Wyoming was solid on punt returns with 13.4 yards per return led by Jalen Claiborne who averaged 33 yards per return on only 2 return attempts. Claiborne and company were unable to bring that explosiveness to kickoff returns with an average of only 18 yards per return and a long of only 49 yards. The kickoff coverage team was just about as good as possible with a 20.8 return average allowed helped by the 44% touchback rate.

Coaching:

Head coach Dave Christensen enters his 5th season as the Cowboys head coach after a rocky 2012 season that saw him suspended for the Boise State game after for comments made in a post game tirade. Christensen is 22-28 in his 4 year career with trips to two separate bowl games including a win in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl. Christensen must rebound from this poor 2012 season and get back to winning ways or he could be squarely on the hot seat in 2013.

Overall:

2012 was an unmitigated disaster for Wyoming with a 4-8 record that saw them lose to FCS' Cal Poly and start 1-7 before winning 3 of 4 games to end the season. The Cowboys lost alot of their momentum with a blowout loss to San Diego State to end the season. Wyoming does have a very good dual threat quarterback in Brett Smith and several players that saw extensive playing time throughout the offense and defense. The areas of concern are at linebacker and offensive line with a combined 5 starters lost from those two position groups. If Wyoming is able to sufficiently replace those important players, then Wyoming could get closer to a bowl game again in 2013.