The 2017 college football season is only a month away from kicking off for the Wyoming Cowboys as they will travel to the University of Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 2 to face the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Cowboys will open practices for this season on Monday, July 31 with a morning practice to be followed by Wyoming Media Day at Noon.
Wyoming is coming off a memorable season that saw the Pokes win the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference and earn a trip to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
Fourth-year Cowboy head coach Craig Bohl will welcome back 15 starters and 48 lettermen from last year’s squad that posted an 8-6 overall record and a 6-2 conference mark. Among the top returners are junior quarterback Josh Allen and junior safety Andrew Wingard, who were named the 2017 Preseason Mountain West Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year earlier this week. Also returning is sophomore linebacker Logan Wilson, who was named a 2017 Preseason All-MW pick and was selected the 2016 MW Freshman of the Year and earned First Team Freshman All-America honors from both the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and USA Today Sports a year ago.
The Cowboys’ first practice on Monday is scheduled for 9:20 a.m., M.T. Practices are closed to the public. Following Monday morning’s first practice, the annual Media Day will be held for Wyoming media in the Wildcatter Stadium Club and Suites in War Memorial Stadium beginning at Noon to 1 p.m., with interviews in the Indoor Practice Facility to be conducted from 1-2 p.m.
“Taking another step forward as a football program has been our focus since the start of winter conditioning,” said Bohl. “Last year, we were competitive within our conference, but we need to continue to take steps to improve.
“Now, we need to learn how to finish off the back end of the season. That comes into play with having more depth and being more competitive at multiple positions. I think our guys have gotten a taste of what it’s like to be competitive, and now we need to build on that.”
The 2016 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year led the Cowboys to one of the biggest turnarounds in college football in 2016. Wyoming entered the season picked to finish last in the MW Mountain Division. By the time the season ended, UW had hosted the 2016 Mountain West Championship Game, as winners of the Mountain Division, and had earned a bid to the Poinsettia Bowl. The Pokes defeated two Top 25 ranked teams along the way, earned the National Team of the Week honors from the FWAA for one of those Top 25 wins and accomplished all that against the 19th most difficult schedule in the country and the second most difficult schedule among all Group of Five schools.
For a man who has been part of five national championship teams during his coaching career -- two as an assistant coach at his alma mater Nebraska and three as the head coach at North Dakota State -- Bohl knows how to keep a team focused when coming off a successful season.
“It will be important to make sure our football team recognizes we have a long ways to go,” said Bohl. “Consistency is going to be really important. The days of us sneaking up on some opponents are long gone. There is an awful lot of parity in the Mountain West. We’ll need to have a great fall camp and get off to great start in our non-conference schedule.”
Wyoming will face two Power Five conference schools in the first three weeks of the 2017 season. UW will open the season on the road Sept. 2 at Iowa. On Sept. 16, the Pokes will host Oregon in the first appearance by the Ducks in Laramie.
“It’s always great to open up with a nationally-recognized opponent like the University of Iowa,” said Bohl. “Coach (Kirk) Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes have been an outstanding program for a long, long time. To go to Iowa City will be a combination of a big challenge and a great opportunity for us.
“Having Oregon at our place should create a fantastic atmosphere in War Memorial Stadium, and will be a great game for our fans.
“But it’s going to be more important for the growth of our program that we develop as a football team throughout the entire year. Facing the quality of opponents we will early in the season, we’re going to learn more about some of our unproven guys. We’ve been encouraged by what we’ve seen, but with that said we have some question marks.”
Due to Media Day on Monday, there will be no media availability at Monday’s first practice. But following that first practice, the first 30 minutes of practices will be open to media on Mondays-Fridays during fall camp. Student-athletes and coaches will be available for interviews with the media after fall practices. The Cowboys will utilize War Memorial Stadium, the Indoor Practice Facility and the North 40 Practice Fields for fall drills.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets to 2017 Wyoming Cowboy Football games may: go online at www.GoWyo.com/tickets, email tickets@uwyo.edu, call the UW Athletics Ticket Office at (307) 766-7220; or stop by the ticket office on the west side of UW’s Arena-Auditorium.
