LARAMIE – It's finally game week.
 
First-year head coach Jay Sawvel stepped to the podium on Monday to discuss Wyoming's 2024 opener against Arizona State on Saturday at Mountain American Stadium.
 
The Cowboys will face the Sun Devils, a former WAC rival (1962-78) now making the transition from the Pac-12 to the Big 12, at 8:30 p.m. on FS1.
 
Sawvel will attempt to become the first UW head coach to record his first win on the road since Lloyd Eaton in 1962.
 
"It fluctuates," Sawvel when asked about his emotions entering his head coaching debut. "I'm one of these people, I'm blessed in a sense that I need about four hours of sleep a night and I'm good. Last week was really difficult to get a lot of sleep in the fact that there was just a lot of things going through my mind."
 
Sawvel can take comfort in having 16 returning starters, including captains Jordan Bertagnole and Shae Suiaunoa on defense.
 
Evan Svoboda, a captain along with center Nofoafia Tulafono on the offensive side, will be making his second career start at quarterback for the Pokes.
 
The 6-foot-5, 245-pound junior played well during UW's loss at Texas last season when he was subbing for an injured Andrew Peasley. Svoboda was 23-for-38 passing for 200 yards and rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns in 2023.
 
UW needs Svoboda, who is from Mesa, Ariz., to keeping his cool in the desert spotlight
 
"That will be the big key," Sawvel said. "This is your fulltime ship now and the controlling of emotion, you just want to make sure he doesn't go out there and he's inaccurate early on because he's so amped up or something that way. There's a poise that comes with it as well as the execution that you've got to have. I'm looking forward to seeing him play. I think we all are."
 
The Sun Devils finished 3-9 last season, but Sawvel believes his counterpart, second-year ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham, has upgraded the depth and talent via the transfer portal.
 
Sam Leavitt, who played for new UW offensive coordinator Jay Johnson last season at Michigan State, has been named as ASU's starter. The 6-2, 200-pound redshirt freshman completed 15-of-23 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions while rushing 13 times for 67 yards for the Spartans in four games for the Spartans.
 
Sawvel has also been impressed with ASU running back Cam Skattebo, who rushed for 783 yards and nine touchdowns last season. The Sun Devils have also beefed up their front seven on defense and feature an elite safety in Shamari Simmons.
 
"I think probably like every coach would say right now it's time to play a game," Sawvel said. "You get a feel for where you are at as a program, especially going on the road and playing a quality opponent that I think will be very much upgraded from where they were a year ago."
 
UW finished 9-4 last season to close the Craig Bohl era. The internal hiring of Sawvel allowed for the program to enjoy culture continuity and roster stability throughout the offseason.
 
The Cowboys are one of six Mountain West teams playing a power conference opponent this weekend. Fresno State is at reigning national champion and ninth-ranked Michigan (Big Ten), Colorado State is at No. 4 Texas (SEC), UNLV is at Houston (Big 12), Hawaii hosts UCLA (Big Ten) and New Mexico is at No. 21 Arizona (Big 12).
The highest ranked champion from a Group of 5 conference will receive an automatic bid for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
 
"This is a big deal for our conference because we play more of these opponents than any other Group of 5 conference," Sawvel said. "I think what we're all hopeful for conference wide is strength of schedule will matter when it comes to the end of the season."
 
UW will also play BYU (Big 12) on Sept. 14 in Laramie and Washington State (Pac-12) on Nov. 30 in Pullman. Air Force and MW favorite Boise State also visit refurbished War Memorial Stadium to highlight another attractive home slate, which begins Sept. 7 vs. Idaho.
 
But Sawvel is only focused on getting the Pokes ready during this game week, which is finally here.
 
"I'm looking forward to it," Sawvel said. "If we don't succeed it's because I didn't do a good enough job with that. But the bottom line is if we do succeed it will be because of the players because I'm not going to make the plays. My job is to not screw it up and that's what I'm going to try to do."
 
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