LARAMIE – The Pokes have turned the page on Utah and are preparing for "Prime" time in Boulder.
 
Wyoming, coming off a 31-6 loss to the old rivals from Salt Lake City, will face another Big 12 opponent in Colorado on Saturday at Folsom Field (8:15 p.m., ESPN).
 
The Buffaloes (1-2) are in the third season of the Deion Sanders era. CU, which finished 1-11 the season before "Coach Prime" was hired, notched nine wins last season and two-way superstar Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy.
 
"First of all, the guy is a football icon. I admire Coach Sanders for his personal belief," UW head coach Jay Sawvel said of his counterpart during his Monday press conference. "He wears his beliefs out on the open on his chest, on his sleeves, the whole deal. I love the fact that so much of it is faith-based, it's a really good message that he constantly gives."
 
Sanders, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is one of the greatest football players and athletes in American history. He won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988 at Florida State where he was a three-time All-American cornerback while also playing baseball and running track for the Seminoles.
 
During his 14-year NFL career, Sanders won Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers (1994) and Dallas Cowboys (1995). He was named the NFL defensive player of the year in 1994 and earned All-Pro honors six times. Sanders played Major League Baseball for nine seasons and made a World Series appearance with the Atlanta Braves while also playing in the NFL.
 
"I admire the guy for his philosophy that he has as a coach, and you also then admire the guy for being one of the greatest players that ever played a game," Sawvel said. "This will be exciting. When we get down to it, we're very lucky that it's not me playing him."
 
The Cowboys (2-1) held up well against the talented and physical Utes, who moved up to No. 16 in this week's Associated Press poll, before getting outscored 21-6 over the final 15 minutes, 23 seconds.
 
As well as the defense played for most of the game, Sawvel is still sick over giving up a third-and-21 in the third quarter when UW was on the cusp of perhaps taking the visitors to the deep end of the pool.
 
"It's a 10-to-nothing game with 1:50 to go in the third quarter and they've got third-and-21, and we have a breakdown," Sawvel lamented. "Then there were other times in that second half from a communication, from an urgency of play (standpoint) that we weren't what we needed to be.
 
"The lessons from Saturday night are very important for us going forward this week and then when we start conference play. That's the emphasis made to the staff even, hey, we don't want to see these things this coming Saturday in certain situations."
 
One of the benefits of playing high-level competition is finding out which players are ready for the spotlight.
 
True freshman Samuel "Tote" Harris was named the Mountain West freshman of the week after finishing with eight carries for 68 yards (8.5 yards per carry) and three receptions for 37 yards. Terron Kellman added nine carries for 45 yards and a touchdown. Chris Durr Jr. continued to lead the wide receivers with five catches for 40 yards.
 
Andrew Johnson (12 tackles), Evan Eller (12 tackles), Desman Hearns (eight tackles, forced fumble), Jones Thomas (eight tackles), Brayden Johnson (six tackles), Aneesh Vyas (five tackles, blocked field goal) and Ben Florentine (three tackles, one sack) spearheaded the defensive effort.
 
"First of all, I've got a great deal of respect for Wyoming and their program," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. "They play hard, they're coached well and like I said they're a well-run program and gave us all we could handle there, particularly in the first half."
 
The Cowboys knew they would be facing a dynamic dual-threat quarterback in Utah's Devon Dampier, a New Mexico transfer. The Buffs, coming off a 36-20 road loss to Houston last Friday night in their Big 12 opener, used their third quarterback of the season.

Ryan Staub made the start for CU and finished 19-for-35 passing for 204 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, including a game-sealing pick thrown to former UW nickel back Wrook Brown.

After the game, Sanders did not give any clues to whether Staub would remain the QB or if the offense would be turned back over to Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter or five-star freshman recruit Julian Lewis.
 
"We've gotta prepare for all of it," Sawvel said. "I don't know that they alter their offense dramatically between each one of them. … We've got to get ready for multiple things."
 
Sawvel remains confident in Kaden Anderson as his signal caller despite some costly mistakes against Utah, including taking a sack that moved UW out of field goal range and throwing an interception that led to a touchdown on the other end of the field.
 
There is optimism that tight end John Michael Gyllenborg, who exited the Utah game with an injury, will be ready for the nationally televised Front Range matchup in Boulder.
 
"We've got to play a lot better this week, go on the road in what will be a difficult environment on a Saturday night against a talented team that will play hard," Sawvel said. "They've got a lot of really good players and do a lot of good things. Big challenge and we've got to get ready for it."
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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