The Border War has finally rolled around once again, as the Wyoming Cowboys look to take on Mountain West championship contenders Colorado State off a bye week and their second win of the season.
The Cowboys will have a difficult time maintaining the Bronze Boot trophy for the fourth consecutive year against this upstart Rams squad, especially considering this contest is in Fort Collins as well. However, a winning effort by the Cowboys will prove to be detrimental towards the Rams’ championship aspirations.
Get to know Colorado State
After a slow start to the season that saw them begin 2-3, the Rams have been the surprise of the Mountain West so far, as they’ve won four straight and currently sit at a similar 4-0 record in Mountain West play. After picking up an impressive 38-21 win over Nevada, the Rams will also be heading into this Border War matchup fresh off a bye week.
The Rams will be leaning on the rushing attack of senior back Avery Morrow, especially in the absence of their star wide receiver, Tory Horton, who is out for the season with an injury. Morrow currently has 788 yards on the ground this season to go along with eight touchdowns.
“[He’s] kind of a run through your face running back, he gets downhill, physical, does a good job,” head coach Jay Sawvel said of the Rams’ running back.
It’s not the offensive side of the ball that the Rams hang their hat on, however. The Rams have been extremely efficient defensively in their recent stretch of wins, only giving up 16 points per game in their last four outings.
“They’re winning games right now by running the ball, being really good on special teams and being opportunistic with turnovers and some things of that nature,” Sawvel said.
Can this Cowboy offense carry momentum from their second win?
The Cowboys, behind newly starting freshman quarterback Kaden Anderson and the return of running back Harrison Waylee, orchestrated what has been easily their best offensive performance to date against New Mexico in the Pokes’ last time out on the field. The Cowboys topped the Lobos in a 49-45 high scoring affair where they were able to rack up an impressive 604 yards of total offense while only turning the ball over once.
The question is, after that anomaly of an offensive performance, will the Cowboys be able to maintain that offensive prowess, particularly against a much better defensive team in the Rams?
“There’s clarity to certain things now, you know? We know what we look like when Harrison Waylee plays…we know how Kaden Anderson played in that game,” Sawvel said of his offense.
“I think that there’s a renewed vigor among a lot of people in the building.”
Does this team understand the magnitude of this matchup?
While this year’s rendition of the Border War may not hold as much weight for the Cowboys in the grand scheme of the season as it has in past matchups, this game still means a lot to the entire state, whether this year’s team is bowl eligible to this point or not.
With a lot of youth and younger players on this season’s roster, how is Sawvel preparing his squad for the environment they will be stepping into when they enter a sold out Canvas Stadium this Friday? Better yet, how is he informing those players of just how much this one means, regardless of where they are at in the season?
“We’ll build all those things up, and so that stuff, as we go through the week, there’ll be something every day, a little piece, so that everybody understands what this,” Sawvel said.
“I was at Minnesota…we had this victory bell with Penn State. And it was like, where did that come from? I mean, we’re not rivals with Penn State, we’ve just been in that conference for a few years.”
“This is like a real, real, real rival that’s an hour and fifteen minutes from you, that sits on a neighboring state. That’s a whole lot different than some of this stuff.”
The Boot is the Boot and rival of many years. People who are not into sports will watch this game. We are the Cowbys win play to win the game.Go Pokes.