The Wyoming Cowboy football team kicks things off at War Memorial Stadium this weekend with their first home contest against the Northern Iowa Panthers, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team hailing from the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Cowboys currently hold a 7-2 record against FCS opponents over the last ten years, with one of those losses coming in head coach Jay Sawvel’s first year at the helm just a season ago. Idaho–stripped to their third-string quarterback that day–toppled Sawvel’s Cowboys 17-13 inside War Memorial Stadium, despite only mustering 225 yards of total offense and finishing 1/13 on third downs.
So, to say Sawvel and his team aren’t taking the Panthers lightly this weekend would be an understatement.
“They’ll be ready to play when they come here, and their players will be excited to play here,” Sawvel said. “Our players will be ready and we respect Northern Iowa.”
Get to Know Northern Iowa
The Panthers opened their season with a strong 38-14 home win over fellow FCS opponent Butler. The Panthers showed dominance on the offensive side of the ball, where they finished with an impressive 448 yards of total offense in a balanced attack that featured a number of players both through the air and on the ground.
Quarterback Matthew Schecklman capped his day off throwing 15/25 for four touchdowns, leading the Panther offense. He was able to connect with eight different receivers throughout the game, three of which finished with forty or more receiving yards.
Scheck steps up in the pocket -> DART TO JC FOR THE TUDDY!!#EverLoyal | #1UNI | #UNIFootball pic.twitter.com/nUSr5A90AP
— UNI Football (@UNIFootball) August 30, 2025
The Panthers were also highly effective in the running game, as the tandem of Harrison Bey-Buie and Bill Jackson both carried the ball 12 times a piece, rolling up a combined 157 rushing yards while both averaging just over six yards a carry.
While the Panthers finished 3-9 a season ago–the same record the Cowboys withheld last year as well–they look to be much improved under first-year head coach Todd Stepsis, who led fellow FCS opponent Drake to the FCS playoffs a season ago.
“He was a two-time conference coach of the year when he was at Drake and knows what he’s doing. They will be very well prepared and we have to expect them to play very well,” Sawvel said of the Panthers.
Aaron Bohl Led Defense Looks to Build off First Shutout Since 2017
Last season was undoubtedly a difficult one for first-year defensive coordinator Aaron Bohl and his defense. The Cowboys ranked 103rd in total defense last season, allowing opponents 410.6 yards of total offense a game–a number the team was not accustomed to allowing, as the year prior the Cowboys had ranked 47th in the nation in the total defense category.
The Cowboys struggled with depth issues in their secondary all season long a year ago, something that certainly won’t be an issue this season, as in their first outing of the season against Akron on the road, the Cowboys were impressively able to keep the Zips off the scoreboard on their home turf.
“The best part about it was [that] we played 22 guys defensively. We’ve never done that here unless it’s a blowout,” Sawvel said of his defensive depth this season.
Transfer linebacker Brayden Johnson played a key role, leading the Cowboys in total tackles and also had an interception in the Zips’ endzone to keep them off the scoreboard.
Cowboy Defense all night LONG!
— Wyoming Cowboy Football (@wyo_football) August 29, 2025
INT in the endzone to keep the zero on the board 🤠🆙 pic.twitter.com/RH9Y0y4kqp
“He’s got more than enough athletic ability and he should have been here the last three years, and so we’re glad he’s here now,” Sawvel said of Johnson, who was also a standout player throughout the Cowboys’ fall camp.
In fact, Johnson and the rest of the Cowboys’ defensive unit were only one of only three teams that recorded a shutout against a fellow Football Bowl Division (FBS) in the opening week of college football. The other two schools? Purdue and Wisconsin out of the Big Ten conference, who funnily enough were able to blank two other Mid-American Conference schools, Ball State and Miami (OH).
It was a tough weekend for the MAC, that’s for sure.
However, it will certainly be much more difficult to keep the Panthers completely off the board, especially after putting up the performance they did in their week one opener. Sawvel added, though, that his defense wasn’t even playing up to their fullest potential against Akron–and that the best is yet to come.
“We can get a lot better defensively to what we were, I think we got a great deal of improvement in this program that can take place, there’s a lot of things we can do better defensively than what we did Thursday night,” Sawvel said.
Still, things are looking much brighter for Bohl and company on the defensive side of the ball this season.
“We would have lost that game a year ago, we didn’t have enough guys with structure and discipline eye-wise to be able to play that way,” Sawvel added of the shutout against Akron.
Will the Offense be Able to Put up More Points?
Quarterback Kaden Anderson finished his night with 260 yards through the air and running back Sam Scott rushed for a career-high 132 yards as the Cowboy offense finished their night with 426 yards of total offense in a 10-0 win over Akron.
You heard that right.
The Cowboys were only able to find the endzone once and kicker Erik Sandvik made his first career field goal as the Cowboys’ only points on a rainy night in Akron, despite finishing with over 400 yards of total offense.
It doesn’t add up, does it?
Sure, an interception and two turnovers on downs didn’t help the cause, but it still felt like the Cowboys should have hung up more points than they did in their opener.
“We didn’t finish enough drives, we didn’t get ourselves to the places we needed to get to,” Sawvel said. “There’s some guys we had offensively, kind of playing for the first time…we had a couple of other guys that had to work through some jitters in that time.”
“We need a far better performance offensively this week and going forward, with more people stepping up.”
And the Cowboys certainly do, as the aforementioned Scott finished with a bulk of the carries against Akron–that number being 29. The next closest running back finished with just two carries, that being Charlotte transfer Terron Kellman. Sawvel expects to feature more backs in the coming week, as the running back room was completely revamped in the offseason with the addition of Kellman as well as Iowa transfer Max White, North Texas transfer Damashja Harris and speedy freshman Samuel Harris.
“Sam has a better base of experience in certain things than some of the other guys would,” Sawvel said. “When you are in such a close game for so long, a lot of times you’re just playing the guy who keeps on playing…we definitely want to play more backs, we definitely want to balance that out.”
Sophomore wideout Chris Durr Jr. also managed a lot of the passes from Anderson, as he finished with an eye-popping seven catches for 146 yards and a touchdown. Arizona transfer Jackson Holman finished with four catches for 79 yards and tight end John Michael Gyllenborg finished with three catches for 19 yards.
The play that sealed the deal. @_kadenanderson 🤝 @ChrisdurrJR1 pic.twitter.com/2i3UtamiNE
— Wyoming Cowboy Football (@wyo_football) August 29, 2025
Sawvel expects to see more receivers involved in the offense as well, especially seeing as senior Jaylen Sargent–the Cowboys’ top receiver a year ago–should soon see the field after missing time due to some disciplinary action, Sawvel noted.
Regardless, the Cowboys will be looking to put up a lot more points against the Panthers, and a motivated defense will look to bring forth yet another shutout.
