An air of unknown surrounds the 117th Border War this weekend, as both teams look to turn their fortunes on the season around. Colorado State sits at a 2-5 overall record and Wyoming at a 3-4 overall record, with both maintaining a 1-2 league record so far this season.
Coaching changes of varying degrees have been employed on both sides to achieve success that has been few and far between for both squads this season.
Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel announced Monday that offensive coordinator Jay Johnson would be demoted, with wide receivers’ coach and Wyoming hall of fame wide receiver Jovon Bouknight taking over the play calling duties.
Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell was announced to be fired on Sunday, with defensive coordinator Tyson Summers taking over as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Which team will be the beneficiary of new leadership?
To find out, the Branding Iron talked to Michael Hovey and Sophie Webb of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, as well as KCSU assistant sports director John Vu ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
“This is their last ditch effort, they’ve been playing so many cards. We have a new starting quarterback, Norvell stepped down as play caller and now we’re taking away our head coach. Like, they are scrambling around right now and this, I think, is honestly the last thing that you could do,” Webb said.
The Cowboys and the Rams have had eerily similar seasons thus far. Not only do the teams match in league record, but the two offenses have similarly struggled immensely throughout the course of the season. Amongst 12 teams in the league, the Cowboys sit just one place below the Rams in scoring offense at 11th and one place above the Rams in total offense at 10th.
As an ailment to their struggling offense, starting quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was benched after three games in favor of sophomore Jackson Brosseau.
Has it really made much of a difference?
“I honestly think that Jackson has been an improvement,” Hovey said. “He kind of started off, like hitting a lot of checkdowns and short throws, which wasn’t really flashy but we could string together some drives.”
While neither offense has looked pretty this season, the Rams have probably had the best showing of the two in their surprising 49-21 rout of Fresno State.
“Fresno State [game], it kind of felt like a turning point, at least when I talked to the athletes. It just feels almost too late,” Webb said, as the Rams proceeded to drop the following contest after their big win to an upstart Hawaii team by a score of 31-17.
Wins like that victory over Fresno State still serve as a beacon of hope for the Rams amongst a time of turnover and a season of little success. Not to mention, the Rams will be playing to keep the Bronze Boot trophy in Fort Collins after comfortably handling the Cowboys by a score of 24-10 a season ago.
“I think we all know when a coach is fired–the team is either going to light a fire under them and they’re going to come out swinging, or it’s going to kind of just dampen the mood and kind of the feeling around the locker room,” Vu said.
Regardless of any outside circumstances surrounding the Border War this weekend, there should be no doubt that either of these teams will be up for the task.
Now, we just have to wait and see which team will be able to overcome the adversity of the season and take the Bronze Boot trophy home.
