LARAMIE, Wyo. — The college football season is off to a rocky start for the Wyoming Cowboys as Arizona State University nearly completely shut out Wyoming 48–0 before freshman QB Kaden Anderson completed a pass to freshman Chris Durr Jr. for a touchdown. Starting senior QB Evan Svoboda, meanwhile, threw two interceptions in the first six minutes of the ball game.
A game of many firsts, this match’s outcome starts off the Jay Sawvel era of Wyoming football on rough footing. He takes the reigns of a program previously under the leadership of Craig Bohl for the last 10 years that was projected to be squarely in the middle of conference rankings starting the season. The lack of confidence offensively and a defensive performance unusually lacking for Wyoming raise a few questions for the rest of the season.
On the other hand, ASU’s first game as part of the Big 12 Conference was a rousing success, especially considering that preseason polling placed them dead last in the entire conference.
That polling didn’t matter to the Sun Devils, it seems. Within just 41 seconds of play, an interception from Wyoming’s starting QB Svoboda got run 29 yards into the end zone by ASU’s defense. Another interception from Svoboda five minutes later would give ASU 18 yards and lead to a 29-yard field goal.
ASU running further and further away with the lead while Wyoming struggled to even make it past the 40-yard line remained the story for nearly the entire rest of the game — at least, it did until the final 20 seconds, when Wyoming’s offense made it to first and goal. ASU’s defense held strong, but at fourth and goal Wyoming’s Durr Jr. broke through and received for a touchdown and helped the Cowboys finally put some numbers on the board.
Svoboda, originally hailing from the Valley of the Sun, and all other backup QBs only threw for a combined 118 yards, while ASU star Sam Leavitt alone threw for 258. Besides the multiple interceptions, penalty trouble primarily from offense and the special team lost a lot of yards for the Cowboys as well.
The future remains unclear for the University of Wyoming Cowboys. The missing presences of starting running back and leading returning rusher Harrison Waylee and tight end and leading returning receiver John Michael Gyllenborg were certainly felt tonight. The two are out with a knee injury and an ankle injury, respectively, and are unlikely to appear for at least the next game. It remains to be seen if UW can clean it up by then.
The next text comes Saturday, Sept. 7, when the University of Idaho Vandals will come to war to recuperate from a 14–24 loss to the University of Oregon Ducks. The University of Wyoming Football schedule and roster can be viewed at the Wyoming Athletics web page.
