Wyoming is anything but your typical week one opponent. Season openers are often reserved for the proverbial cupcake games, but the Cowboy squad entering this contest with ASU is coming off a nine-win season and has a deeply experienced roster. Let’s get to know Arizona State’s first opponent of the 2024 season.
Wyoming Offense
The departure of quarterback Andrew Peasley, an Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference selection who last year threw for 1,991 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions along with 419 rushing yards with seven scores, opens the door for Arizona native Evan Svoboda to return to his home state as QB1 for the Cowboys against ASU.
The Mesa Red Mountain High School graduate began his collegiate career at Snow College in 2021 before transferring to Wyoming the next year. After not making any game appearances in 2022, he played in 10 games last year with one start, completing 23-of-38 passes for 200 yards with one interception, adding 80 net rushing yards on 25 carries with two scores.
Svoboda, the only Arizona native on the Wyoming roster, saw the bulk of his reps last year against Wyoming’s stiffest competition of the year as he completed 17-of-28 passes for 136 yards with one interception on the road at Texas on Sept. 16, 2023. Outside of that, he only had one game in which he attempted more than two passes when he connected on 4-of-6 passing attempts for 32 yards against UNLV.
Behind Svoboda, redshirt freshman Kaden Anderson and senior Jayden Clemons are listed as the team’s second and third quarterbacks. Clemons has appeared in seven collegiate games, and Anderson will be a redshirt freshman in 2024.
For the 2024 season, Wyoming presumably would like to lean heavily on running back Harrison Waylee, though that approach will have to wait as Waylee is expected to miss at least the opening game.
Waylee was an Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2023 after rushing 164 times for 947 yards (5.8 avg.) with five touchdowns, along with 12 receptions for 66 yards. The 5-10 212-pounder, who came to Wyoming from Northern Illinois prior to last season, has 2,876 career rushing yards, and in 2023, he notched four 100-yard games, including the first three games he played last year.
In Waylee’s absence, Sam Scott is the team’s leading returning rusher as he had 241 yards on 51 carries with two touchdowns and 11 receptions for 77 yards in 2023, while Jamari Ferrell added 184 rushing yards and a score in 11 games as a reserve in 2023 and returns to the lineup for this season. McNeely has 524 career rushing yards spread across the 2020-22 seasons for Wyoming.
North Carolina transfer DJ Jones spent the 2020-23 seasons with the Tarheels, totaling 97 carries for 442 yards with two scores and 24 receptions for 157 yards with a touchdown across the 30 games he played for UNC from 2020-22. In 2023, he was moved to defensive back and posted 15 tackles in 13 games with two starts.
In the week one depth chart, Jones is listed as the starter with Ferrell and Scott as his top two backups.
Dawaiian McNeely rushed for 356 yards in 10 games for Wyoming in 2022 before missing all of last season due to a preseason injury. True freshmen Dontae Burch and Nico Hamilton and team veteran Mitchell Anderson may also factor into the running back rotation this season for Wyoming.
Wyoming also must replenish skill talent in the pass game, as its top three wide receivers and top tight end all depart from 2023.
Wyoming’s top returning wide receiver from last year is Alex Brown, who managed just eight receptions for 106 yards in 12 games in 2023. Brown has 17 career receptions entering this season, which is the second-highest career D1 receiving total among any Cowboy wide receiver entering 2024.
The Cowboys return just one receiving touchdown from 2023 among their entire wide receivers room. It came from Will Pellisier, who had seven receptions for 79 yards and one score on the year. Pellisier has 15 career receptions entering 2024.
In terms of career achievements, Devin Boddie, Jr. is the only wide receiver on the Wyoming roster with more than 20 career receptions. He has 38 catches for 372 yards and one touchdown across his college career.
The bulk of Boddie’s college production came from his time at Vanderbilt, including a 2021 season for the Commodores in which he caught 29 passes for 263 yards with a touchdown. Last year, in his first season with Wyoming, Boddie managed just five receptions for 42 yards.
Tyler King joined the Cowboy roster this offseason as a transfer from Texas Tech to potentially bolster the receivers group for Wyoming. The former three-star recruit spent the past two seasons with the Red Raiders and had one reception for six yards as a true freshman in 2022.
For Saturday’s game, Boddie, Brown, and Jaylen Sargent are listed as the starting trio for wide receiver. Sargent has been with the Wyoming program since 2021 and had one reception in seven games last season.
The Cowboys’ top returning pass-catcher from 2023 is tight end John Michael Gyllenborg, who caught 23 passes for 370 yards with three touchdowns to rank third on the team last year in all three categories.
Behind Gyllenborg, the rest of the Wyoming tight ends group has a combined total of two D1 college receptions, both of which have come from team veteran Nick Miles.
Gyllenborg and Miles are listed as the top two tight ends for Wyoming on the team’s depth chart for Saturday.
On the offensive line, Wyoming returns four starters from a year ago, but the one departure is a significant one in left tackle Frank Crum, the team’s lone First-Team All-Mountain West Conference pick on offense last season.
Left guard Wes King, center Nofoafia Tulafono, right guard Jack Walsh, and right tackle Caden Barnett all return after being starters in 2023, though last season, no members of this group earned first-team, second-team, or honorable mention all-conference recognition. Redshirt freshman Nathan Geiger is slated to replace Crum in the starting lineup at left tackle to open the season.
Wyoming Offense Summary
Overall, at least until Waylee returns at running back, the team’s offense – save for the bulk of the team’s offensive line and its starting tight end – has to be a concern to enter the 2024 season as there is so little proof at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and, beyond the starter, at tight end.
Ultimately, Wyoming will need to find playmakers on offense. Its starting quarterback has 38 career D1 passing attempts, only one player on the roster had more than 50 carries last season, and only one Cowboy had more than 12 receptions in 2023.
Against ASU, Wyoming will need its offensive line to have an excellent day and for multiple younger and/or less experienced offensive skill players to have standout performances for the Cowboy offense to be a consistently legitimate factor in this game.
Wyoming Defense
Operating primarily out of a 4-2-5 defensive alignment, though the Cowboys endured some key departures, multiple important starters return to a defense that should be Wyoming's strength in 2024.
Up front, tackles Jordan Bertagnole and Ben Florentine are likely to be flanked by ends Sabastian Harsh and Braden Siders.
Bertagnole was a highly active lineman last year, totaling 60 tackles, including 5.5 for loss, with 2.0 sacks, two pass breakups, one forced fumble, and six quarterback hurries. He was a Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference pick last year, making him the only returning player for Wyoming to have earned first or second-team all-conference accolades in 2023.
Florentine appears to have been promoted from reserve to starter. From 2021-23, he appeared in 14 games for Wyoming and had 12 tackles, including 11 last year.
Harsh and Siders form a solid duo of defensive ends as Hars had 50 tackles, including a team-high 9.0 for loss with 3.0 sacks, one fumble recovery, one pass breakup, and one quarterback hurry, while Siders notched 26 tackles, including 5.0 for loss with a share of the team high with 4.0 sacks along with four quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.
At linebacker, Wyoming features one of its most talented players on the entire roster in Shae Suiaunoa, who posted 93 tackles in 2023, including 5.5 for loss with 2.5 sacks, two pass breakups, two quarterback hurries, and one interception.
Joining Suiaunoa at linebacker figures to be Connor Shay, who had 15 tackles in 13 games in 2023.
In the secondary, cornerbacks Tyrecus Davis and Keaney Parks are slated to be joined in the starting lineup by free safety Wyatt Ekeler, strong safety Isaac White and nickel back Wrook Brown.
Ekeler, the younger brother of NFL running back Austin Ekeler, is a stat-stuffing playmaker and one of the team’s top overall talents as he posted 77 tackles, including 5.5 for loss, 2.0 sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and seven pass breakups in 2023. He earned Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference distinction for his play last season.
White and Brown were also key defenders for Wyoming in 2023 as White had 61 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, one interception, and seven pass breakups, while Brown had 47 tackles, including one for loss with a team-high three interceptions, along with one fumble recovery, one pass breakup, and one quarterback hurry.
In 2023, Davis had 27 tackles with seven pass breakups and one interception, along with one forced fumble and a team-high two fumble recoveries. Parks played in 12 games last season as a true freshman but did not record any statistics.
Wyoming Defense Summary
Overall, Wyoming returns six of its seven top tacklers from 2023, but the Cowboys lost some notable top-end talent and depth. First-Team All-Mountain West Conference linebacker and team-leading tackler Easton Gibbs completed his eligibility, defensive lineman Gavin Marsh (USC) and defensive back Kolbey Taylor (Vanderbilt) transferred to power conference programs, and the team is without five of its top-12 tacklers from a year ago.
In 2023, Wyoming did not significantly crash backfields, as no player on the roster had more than 4.0 sacks or 9.0 tackles for loss.
However, veteran defensive playmakers like Ekeler, Bertagnole, Suiaunoa, and others can make the Sun Devil offense pay and level the playing field for the comparatively green Wyoming offense.
It’s a logical thought that the Cowboy defense will have to win the day for Wyoming to be victorious over ASU on Saturday.
Wyoming Special Teams
In 2023, kicker John Hoyland connected on 13-of-20 field goals for Wyoming. Though he has shown a tremendous leg with a long make of 56 yards last year, long distance accuracy proved to be an issue as he was just 3-of-10 on attempts beyond 39 yards last year.
In 2022, however, Hoyland was one of the nation’s premier kickers as he connected on 22-of-25 field goal attempts and was a Groza Award semifinalist.
At punter, Wyoming figures to count on FCS All-American Jack Culbreath, who joined the program this offseason as a transfer from Virginia Military Institute.
In the return game, Wyoming received minimal contributions in punt returns last year as the team collectively averaged 3.67 tards on nine punt returns with a long of 14 yards. On kickoffs, the two players who combined for all returns last year are gone from the program.
Caleb Cooley and Tyler King are listed as the top two options on both punt and kick returns entering Saturday’s game.
Overall Summary
Though there is quite a bit of history between these two programs, especially from the 1960s and ‘70s, Arizona State and Wyoming have not met since ASU’s final season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1977. The two teams played annually from 1965 to 77.
ASU and Wyoming first met in 1951 as non-conference opponents and then had 14 matchups during the seasons both programs were a part of the WAC. Overall, the Sun Devils hold a 9-6 all-time edge over the Cowboys. The most recent contest between the two came on Nov. 5, 1977, a 45-0 Sun Devil victory in Tempe.
Arizona State has only lost two games to Wyoming in Tempe: a 15-13 loss on Oct. 28, 1967, and a 20-7 defeat on Nov. 24, 1951.
In 1975, what many considered to be, at worst, one of the two best teams in Arizona State history, the Sun Devils had their closest scare of defeat against Wyoming in what proved to be an undefeated season for ASU as the Devils survived with a 21-20 victory in Tempe versus the Cowboys.
Fast-forward nearly 50 years from the last time these two teams met, Wyoming visits Tempe on the heels of a 9-4 season in 2023, while Arizona State brings six combined victories from the past two seasons into the 2024 opener.
Though the Cowboys put together an excellent season in 2023, this year marks a major transition for Wyoming as head coach Craig Bohl, who guided Wyoming from 2014-23 and prior to that won three FCS national championships with North Dakota State, retired after last season, making 2024 the debut season – and Saturday the debut game – as head coach for Jay Sawvel, who was Bohl’s defensive coordinator at Wyoming from 2020-23.
Last season, Wyoming was quite a different team at home in Laramie than on the road. The Cowboys were a perfect 7-0 at home but just 1-4 in true road games. In both 2021 and ’22, Wyoming finished 3-3 in true road games.
Similarly, though Wyoming has had its share of success against Power Conference opponents at home, the Cowboys haven’t downed such an opponent in a true road game since a 13-7 win at Tennessee on Nov. 8, 2008.
In terms of overall personnel, Wyoming had eight players last season earn first-team, second-team, or honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference accolades, but only two remain on the team and will be available Saturday (DL Jordan Beragnole, second-team, and DB Wyatt Ekeler, honorable mention).
The revamp of the Wyoming offense cannot be overlooked. Five players last year earned some measure of all-conference honors, but not one member of that group will take the field for the Cowboys on Saturday.
What also cannot be overlooked or underestimated is Wyoming's changing of the guard at head coach. From 2014-23, former head coach Craig Bohl posted four eight-win seasons, and prior to his arrival, the Cowboy program only had four eight (or more) win seasons dating back to 1990.
Ultimately, this is a very intriguing and formidable but also potentially advantageous opening opponent for Arizona State. Wyoming is a high-quality program with substantial recent success, but it also has quite a few question marks and uncertainties to open the 2024 season.
ASU’s defense should be able to limit the Wyoming offense to a notable degree, and the Sun Devil offense should be able to do enough to capitalize on Arizona State’s defensive efforts and not nullify them. Hence, the Devils are about a touchdown favorite in this game.
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