It will be ditto just about everything when Wyoming plays at defending champion Utah on Saturday.
Wyoming is 4-4, 2-3 in the Mountain West Conference. Ditto, Utah.
Utah has struggled this season, coming off an impressive bowl victory. Ditto, Wyoming.
Wyoming went into a tailspin after a frustrating loss to league- leading Texas Christian, the new team in the conference. Ditto, Utah.
And both teams are coming off a bye week with their coaches talking about getting back to a bowl.
“It’s been two very similar seasons, both teams fighting hard to get bowl-eligible,” Cowboys coach Joe Glenn said. “We took a week off, and at the time, I didn’t think it was an especially good time for a week off. But now I feel like the batteries are charged, and we’re ready to make a run down the stretch.”
In an 11-game season, six wins will make a team bowl-eligible, but that’s not likely to get an MWC team into a bowl. Glenn and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham figure it will take at least seven victories for a third MWC team to get an invitation.
TCU (8-1, 6-0) is a lock for a bowl. Colorado State (5-3, 4-1) is looking like the MWC’s second-best qualifier, said Whittingham.
That leaves four other teams – Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico (5-4, 3-3) and Brigham Young (4-4, 3-2) – fighting for one spot. That means Saturday’s winner might need to finish the season with a three-game sweep. And for the Utes, that probably means stopping Jovon Bouknight, the Cowboys’ do-it-all, do-it-well wide receiver.
“They’re very well-coached, they play hard, they believe in themselves, and the thing that jumps out at you is how Bouknight is capitalized (on),” Whittingham said. “He’s one of the top receivers in the country, and he may be the best with the ball in his hands after the catch. We’ve got our hands full with him.”
For Wyoming, the biggest issue in getting its season turned around is keeping its hands on the football. Fourteen turnovers in the past three games have led to three losses. If the Cowboys can correct that problem, they think their league-leading defense can handle a still-potent Utah offense that features 18-year-old quarterback Brian Johnson, a sophomore who leads the MWC in total offense, and senior running back Quinton Ganther, who suffered a slight knee sprain in a 42-32 victory at UNLV two weeks ago, but is expected to play.
“Ganther’s more of a power runner,” Wyoming safety Ron Rockett said. “They’ve got some good receivers, and then they’ve got a real nice quarterback who’s really kind of a triple threat. So we’re going to have another busy day.
“They’re basically in the same situation we’re in, both picked to be on top of the conference, and things just started going wrong. It’s just going to be a matter of who wants it more.”
WYOMING AT UTAH
KEY MATCHUP
Wyoming (4-4, 2-3): Cowboys quarterback Corey Bramlet has had nine of Wyoming’s 14 turnovers in three consecutive losses. That means every defensive coordinator the Cowboys face will continue to send everything he has at Bramlet until he starts taking better care of the ball. What worries new Utah coach Kyle Whittingham most is when Bramlet gets the ball into the hands of Wyoming wide receiver Jovon Bouknight. Defensively, Wyoming safeties Ron Rockett and John Wendling will have a busy day against Utah’s aggressive spread offense.
Utah (4-4, 2-3): For the third straight game, the Cowboys will be facing one of the top three running backs in the Mountain West Conference. This time it’s power runner Quinton Ganther, who has 771 yards and averages 5.2 yards per carry. He rushed for 155 yards and three scores at UNLV two weeks ago. More of a threat is Utah quarterback Brian Johnson, an 18-year-old sophomore who leads the conference in total offense, averaging 325.2 yards per game. His go-to guy is wide receiver John Madsen, a 6-foot-5, 220-pounder who has caught 43 passes for 555 yards and four touchdowns. Linebacker Spencer Toone is the MWC’s leading tackler, averaging 10.2 per game.
KEY STAT
5 – Utah has owned Wyoming in recent years, winning the past five matchups.
KEY FOR WYOMING
Protecting the ball. Fourteen turnovers in the past three games have doomed the ‘Pokes. If the Cowboys can curtail their fumble-itis, the defense should be able to take care of the rest.
KEY FOR UTAH
Confidence. The Utes have not always played like a confident team. They need to build on a convincing win over UNLV and prove they can move the ball against a good Wyoming defense.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
