Nothing has worked.
Not the daily practice drills. None of the suggestions from any of the pregame visitors to the Wyoming locker room. So persistent and so bizarre has the rash of turnovers been in hexing the second half of the Cowboys’ season quarterback Corey Bramlet is ready to try anything.
“Hey, I’ll do voodoo,” Bramlet said. “Whatever it takes. I just want to win another football game. I mean, it’s like we’re snakebit.”
Bitten by 22 turnovers in their past five games, the Cowboys (4-6, 2-5 MWC) have gone from a promising 4-1 start to what could be an 0-6 finish at San Diego State (4-6, 3-4) on Saturday night.
“It’s been tough,” Bramlet said. “We got off so well, then it was like we hit a bump in the road (in a seven-turnover loss to Texas Christian) and it just kind of got out of control. It’s frustrating, especially after knowing what it was to have a taste of success and playing in a bowl game last year.
“But we can’t think about that stuff now. All of us seniors want to go out on a positive note. We’re playing this last game for all the guys that are coming back next year.”
Gone is the possibility of a winning season or a bowl. Left is a chance to redeem themselves from a string of sloppy performances.
“We’re a better team than we were last year if we could just stop turning the ball over,” Bramlet said. “That’s what’s so frustrating, and it’s like nobody can put their finger on it.
“Personally, I think it’s just guys trying to do too much and making bad decisions. Me forcing a throw, or one of our running backs trying to get some extra yardage. But it’s like we’re not getting any of the breaks, either.”
On that last point, Cowboys coach Joe Glenn agrees.
“A lot of it is the shape of the ball,” Glenn said. “We’ve only fumbled the ball 15 times this season, but we’ve lost 13. Our opponents have fumbled 23 times and only lost five.”
Glenn staunchly defends Bramlet, who has thrown 15 interceptions this season, 11 during the five-game losing streak.
“He forced one Saturday night when he scrambled and got picked,” Glenn said of the loss to BYU. “That will happen.”
Bramlet got intercepted twice in the five-turnover, 35-21 loss to BYU but Glenn said he hasn’t been frustrated with his quarterback or his young running backs.
What’s frustrating, he said, “is not being able to get it stopped.”
He said he has talked to a number of coaching confidants across the country, most of whom told him it would likely stop by itself after two or three games.
“But this has gone on for five games,” Glenn said. “We’re not a team that’s turned it over in the past. Last year, we were second in the league and 11th in nation. It’s always been a plus wherever we’ve been. It’s just a fever right now, but we’ve got to get it stopped if we’re going to have any chance to win Saturday night.
“We’re down to playing for pride, trying to win for a senior group that’s been pretty special, a group of guys that helped us get to bowl game and beat UCLA last year. So it’d be nice to see these guys go out on top.”
For that, the Cowboys will have to defeat an Aztecs team good enough to beat BYU and CSU by three touchdowns and bad enough lose to UNLV.
“We just have to find a way to win,” Glenn said. “If we turn it over 20 times and get a win, that’d be fine.”
WYOMING AT SAN DIEGO STATE
KEY MATCHUPS
Wyoming (4-6, 2-5): Against a defense that stopped CSU’s last three drives with interceptions a week ago, Cowboys quarterback Corey Bramlet may be facing the best secondary he has seen since TCU gave him fits. For most teams, that would mean a more conservative attack on offense, especially on the road. But not for Cowboys coach Joe Glenn. “That’s not who we are,” he said. Wyoming is a team that likes to take its shots, especially with star receiver Jovon Bouknight. Defensively, the Cowboys will be counting on linebacker Ward Dobbs and safety Ron Rockett, their top tacklers, to slow the Aztecs’ running game. “I think as their running game goes, they go,” Glenn said. “If they get some balance working, they’ll be hard to stop.”
San Diego State (4-6, 3-4): Like most Cowboys opponents, the first order of business is containing Bouknight, which probably means a busy day for cornerbacks Donny Baker and Terrell Maze. Power running back Lynell Hamilton, slowed by a hamstring injury much of the season, “is just starting to feel healthy again,” according to coach Tom Craft. He is helping give the Aztecs much better balance on offense. His running and pass blocking have also made things easier for homegrown sophomore quarterback Kevin O’Connell, a 6-foot-6, 220-pounder who also likes to run (127 carries, 591 yards). “In a tight game, you’ve got to have some balance in run and pass,” Craft said. “And in this conference you’ve got to keep people off-balance.”
KEY STAT
10: Consecutive losses by San Diego State when it loses the turnover battle.
KEY FOR WYOMING
Getting ahead. The Aztecs struggle when their offense becomes one-dimensional. The Cowboys need to shut down the San Diego State running game. That’s assuming they win the battle of turnovers.
KEY FOR SAN DIEGO STATE
Muscling up on offense and running the ball, and pressuring Bramlet into mistakes on defense. Wyoming’s undersized defense has had a tough time stopping big backs playing behind big offensive lines the past few weeks. But the biggest reason the Cowboys have lost five in a row has been 22 turnovers.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
