Redshirt junior Ian Hetrick will get his first career start at quarterback for Wyoming, replacing sophomore Karsten Sween.
The Cowboys entertain UNLV on Saturday in a Mountain West Conference game at War Memorial Stadium.
The Cowboys are coming off consecutive MWC losses to New Mexico and Air Force in which their offense produced only one touchdown, three field goals and turned the ball over six times, including three interceptions.
Overall, Wyoming has turned the ball over 20 times in the first seven games, 13 of which have come in the past three games.
Sween, who took over the starting job from junior Jacob Doss during the second half of Wyoming’s fifth game last year against Syracuse, has struggled this season. While he has completed 61.7 percent of his passes (140-of-227) for 1,315 yards and eight touchdowns, Sween has thrown 12 interceptions in the first seven games.
“Karsten is in a little bit of a slump with his reads and he’s missed a couple of passes,” Cowboys coach Joe Glenn said. “… We’re just trying to find a way to protect the football.
“We’re certainly not writing Karsten off, but we’re going to give Ian a chance and let Karsten try to settle down a bit.”
Sween vowed to work hard to improve his performance.
“I’m going to try and get better. Every week I try to get better and learn from my mistakes,” Sween said. “I felt like I tried to do too much last game.”
Hetrick redshirted last season after transferring to Wyoming in 2006 from Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College. He has appeared in five games this season, completing 9-of-16 passes for 103 yards with one interception.
