Laramie, Wyo. (July 27, 2022) —  The 2022 college football season begins today for the Wyoming Cowboys as they hold their first practice of fall camp.  It is an early start to the Wyoming Football season as the Cowboys will kick off their 2022 season in Zero Week on Saturday, Aug. 27 at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill.  Zero Week is the week prior to when the majority of college teams kick off the season.  Due to the early start of the season, the Cowboys also are allowed to begin practice for the season earlier than normal.

The Wyoming Cowboy Football team will see a number of new players take on leading roles this coming season.  While the team will be younger, it is a team that features a lot of talented players.

Among the talented returners for the Cowboys are running back Titus Swen, linebacker Easton Gibbs, nose tackle Cole Godbout, offensive tackle Frank Crum and kick returner/cornerback Cam Stone.  All five of those individuals earned All-Conference recognition a year ago.  Stone is a sophomore.  All the other All-Conference returnees are juniors.

Other top returners on offense include: senior offensive lineman Eric Abojei, sophomore wide receiver Joshua Cobbs, sophomore fullback/tight end Parker Christensen and junior tight end Treyton Welch.

The defensive side of the ball will also see other talented players return including: sophomore defensive tackle Jordan Bertagnole, sophomore nickel back Keonte Glinton and sophomore safety Isaac White.  All three ended the 2021 season as starters for the Pokes.

The offensive group will be led by running back Swen, who rushed for 785 yards as a sophomore in 2021.  He led Wyoming in rushing TDs (7) and yards per carry (5.95 yards per attempt) and became more impactful on the Wyoming offense as the season progressed.

Wide receiver Cobbs was second on the team in receptions in ‘21, with 25, and third in receiving yards (245).  Tight end Welch had 19 receptions for 163 yards and two TDs, while fullback/tight end Christensen caught 13 passes for 127 yards.

The Cowboy defense returns two of its top three tacklers from last season in linebacker Gibbs and nose tackle Godbout.  Gibbs recorded 90 tackles in 2021 to rank second behind team leader Chad Muma, who had 142 from his middle linebacker spot.  Godbout was third for the Cowboys with 70 total tackles a year ago.  Godbout led Wyoming in sacks in 2021 with 5.0.  He and Gibbs tied for second on the team in tackles for loss with 7.0 each, trailing only Muma’s 8.0 tackles for loss.  Defensive tackle Bertagnole ranked eighth on the Cowboy defense in tackles with 38.  Safety White concluded the 2021 season ranking 10th in tackles for the Cowboys, with 35.  Glinton finished the season as the starting nickel and was among the team leaders in passes defended, with one interception and three pass breakups.

The Cowboys concluded last season with a 7-6 record and captured a convincing 52-38 win over Kent State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Building on Success

Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl is entering his ninth season guiding the UW football program in 2022.  During his time in Laramie, Bohl and his coaching staff have accomplished several notable firsts in school history.

Last season, Bohl and his staff became the first Wyoming football staff to lead four of their teams to bowl game appearances.

Bohl and his staff also became the only Wyoming football staff to guide three Cowboy teams to bowl victories.

With Wyoming’s fourth bowl bid in the past six seasons (2016, ‘17, ‘19 and ‘21), that was the first time that feat had been accomplished in the 125-year history of Wyoming Football.  The previous best was four bowl games in seven seasons (1987, ‘88, ‘90 and ‘93).

Returning Cowboy Veterans, Who Have Enjoyed Great Success, Will Now Be Asked to Teach Their Winning Ways to Young Pokes       

The returning Cowboy veterans, who have been a huge part of Wyoming’s recent success, will be key to teaching UW’s younger players how to win in the Mountain West Conference.

The 2022 team is made up of only three seniors, 15 juniors, 38 sophomores, 31 redshirt freshmen and 23 true freshmen.  Part of the imbalance in classes is due to COVID circumstances.  Several Cowboys who had an additional year of eligibility remaining graduated last year and decided either to: declare for the NFL Draft, transfer to another university for their final year or not utilize their extra year.  Regardless of those facts, it is a year where Wyoming will be transitioning from an extremely experienced team in 2021 to a much younger team in ‘22. 

With that being said, head coach Bohl is looking forward to coaching his 2022 squad.

“It is an exciting time.  There are probably more questions heading into fall camp than what we’ve had since I’ve been the head coach with the exception of maybe our first year,” said Bohl.  “But we have great optimism going into fall camp.  There are some question marks certainly, but I think we’ve got a lot of good players who are really eager to move our program forward.

“There is certainly a lot of potential within the squad, but due to the questions we have we didn’t release a depth chart at the conclusion of spring practice.”

Given the fact that the 2022 Cowboys are younger, Bohl was asked what that is like for himself and his coaching staff heading into the fall.

“I think it is exciting because you have guys who are bright-eyed and excited to get their opportunity to shine,” said Bohl.  “We have players with good ability. 

“What you want to do as a coach is to maximize your potential.  Many times when you have a football team that is unproven you don’t have as much complacency as you might have with a veteran team.  You have guys who are hungry to prove themselves. 

“Some of the most enjoyable years since I’ve been here at Wyoming have been years when we had young players come to the forefront.  In 2016, we had a young, unproven football team that ended up to be pretty dynamic.  That is not to compare our current team to that 2016 group, but we have some real promise here.  It will take a great deal of encouragement by our coaches to bring this team along, but as a head football coach I’m invigorated and excited to coach this football team.”

2022 Schedule

The Wyoming Cowboys will kick off their 2022 schedule in “Zero” Week on Saturday, Aug. 27 when they will travel to Champaign, Ill., to play the University of Illinois Fighting Illini in the first-ever meeting between the two football teams.  The game will kick off at 2 p.m., Mountain Time and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

There are seven teams on Wyoming’s 2022 schedule who, like the Cowboys, earned bowl bids last season, including non-conference opponents BYU and Tulsa and Mountain West Conference opponents Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai’i and Utah State.  Four of those postseason teams will play in Laramie — Tulsa, Air Force, Boise State and Utah State. 

Home Schedule

Wyoming will have four of its first six games of the season at home in 2022, and three of those home games will be in the month of September, including two early afternoon kickoffs.  The home opener vs. Tulsa on Sept. 3 will kick off at 1:30 p.m., M.T., and will be televised on FS1.  The following Saturday on Sept. 10 Northern Colorado will come to Laramie for a 2 p.m., M.T. game.  A nationally-televised Friday night game Sept. 16 will feature Wyoming vs. longtime rival Air Force at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network (CBSSN).

The months of October and November will see the Cowboys host the last three Mountain West Conference champions in: San Jose State on Oct. 1 (2020 MW champion) at 5:30 p.m. on CBSSN; Utah State on Oct. 22 (2021 MW champ) game time TBA on one of the FOX Sports Networks; and Boise State on Nov. 19 (2019 MW champion) at 5 p.m. on CBSSN.

Road Schedule

In addition to its trip to Illinois, Wyoming will renew an old rivalry on Saturday, Sept. 24 when the Cowboys travel to Provo, Utah, to take on the BYU Cougars.  That game will be televised on one of the ESPN Networks and the game time is TBA.  UW will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., to play New Mexico in a 5 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 8.  That game will be televised on CBSSN.  A trip to Honolulu to face Hawai’i on Oct. 29 will follow.  The game time and television coverage of that game is TBA.  November will start with the annual “Border War” vs. Colorado State in Fort Collins on Nov. 12 in a 5 p.m. game on CBSSN.  Wyoming will close out the regular season with a Friday night game on Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving, in Fresno, Calif., vs. the Bulldogs in an 8 p.m. kickoff on FS1.

Fall Practice Schedule and Post-Practice Interviews

Wyoming fall practices will be conducted in the mornings.  While practices are closed to media and the general public, post-practice interviews will be conducted with head coach Craig Bohl and requested players and assistant coaches after each weekday practice (Monday-Friday) during fall camp.  No interviews will be conducted after Saturday practices.Interviews will be conducted in person in the High Altitude Performance Center (HAPC) Team Room.  The Cowboys will utilize War Memorial Stadium, the North 40 Practice Fields and the Practice Field South of War Memorial Fieldhouse for fall drills.

Tickets to the 2022 Season

Fans interested in purchasing tickets to the 2022 Wyoming Football season may: go online at www.GoWyo.com/tickets; email tickets@uwyo.edu; call the UW Athletics Ticket Office at (307) 766-7220; or stop by the ticket office on the west side of UW’s Arena-Auditorium.  Season tickets start as low as $159 and single-game tickets start as low as $30 for adults and $20 for children.