Wyoming at Air Force Week 7: Cowboys set to take on the Mountain West’s top dog in Air Force.

WYOMING @ AIR FORCE

Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado (Falcon Stadium

Date/Time: Saturday, October 14th at 5:00 (Mountain Time)

Television: CBS Sports

Streaming: You’ll need a cable log-in but the game will be streamed here.

What we saw from Wyoming last week was truly something special. Taking down the #24 team in the country is not a small feat.

They have a similar task this week again, except on the road for only the second time all season to take on the 5-0 Air Force Falcons. The Falcons coming off of a bye week are well rested and ready for another matchup with the Cowboys.

Last year, the Pokes took down Air Force in a defensive battle that went down to the wire. Both teams are at the top of the Mountain West once again, and this is starting to become a game to look forward to in conference play.

One storyline present in this matchup is the juggernaut offense that Air Force runs, and the equally as dominant defense that Wyoming will attempt to stop them with. Both teams received AP Top-25 votes this past week, and the winner of this game likely propels into the top 25.

It is surely the game of the week for the Mountain West, and the winner will likely be in control of the conference for weeks to come.

How will Wyoming look?

There’s no question that this team has been on absolute fire the past few weeks. A win against #24 Fresno State makes me feel like I can’t stop talking about it. The three-game stretch of Fresno State, Air Force, and Boise State is what I thought would be a season-altering period for the Pokes. And they’re right in the thick of it.

The movie star of this offense, Harrison Waylee, is questionable to return to the backfield in CO Springs, and with D.Q. James leaving the team a week ago, Sam Scott seems to be the starting back for this game. Facing Air Force’s elite rushing attack, the Cowboys will want to match the intense ground game early on, and without Waylee, it seems like a tough task.

Another key factor going into this game is that Wyoming has only played one away game thus far, in Austin. Laramie is one of the craziest environments for an away team to play in, and this game will prove if the Cowpokes are just home-field merchants or not.

Andrew Peasley won Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Fresno and seems like he has some sort of swagger back, embracing the run game and playing the best ball he ever has.

It will be a nice test for the Cowboys’ defense against a super run-heavy offense that Air Force runs. We saw them shut down a similar offense in App State a few weeks ago, and despite allowing more than 200 rushing yards, got the job done and won the game.

How will Air Force look?

It’s no secret that Air Force likes to run the ball, along with their armed forces alike. Heck, they’ve thrown the ball 19 times all year. It’s always baffled me how this sort of ‘strictly run out of triple option’ playstyle even works. But hey, they’re 5-0 so I guess I can’t knock it.

Something about that 5-0 record, however, comes from five sub-par football teams. Their last two wins came against the bottom two teams in the MW in San Diego State and San Jose State. I’m not saying they’re frauds or anything, but it feels like Wyoming will be their first real test.

The fullback Emmanuel Michel has been great so far this year, and will likely run all over the Cowboy defense.

Prediction

The Falcons come in as 10.5-point favorites on DraftKings, and this line doesn’t make much sense to me. I think Wyoming has everything going for them, and they’re hungry for their first road win of the year.

I like this defense against a similarly elite offense in Air Force, and should be a close one at least.

With that being said, I’m going with America’s team. Cowboys 24, and Air Force 17.