Wyoming vs New Mexico Week 5: Cowboys Look For a Win to Open up Mountain West Competition

WYOMING VS NEW MEXICO

Location: Laramie, Wyoming (War Memorial Stadium)

Date/Time: Saturday, September 30th at 2:00 (Mountain Time)

Television: Mountain West Network

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

Head-to-head: The Cowboys lead the all-time series 40-35, and this will be the 76th time the Lobos play Wyoming.

It’s Homecoming weekend in Laramie, and the Lobos (2-2) come to town looking to take down one of the Mountain West’s premier squads. The Wyoming Cowboys (3-1).

And that’s it for out-of-conference play, where the Cowboys struggled to make it to 3-1. But hey, they made it.

Both teams coming off of big last-minute wins, Andrew Peasley and company will hope to shut down New Mexico, and not have to rely on a blocked field goal to win this time.

Let’s face it, New Mexico is always horrible. There’s a reason they scheduled them for the homecoming game. But playing to their opponent's level is something the Cowboys do pretty well.

In last year’s matchup, the Cowboys prevailed in Albuquerque, 27-14, and New Mexico rolled out three different QBs in that game.

How will Wyoming look?

If the offense looks anything like last week, bad.

If the defense looks anything like last week, good.

Andrew Peasley and the Cowboys put on an absolute offensive disaster class against App State, only throwing for 31 yards and five completions.

Sometimes it feels like Harrison Waylee is the only good player on this offense, which is an understatement to him.

He has easily been the best player on offense, and though he’s only played two games thus far, has 100 yards in each of those showings.

Even though this was a bad performance in the passing game, I think they get under their feet against a bad New Mexico team.

If not, Peasley might have a seat on the bench with his name written all over it.

As for the defense, they’ve still been elite, so nothing new here.

Similar to App State, New Mexico is a team that likes to run the ball a lot, and App State did so tremendously last weekend. The run defense is something I worry about, even because most of the Cowboys stars are so good because of how they cover the pass and their pass rush.

How will New Mexico look?

With a new QB in town for New Mexico in Dylan Hopkins, I think the Lobos look better than in years past.

They beat a UMass team last week that has looked horrendous all season, and it took until overtime to do so.

Like I said earlier, the run game will be a big factor in this game for both offenses, and New Mexico typically likes to run the ball twice as many times as they pass the ball.

Sherod White will surely be involved in the Lobos game plan, a counter to something that’s been weak for Wyoming’s defense as of late.

Prediction

This will be the Pokes 98th homecoming game, sitting around just over .500 in homecoming games. I’d like to think that Wyoming loves to put on a show for homecoming but… I guess it’s only half the time.

With that being said, the Cowboys are a 14-point favorite against the Lobos according to DraftKings. I think they cover the spread. I believe that this offense can get back on its feet, or who knows? Maybe Evan Svoboda will go in and shock the world.

It should be a fun one in Laramie, and I’m going to take the Cowboys 30, and New Mexico 10.