What Happened to Wyoming’s New-Look Offense in Tempe?

LARAMIE -- The question was a simple one.

If you called your best friend after the game and he asked "what on earth happened?" What would your response be?

"We kind of got sucker punched a little bit by our own doing early and we didn't respond to it very well."

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Jay Johnson was blunt in his assessment. It's the same one shared by head coach Jay Sawvel and the players.

Wyoming's new offensive coordinator said it was a combination of self-inflicted wounds along with momentum, which resided on Arizona State's sideline for 59 minutes and 58 seconds last Saturday night. That resulted in a 48-7 blowout that saw the Cowboys manage just 118 yards of total offense.

While Evan Svoboda's pick-six on the second snap of the night immediately put the visitors behind the eight ball, it was the second drive that was equally as telling of how this one would turn out.

There was a 12-yard pass to Devin Boddie Jr. Two plays later came a 15-yard spurt from running back DJ Jones. Wyoming was on the Sun Devils' side of the 50 and appeared to have righted the ship.

Not so fast.

The Cowboys were hit with an illegal formation penalty for having four players lined up in the backfield. Then came the false start, courtesy of center Nofoafia Tulafono. The 48,000-plus inside Mountain America Stadium were paying attention, too.

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Facing a 3rd-and-23 all the way back at their own 41, Svoboda heaved a pass down the middle that didn't stand a chance the minute it left his powerful right hand.

ASU linebacker Keyshaun Elliott snagged the errant throw and returned it all the way to the original line of scrimmage. The home team would tack on a field goal seven snaps later to take an early 10-0 lead.

The damage was done.

"When you have a couple of those mistakes -- and we had a lack of execution at certain times -- it just kind of steamrolled," Johnson added. "We weren't able to kind of get out of it."

ASU would score on three of its next four possessions. If not for a missed 38-yard field goal, it would've been a perfect start. A 68-yard touchdown strike from Sam Leavitt to Kyson Brown with 3:34 left in the third turned this one a laugher. That harmless-looking play originated as a screen pass.

Wyoming would manage just three yards on 14 plays in that same quarter. Who thought it could get much worse than the 16 yards of total offense in the second?

"I mean, it's tough," said Svoboda, who capped his Arizona homecoming by completing just 6-of-15 passes for 42 yards, including those two interceptions. "It's unacceptable the way we played. We know we're better than that. We didn't execute the way we wanted to. We're frustrated, but you got to flush it. You got to move forward."

Wyoming committed seven penalties on the night. The final yardage tally sat at 65. This offense didn't have that many until running back Sam Scott broke loose for a 17-yard dash with 2:00 left in regulation.

It gets worse.

The Cowboys managed just eight first downs all night. They were 3-of-13 on third down. That unit crossed midfield just twice.

First-down production was nothing short of abysmal.

While Svoboda was in the game -- the first three-plus quarters -- the Cowboys didn't manage a single yard on 16 snaps. In fact, they lost one, courtesy of a six-yard sack.

"It's tremendously challenging," Johnson added. "Because, as a play caller, anybody in the country, you try to stay on schedule. When you don't stay on schedule, it really shrinks things and it makes it very challenging. So, yeah, you've got to find ways to do positive things on first down to get you in a good position to do the rest. We didn't do it."

ASU finished with three sacks and five tackles for loss. That group also put Svoboda on his back side two additional times.

Wyoming wasn't done turning the ball over yet, either.

Svoboda whipped a lateral swing pass to his left in the direction of speedy wideout TK King. It was off target and dropped. Then, it wasn't secured. Not by a Cowboy, anyway. Justin Wodtly, ASU's defensive end, scooped up the loose ball and rumbled into the end zone from six yards out.

That miscue was a reflection of the entire night for the visitors.

King also dropped a screen pass on the first play of the second quarter. He had multiple blockers in front of him and possesses world-class speed.

It was that kind of outing.

"Obviously, it wasn't fun," right guard Jack Walsh said, adding the Sun Devils brought the fight to them and they didn't punch back. "None of us had fun. We didn't play great ... Just got to, you know, accept it and move on. Losing sucks. It does. It's the worst feeling in the world."

Some of the credit, Johnson added, also belongs to ASU.

"I think they're a much different team than what they appeared to be from last year," he said. "They certainly had an influx of players. I felt they flew around pretty good, and they've got a good group of guys."

He still thinks his unit is solid, too, especially his junior signal caller.

"Evan's very physically gifted," Johnson added. "He needs to be who Evan is, and that part is playing good, fundamental ball. I know when he does that on a consistent basis, all those things, I think, will fall into place."

Wyoming will host Idaho this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time. The game will be televised on TruTV and streamed on MAX.

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