This isn't a stepping stone dynasty! Wyoming Cowboys

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[B]Press Release: February 1, 1995[/B] University of Wyoming: Wyoming's AD Rick Kinnebrew has announced today the hiring of new football head coach Fritz Weidner. After a very tough season a year ago the Cowboys fired their coach and hope that the hiring of a young up and comer will help get the Pokes back to their winning ways. Coach Weidner comes to us from Crown College in Minnesota were he served as the OC, where his Crown College Storm team shattered several NAIA Division II offensive records. He comes back to Laramie after graduating from the Wyoming 10 years earlier. "I always new that this would be my dream job" ,Coach Weidner said, " I've been a Cowboy fan my whole life and it's an honor to finally have the job of a lifetime!" "This isn't just a stepping stone for my career, I want this to be my permanent home, my family loves the state and the people and we couldn't imagine a better fit. Hopefully I can bring the Cowboys out of our dismal spin we are in and bring us back to national prominence as we were many years ago. I know this job will take a lot of hard work and I plan on working my tail off. The great people of this state deserve to have winning football played here again. I plan on staying here as long as the University is willing to keep me. I will not do what others have done, after turning this program around I will not leave for greener pastures of more money or higher prestige. I want to stay and turn this football team into a national power

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After going through all of the old files I've decided to keep the Cowboys old coaching staff. I know I need to find my own guys but I want to give these guys one more year so they can honor their contracts. Then next year I will find my own guys. Besides I'll be calling the plays on offense for the most part. I've watched a lot of tape on our kids and after seeing the recruits that have come in and signed their LOI I've come to the conclusion that we are going to be a very young team, but also very talented I might add. We only have 14 seniors and 18 juniors. But that may be a good thing we can get rid of the old ways of thinking very shortly. Our starting offense breaks down like this: QB-Renaldo Johnson SR--unfortuanatly he's the best we've got right now RB-Carl Gurode (SO)--He'll do well for us (2.5/3.0)but we've got a great true freshman that I'lll readshirt this year in Doug Lash (1.5/4.0) FB-Willie Fisk FR--Another recruit that I expect big things from (1.5/4.0) so it seems I'm set at running back for the future. WR-Jim Johnson SR--He's a stud (4.0/4.0) we'll miss him when he's gone. Curtis Johnson SO-- another young stud (2.5/4.5)that will take the former Johnsons place when he's gone. Keith Soriano JR-- another nice receiver (1.5/3.5) to bad I don't have QB to get these guys the ball. TE-Kindal Green FR--another decent recruit that the former coaching staff landed (1.0/3.0). Greg Whitsell (JR)-- another nice target (3.0/3.0). OT--Kenneth Haynes FR--this guy could help give our passing game time to develop and another nice recruit (1.0-4.5). Eddie Teteak (FR)-- he should suffice for now (1.0/3.0) OG--Marc Burch SR-- he'll anchor the line for us (3.5/3.5) Shawn Wells SR--he should do just fine (2.5/2.5) C--Olandis Thomas SO--he'll be pushed for playing time by FR Brian Jones both are rated the same (1.0/3.5).

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Defensive breakdown for our 3-4 defense: DE-Bob Cox SR--he could be ineligible soon enough but he'll get the start at the beginning of the season and hopefully get his grades up (1.71 gpa) (2.5/2.5) Jim Swartz FR-- another quality recruit 1.5/3.0 DT- Dalton Jervey SR-- only gets the start because he's a senior (1.5/1.5) definently need to upgrade this position. ILB- Pete Davis FR-- He'll be a STUD for us in the future (1.5/4.5) Renaldo Kinnebrew JR-- He'll start for us just because he's the AD's son. just kidding he'll do a decent job for us (2.0/2.5) OLB-Ken Johnson JR--he'll help us out this year (2.0/3.0) Byron Johnson SR--I'll be sad to see him after this year (3.5/3.5) hopefully he can teach the younger LB's how to play. CB-Sean Hankton JR-- a nice player if he can stay eligible (2.5/4.0) Dean Hendricks (JR)--he'll work until we can find a replacement (2.0/2.0) SS-Peter Buckman (JR)-- same as above (1.0/2.0) FS-Jarret Knutson SR-- he'll provide senior leadership for the DB's this year (3.5/3.5) K- Ray Armstead JR--should be a steady player for us (1.5/3.0) P- Jim Hill (FR)-- won't be our long term solution for us but will do (1.0/2.0)

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After putting our team through my first session of spring drills seeing the devopment of the younger players who came in early in the summer for some pre-training camp work outs, and going through 2 a days I'm starting to get a good feel for my team. Even though I just heard from the board of trustees and all they want from me is to avoid a last place finish, I really think we can be a dark horse in the MWC this year. Our schedule had been a long time ago but I didn't want to dwell on it to much until now. We're 1 week away from opening weekend when we travel to Idaho. I'm glad we start on the road this year it'll give my young team a chance to gell and bond together. 1. @ Idaho 2. Central Michigan 3. Western Michigan 4. @ BYU 5. OPEN 6. UNLV 7. @ San Deigo St. 8. CSU 9. @ New Mexico 10. Utah 11. TCU 12. OPEN 13. @ Air Force 14. OPEN 15. OPEN

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[B]Week 1 @ IDAHO[/B] We had a great week of practice and after traveling to Moscow, ID and getting in Friday afternoon we went and had a crisp walk through and then had our team dinner. I didn't sleep hardly at all that night, I kept going over in my head what I would say to the team the following day before taking the sideline for my first game as head coach at any level. Dating back to my days as an OC my wife would tell me what play I should call for the first play of the game and tonight as I called my wife back in Laramie and she gave me some last minute advise and told me that I should open the game with a quick play action pass. Most times the play she told me to call worked very well. Finally Saturday morning came we had our team breakfast and headed over to the Kibbie Dome. Before I knew it I was addressing my players before we took the field. I gave them some encouragement and told them to leave it all on the field...I know same old cliches but with my nerves going crazy I couldn't think of anything else to say. We won the coin toss and elected to receive. As my wife had told me I called a play action pass.... and it worked to perfection as Jim Seubert hit Jim Johnson for a 23 yard gain. We were off and running. We moved the ball down the field and scored on a pass from Seubert to WR Keith Sestak from 11 yards out with 10:30 left in the quarter. We stopped Idaho and got the ball back and punted, after another great stop by our defense we got the ball again and drove the ball to the Vandals 22 yard line before our drive died and we settled for a 39 yard field goal to go up 10-0 at the end of 1 quarter. The second quarter started and with just over 7 minutes to go I called a play aciton pass and Seubert hit Sestak again this time for a 62 yard TD. A huge smile crossed my face as I was beginning to feel that we had this one almost under control. This was to be short lived as Idaho went on a drive that took nearly 6 minutes off the clock and ended with a 5 yard td run to make the score 17-7 with 2:58 left in the half. We got the ball back quickly moved the ball downfield after a nice kick return and a couple of penalties we were within striking range again. This time Seubert hit Jim Johnson for a 19 yard td pass the extra point made it 24-7 at the half. The 3rd quarter saw us exchange field goals and at the start of the 4th quarter we still held a 17 point lead 27-10. With the game pretty much in hand we coasted the rest of the way Seubert threw his fourth touchdown of the game this time to TE Greg Whitsell from 2 yards out and then Ray Armstead added his third field goal of the game to make the final score Wyoming 37 Idaho 10. I couldn't believe how well my kids played today. Everything just came together so perfectly offense, defense, and special teams. Jim Seubert had an unbelievable game he finished 27-34, 409yds, 4td, 2int to be named player of the game. Keith Soriano had 7 catches for 138 yards, Keith Sestak had 5 catches for 105 yards and 2td, Jim Johnson added another 98 yards on 8 catches and 1 td. Not to mention Carl Gurode added 117 yards on 24 carries on the ground. The only thing that I could possibly harp on the team about was the turnovers. We ened up with 2 int and 1fumble. All in all we played a very good game and we already have half as many wins in one game as the Cowboys had all last season. In the other Mountain West Confernce action today: Air Force 29 Army 0 BYU 10 Tennessee 38 UCONN 51 CSU 21

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[B]Week 2 Central Michigan[/B] We finally get our first home game of the season. I've been looking forward to this game for my entire life. Growing up on plains of Wyoming I watched many a great Wyoming football games in the stands of War Memorial Stadium and now I was going to watch a game from the side lines. Once again I didn't get much sleep the night before this game. I probably should've slept at the office but oh well. Once again I was giddy as game time approached and I couldn't say much of anything other than a bunch of cliche's before kick off and it seemed to work the last time so what the heck. Once again we won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick. Once again I heeded the words of my wife and called the play she had selected the night before this time a hand off to my running back Gurode he got stopped in the backfield for a 1 yard loss. This was just the beginning of what would be a very long day for the home team. Nothing went right for us today as Central Michigan ran up and down the field on us all day long. Neither team scored until 3 minutes left in the 1st when CMU broke on top with an 8 yard strike from Reaves to Sowell to make it 7-0. I thought we were on the right track when we drove the ball inside their 10 yard line but our drive stalled and I thought that 3 point would be better than nothing so I sent out Armstead for the 22 yard FG to make it 7-3. CMU then marched right down the field with a 47 yard pass and a 19 yard run and then followed that up with a 1 yard pass from Teaves to Chandler to make it 13-3 after a missed extra point. We got the ball back and did absolutely nothing with it once again another 3 and out. CMU once again matriculated the ball down the field with several nice runs but our defense held them to 3 points to make it 16-3. After another short series we punted again. Again CMU moved the ball at will on our tired defense there was a 40 yard run a 9 yard run with a 15 yard fask mask penalty another 9 yard run the drive culminated with an Erron Barnes 4 yard touchdown run to make it 23-3. We got the ball back and tried to run out the clock but after a sack CMU called a time out and forced a punt. A few short plays later they had tacked on a 19 yard fg to make it 26-3 at the half. In the locker room I was so mad I wanted to scream, but I knew the kids didn't need to hear it, something in their eyes just told me their hearts weren't in this game anymore. For whatever reason we weren't ready for this game and it was my fault. I had given them an easy week of preperation for this game. I thought they deserved it after a great game the week before but obviously not, I learned a valuable leason this day. The third quarter we each score a touchdown CMU's on a 3 yard Barnes run his 2nd of the day and ours on a Keith Sestak 62 yard pass from Jim Seubert. After 3 the score was 33-10. We got the ball back and had a drive down inside the 20 and a 4th and 1. I thought if we could just punch this one in we would be right back in the game but we failed on an incomplete pass and CMU proptly made me pay by driving it the lenght of the field on me to score another td once again it was Erron Barnes with his 3rd touchdown of the game, man that guy is killing us. CMU added another fg to make it 43-10. We made a final driveto end the game by scoring a touchdown with a 7 yard pass from Seubert to Jim Johnson and the final score was 43-17. A very rough day all around. " We just got outcoached in this game, it's not the kid's fault the blame falls squarely on my shoulders" , coach Weidner said in his press conference after the game. "Erron Barnes is probably the best running back we'll face all season and we didn't do anything to stop him. They came out with a great game plan and stuck with it they had us on our heals all game long. When we thought they were going run they passed and visa versa. Their defense was much stronger than we anticipated and they took advantage of our mistakes. My hats off to them. They will have a very good season this year look for them to be in the post season this year" In the rest of the MWC today: Florida Int. 9 UNLV 21 SDSU 14 Middle Tenn. St. 11 Florida Atl. 14 CSU 17 BYU 20 UTEP 21 New Mexico St. 48 New Mexico 32 Idaho 40 Utah 35 Hawaii 3 TCU 20

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[B]Week 3 Western Michigan[/B] We have our second consecutive home game this week against Western Michigan and as we come out of the locker room I notice that we have a descent crowd today. Especially in the student section...this is something that I really want to try and develop. In years past the student turnout in Laramie can be somewhat anemic at best. But today the students seem to be turning out in droves. Western Michigan comes into the game 0-1 and we are favored by 8 points. This week we open up by kicking off after losing our first coin toss of the season, which was fine with me after a terrible week last week. Our defense hold them and we don't do anything with the ball on our first possesion either. WMU drives the ball on us down to our 40 and it looks like another disasterous start for our defense when all of a sudden SS Phil Buckman streaks out of nowhere to intercept a pass at our own 18 yard line...I breath a sigh of releif as the wide receiver had turned the corner all around on a nice out and up route and was wide open. After the turnover our offense seemed to get the feel for the game and I started calling plays that were working and we moved the ball down to the WMU17 yard line before our drive stalled so I sent out Ray Armstead to attempt the feild goal of 34 yards and he nailed it so the Pokes are up 3-0. In the second quarter we exchanged a couple of punts and after giving up a nice drive in which they scored on a 4 yard pass from Olanda Cavanaugh to Chris Day to make the score 7-3. "No need to panic" I tell myself as we start a drive at our own 20 we complete a screen for 9 yards and then a nice 14 yard run put us out to the 43. We got a couple more nice plays to move to the WMU 45. I decide to try a run that goes nowhere then we get sacked for a 1 yard loss. So it's 3rd and 11 at the 46 so I decided to go deep if it gets picked it'll work like a punt but to my amazement Keith Soriano got behind the defense and Seubert hit him in stride for the 46 yard TD to put us up 10-7. WMU added a feild goal late in the half to make the halftime scor 10-7 The third quarter starts with us getting the ball and a few short plays later we complete a pass Curtis Johnson (CUJO) he breaks into the open and I think he's going to score when all of a sudden he gets blind sided and fumbles the ball at the WMU 45. Our defense hold them on a 4th down attempt and we get the ball back but can't do anything with it so we are forced to punt. After exchanging punts again WMU has the ball and is moving into our territory again and I think we are getting tired but then once again Phil Buckman come to our rescue by picking off his second pass of the game to give us the ball back at our own 44 yard line. After a 25 yard pass on streak to Jim Johnson I decide to run a counter play and our offensive line opened a HUGE hole and Carl Gurode exploded untouched for a 34 yard romp to the endzone Pokes up 17-7. We kickoff and again WMU drives into our territory but our D comes up big again this time it's the AD son, Renaldo Kinnebrew who picks off a pass and returns it 16 yards to our own 48. I decide to go for the juggular, I call a play action pass off of the counter we just scored on and it worked to perfection as Seubert hits Jim Johnson in stride on a post route for a 52 yard touchdown and a 24-7 lead at the end of the 3rd. The crowd was going wild in between quarters and we even had our first streaker of the season get just about half way across the field before being tackled by security. WMU got the ball and moved it down the field on a nice drive and scored on an 11 yard pass from Cavanaugh to Greg Riley to make the score 24-14. I'm hoping our defense isn't getting tired. we were able to move the ball a little bit but our drive died at the 47 of WMU and we were forced to punt. They decide to throw anothe pass at Buckman and once again he was up to the challenge and intercepted his 3rd pass of the game and this time he returned it to the house for a 30 yard TD. To make the score 31-14. We held them scoreless the rest of the way and added Seuberts 3 td pass this time to TE Whitsell from 2 yards out to seal the deal 38-14. Another decent outing by Jim Seubert going 21-39 412 yds 3td 1int. Gurode added 102 yards on the ground and 1 td. We had 3 receivers with 100+ yard led by CUJO with 141 yds followed by Jim Johnson with 126 and 1 td and Keith Soriano with 100 yds and 1 td. But the star of the game had to be Phil Buckman with 3 picks and 1 td to go along with 6 tackles. We are now 2-1 heading into our conference opener at BYU, who seems to be struggling a bit. I'm nervous, however, because we seem to be a Jekyl and Hyde team this year playing well one week and bad the next lets hope this trend doesn't continue! In action around the MWC: North Texas 16 Air Force 32 CSU 17 Stanford 27 TCU 23 #17 Wisconsin 30 Arizona St. 29 BYU 31 San Deigo St. 3 Alabama 27 UNLV 13 Boise St. 34 New Mexico 10 Fresno St. 31