• Support will be key amid shifting landscape

I went to Laramie (AKA ‘Laradise’) this past weekend to watch my beloved Cowboys take on the BYU Cougars. It’s been a bit since I’ve been there to be honest. I had some health obstacles and scares this past year and I missed the home opener (the Texas Tech upset win) in 2023 for the first time in more than 20 years. 

Starting the season with a disappointing 0-2 start and a historic rival coming to town I didn’t have a lot of confidence for this past weekend’s game. Things played out about as I thought, a 34-14 loss to the Cougars and the program’s first 0-3 start in ten years. 

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The stands were sold out for the first two home games. The game against Idaho as the opener still had some hope, and then this past weekend because of the opponent and its history. 

I thought there would be a lot of empty seats for folks who bought the tickets and then decided not to go. With about 25 minutes before kickoff, it looked like I was right. But, as people continued to file in, the War was pretty darn full. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to cheer about. 

But, I give the fans credit for showing up. It will be a mind set that we are going to have to embrace as UW folk. As for me, I still get goosebumps and a sense of pride when the team runs out onto the field with the band playing and the signature flags and the horses carrying them. 

The Mountain West is in a precarious position. It’s not the first time, but it continues to be attacked by both those inside and outside the league. With the announced departure of Fresno State, San Diego State, Boise State and colorado state (I don’t capitalize them), the MWC is in a zone of uncertainty as to whether more schools are jumping ship, or will they unite and invite others to expand the league. There are other options on the table too, like the idea that the Pac-2 has done things this way to force the MWC to reverse merge in order to eliminate payout fees. 

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That is all speculation and one can spend thousands of words wondering about it. Here’s what has popped into my head after this past weekend. The old sports adage of control what you can control. For Wyoming fans and supporters, that means, keep supporting. Maybe even increase your support. That’s hard advice right now with $4 gas (close enough), $18 cheese blocks and a regional housing market that has me nervous for myself, let alone my kids and my new granddaughter. 

So what can you control as a fan? How about your own mind set regarding the team. One of my favorite aspects of being a Wyoming fan my whole life has been the loyalty and hard-nosed resiliency of the Brown and Gold. A lot of the time it’s not glamorous, it’s not easy but we do it and the payoff is worth it in our minds. Lately? I feel like Wyoming fans, at least the online types, are getting a bit more soft. Calling for QB changes, coach firings, radical realignment and the like before we even get to the last week of September. Remember when there was a common sense approach to things? How about we reexamine that?

The offense is bad. Really bad. But I think that a big part of the perceived outrage is that we don’t know what we’re supposed to be seeing after a ten-year example of consistency that was Craig Bohl. We don’t know what Coach Sawvel’s teams should look like. We don’t know what a good offensive effort is. All we do know is we had hopes and expectations and those are taking a beating. A more practical defense of the offense? Your entire offseason was going to be led offensively by two guys, Harrison Waylee and John Michael Gyllenborg, who have hardly seen the field yet. 

So, we can control what we can control. Maybe you are off the bandwagon. Maybe things cost too much amid our current economic uncertainty to justify any more money for the Cowboys. That’s your prerogative and certainly you should do what you feel is best in your own house. And I get it. I drive a truck and it’s 800 miles round trip to Laramie. And this column really isn’t about money although you could certainly feel justified that spending money to support the team is implied. 

But there are plenty of ways to double-down on your support of the Cowboys amid a tough stretch. First off, how about not acting like a burro on Facebook. I know that’s asking a lot, but it’s a start. You can listen to the Coaches Hour with Jay Sawvel every Wednesday at 7:07 p.m. on The Spur. That’s free too. And you’ll get some insights as to the process of what the team does during the week and listen to a player or two who is putting on the team colors. You can listen to the games on Saturday on The Spur for free as well. SVI Media made a commitment to be part of the Cowboy Sports Network years ago. You can break out your apparel and support the Pokes win lose or draw too. You can listen to the Weekday Wake-up every morning because we have tickets to give away to every home game. Plus, the hosts are pretty darn good. The next home game is September 28 at 6 p.m. against Air Force.

Nebraska just celebrated their 400th consecutive home sellout. How many of those games have been losses in the last decade? Quite a few. Yet, they keep coming. Even if I don’t like Nebraska (I don’t) I certainly respect the heck out of that streak.

My point is, the Cowboys need support more than ever. So if you’re wanting to continue to count yourself among the Wyoming faithful, I challenge you to ‘Ride For the Brand’ however you can.  This is the best state in the union and the Cowboys are a unique entity in the giant corporation-based money machine of college sports. Much like our state, embrace our Pokes, especially when times are tough. As it’s been said before, if it was easy all the time, everybody would do it.