Falcons preparing for a physical Wyoming team

Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon


By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

There’s no doubt that two straight trips out West will be a little tough for the Bowling Green Falcons.

One advantage, though, is the Falcons aren’t making the two trips on consecutive weeks. Two weeks ago, Bowling Green fell to Boise State 20-7 in Boise State. They had a bye last weekend.

The Wyoming-Bowling Green kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.

During their weekly Monday press conference, head coach Gregg Brandon and players Tyler Sheehan and Corey Partridge shared their thoughts on Wyoming and the bye week.

Brandon said he sees a big, physical team at Wyoming, offensively and defensively.

“Good size offensive linemen, a big physical back and a quick little scat back, so they can they can get in and out of things with those two guys," Brandon said. “Defensively, they are a stout, strong, physical football team."

Brandon also said Wyoming has good skill in its secondary.

"Their corners are athletic, their safeties tackles well and support the run," he said. “Their front seven are physical and stout. We are going to have to mix our run pass to be successful."

The former assistant coach at Wyoming (1987-90) said he remembers how the crowds the Cowboys can get, but he is not sure what to expect for Saturday’s game.

"You see on film that they have good crowds for their home games," Brandon said. “Coming off of a tough loss to BYU, I don't know what kind of crowd they will get. The three homes games they have had, they have almost filled the stadium. It looks like a great atmosphere just on film."

Sheehan, a junior quarterback, said the bye came at a good time for the Falcons, who opened the season with a 27-17 upset of Pittsburgh, but have since dropped two straight games. They also fell to Minnesota 42-17 at home.

"I think we got to focus on ourselves a little more,” Sheehan said. “We didn't have to game plan for a game that week, so we got to focus on what we have been struggling with. I think that has really helped our guys. Offensively, we have had the best three practices since the beginning of campus and it is always encouraging when that happens."

Sheehan is also expecting a tough time against the Cowboy defense.

"They are a big, bruising type of defense,“ Sheehan said. “Their front seven is pretty physical. I think we can expose them with some passing plays and the way we use our speed."

Partridge, a senior wide receiver, also said the Falcons were able to work hard on some of their deficiencies last week in practice.

"We went a little harder than most teams probably would in their bye-weeks,‘ Partridge said. “We had a couple practices here and there and really worked to get an attitude back that we kind of lost these last couple of weeks."

Partridge said he doesn’t know a lot about Wyoming, but on film, he thinks they are a physical team that likes to fly around and hit people.

“They have played some pretty tough teams. BYU is a great team and they stood in there and took their shots against BYU,” Partridge said.