Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming receivers Zach Bolger, left, and David Leonard chest bump after Leonard's 36-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Robert Benjamin. It was otherwise a tough day for the Wyoming passing game with 12 dropped passes.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
The Wyoming Cowboys dropped the ball -- literally -- at Saturday's third major scrimmage of the fall.
The first scrimmage saw the Wyoming offense dominate. The second scrimmage, it was the defense’s turn. On Saturday, there was a more even distribution of play except for one thing -- dropped passes.
And that had head coach Dave Christensen fuming after the 90-play scrum at War Memorial Stadium.
Christensen ran out of fingers counting the drops.
“You come out here and drop 12 balls, you can’t evaluate the quarterbacks. That’s pathetic,” Christensen said. “That’s gotta’ change and guys have to be dying to get better at it or we have to recruit some guys who want to catch the ball. You’d think a wide receiver in this offense would be excited to have an opportunity to come out and compete in a game situation. But to have 12 drops, to say I am embarrassed is an understatement.”
Christensen was asked after the scrimmage what could be done to improve in catching the football. He said they will do something … or else.
“They have a job to do to get it done, so we’ll do some stuff with them," he said. "We’ll get out the jugs machine and do some extra work in catching the football. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to coach their rears off and find ways to make them better. The bottom line is that they have to be dying to be better. That’s how I challenged our receiver corps.”
The four Wyoming quarterbacks combined to complete 27 of 49 passes for 248 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Benjamin, who has been running the No. 1 offense since his outstanding opening scrimmage, was 10-of-21 for 117 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He connected with wide receiver David Leonard for a 36-yard score.
Benjamin said he let the team down on Saturday.
“I finished pretty good, but you have to start strong, finish strong,” Benjamin said. “It was a lack of focus. I tried to come in and get it done, but I guess it didn’t happen today. I don’t have any excuses for it, it just didn’t happen.”
Senior Karsten Sween was 8-of-12 for 54 yards, Austyn Carta-Samels was 8-of-14 for 69 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while junior Dax Crum was 1-of-2 for eight yards.
Based on what he saw live, Christensen said it is hard to evaluate which quarterback had the better day or is still on top of the depth chart. That evaluation will be in the film room.
“I’m not going to base anything off of what I watched,“ Christensen said. “You have to look at all of those things when you evaluate the quarterbacks. Robert did a nice job of running the two-minute offense and got us a field goal. Austyn was moving us down in his drill.”
Benjamin said that while drops are part of the game, they have to get over it as a team.
“As a leader, as the quarterback, you have to make sure that you get it done, and today, we didn’t have too much leadership,” he said. “I’ll take that part on myself. As quarterbacks, we need to make sure our receivers catch the ball.”
Senior Greg Bolling led the way with six catches for 57 yards, followed by Leonard with four receptions and 63 yards. Freshman tight end David Tooley had three catches for 35 yards and one TD reception, while sophomore wide receiver Brandon Stewart had three catches for 23 yards. Newly converted receiver T.J. Atwater caught three passes for 17 yards.
Atwater, who had played much of his career at Wyoming at free safety, volunteered to move over to receiver to help out.
“He’s at practice every day. If he can catch the football, he has a pretty good chance of playing there. He catches the ball pretty well,” Christensen said. “He’s come over to the offensive side at receiver. He’ll probably be in the mix in about two days.”
It wasn’t just the wide receivers who had a case of butterfingers -- the running backs and tight ends also contributed to the problem.
Senior running back Darius Terry said they are very aware of those shortcomings and will solve the problem.
“Coach touched on that after practice and said, ‘You can’t play in this offense if you can’t catch the ball, at every position, that’s running back, tight end and receiver,” Terry said. “We really have to focus on that. When we get tired, we have to focus to catch the ball before we make our moves.”
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Scrimmage Statistics
Passing
Player Comp.-Att Yards TD Interceptions Long
# 11 Robert Benjamin, qb 10-21 (.476) 117 1 1 36
# 5 Austyn Carta-Samuels, qb 8-14 (.571) 69 1 1 19
# 16 Karsten Sween, qb 8-12 (.667) 54 0 0 13
# 9 Dax Crum, qb 1-2 (.500) 8 0 0 8
Totals 27-49 (.551) 248 2 2 36
Receiving
Player Receptions Yards TD Long
# 84 Greg Bolling, wr 6 57 0 19
# 33 David Leonard, wr 4 63 1 36
# 14 David Tooley, te 3 35 1 16
# 22 Brandon Stewart, wr 3 23 0 18
# 9 T.J. Atwater, wr 3 17 0 8
# 26 Darius Terry, rb 2 16 0 10
# 6 Turmour Battle, wr 1 9 0 9
# 88 Orlando Arnold, te 1 9 0 9
# 89 Zach Bolger, wr 1 6 0 6
# 83 T.J. Smith, te 1 6 0 6
# 1 James Caraway, rb 1 5 0 5
# 32 Alvester Alexander, rb 1 2 0 2
Totals 27 248 2 36
Rushing
Yards Yards Net
Player Attempts Gained Lost Yards TD Long Fumbles
# 1 James Caraway, rb 3 70 5 65 1 65 0
# 5 Austin Carta-Samuels, qb 2 22 0 22 0 11 0
# 32 Alvester Alexander, rb 6 21 3 18 0 8 0
# 22 Brandon Stewart, wr 1 15 0 15 0 15 0
# 37 Lorne Bridgford, wr 3 15 3 12 0 15 0
# 26 Darius Terry, rb 3 9 0 9 0 6 0
# 16 Karsten Sween, qb 1 6 0 6 0 6 0
# 89 Zach Bolger 1 3 0 3 0 3 0
# 25 James Davis, rb 6 6 4 2 1 2 0
# 11 Robert Benjamin, qb 2 6 5 1 0 6 1
# 30 Duell Petsch, rb 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
# 13 Matt Cobb, qb 1 0 16 -16 0 -16 0
Totals 30 173 36 137 2 65 1
Returns
Yards
Player Gained TD
# 47 Mike Neuhaus, dt 6 0 (interception return)
# 24 Chris Prosinski, fs 4 0 (interception return)
# 44 Josh Biezuns, ilb 0 0 (fumble return)
Blocks
# 55 Corey Orth, de blocked a 31-yard field goal
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Defensive Highlights
QB Passes
Player UT AT TT Sacks TFL Broken Up FF FR Int
# 2 Marcell Gipson, cb 0 2 2
# 3 Patrick Hartford, ss 0 1 1
# 4 Tashaun Gipson, cb 2 1 3 .5-.5 1
# 6 Alex Toney, lb 1 2 3
# 7 Shamiel Gary, fs 0 3 3 .5-.5
# 8 Brian Hendricks, ilb 2 4 6 1-4 1-4
#12 Tramaine Brown 2 1 3
#13 Adam Barry, ilb 1 1 2
#16 Kenny Browder, cb 0 1 1
#18 David James, cb 1 0 1
#19 Jamichael Hall, ss 0 2 2
#20 Trendt Marsom, ilb 1 0 1
#21 Larry Mitchell, fs 1 2 3
#23 Ghaali Muhammad, ss 0 1 1
#24 Chris Prosinski, fs 4 2 6 1-4
#27 Todd Knight, ilb 0 2 2 .5-1.5
#31 Jeff Roueche, olb 1 0 1 1-16
#34 Matt Birkeness, ilb 0 2 2
#36 Weston Johnson, lb 2 2 4 .5-.5
#37 Matt Barella, olb 1 1 2 .5-2.5
#38 Adam Hirtz, lb 0 1 1
#41 Andrew Meredith, db 1 2 3
#44 Josh Biezuns, olb 2 0 2 1-7 1-7 1 1-0
#45 Bryson Studnicka 1 1 2
QB Passes
Player UT AT TT Sacks TFL Broken Up FF FR Int
#47 Mike Neuhaus, de 1-6
#52 Gabe Knapton, ilb 0 5 5
#55 Corey Orth, de 0 2 2 1
#59 Reece Hall, lb 0 2 2 .5-1.5
#85 Mark Willis, dt 0 1 1
#90 Fred Givens, ng 0 1 1
#91 John Fletcher, dt 0 2 2 .5-2.5
#93 Marcus Felker, ng 0 2 2
#97 Alex Stover, ng 0 1 1
#98 Mitch Unrein, de 0 2 2 .5-.5
Totals 23 52 75 2-11 7-37 2 1 1-0 2-10
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