Bramlet, Cowboys thinking bowl game

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2003 | 10:17 a.m.

Editor's note: Last in a series previewing MWC football.

WYOMING AT A GLANCE

Here's something you haven't seen written in the same sentence for a while: Wyoming and bowl game.

There's a very simple reason for that. During their three years in the Mountain West Conference, the Pokes have won exactly one conference game, a 34-26 upset of Air Force last October.

Enter first year coach Joe Glenn, who won an NCAA Division I-AA championship in 2001 at Montana and two Division II titles at Northern Colorado in 1996 and 1997.

"We'd love nothing better than to give our seniors a bowl game," Glenn said when asked his goals for a team that lost 29 of 34 games under former head coach Vic Koenning, including a school-record 12 straight.

Glenn, who compiled a 39-6 record during that same three-year span at I-AA powerhouse Montana, knows many people might find that goal a tad too optimistic despite the fact the Cowboys return 17 starters, including one of the best kept secrets in college football in strong-armed 6-foot-4 quarterback Casey Bramlet.

"Why not?," Glenn said about his team's bowl goal. "Let's put a carrot out in front and set it as a longe range goal. We all live with hope, don't we?"

Glenn has spent much of the spring and summer driving around the state of Wyoming trying to get long-suffering Cowboy fans to jump back on the bandwagon. At the Mountain West Conference Front Range Kickoff Luncheon earlier this month, he even sat at a piano and led the crowd in Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Wyoming's fight song.

Whether Glenn's tactics will work with Cowboy fans remains to be seen. But Wyoming's players seem to have definitely bought into it.

"It's unbelievable. The atmosphere is just upbeat. We want to win, we're gonna win," senior punter Luke Donovan told the Casper Star-Tribune recently. "And, most importantly, the coaching staff that is here is teaching us how to win. Not showing us, teaching us."

"They have a winning attituide. That's what we've been missing," sophomore wide receiver Jovon Bouknight added. "We couldn't finish off a couple of games last year because everybody's so used to losing."

The Cowboys lost five MWC games last season by a combined 22 points including a wild 49-48 overtime loss at UNLV.

Wyoming has seven starters back on offense including Bramlet, a two-time second team all-MWC pick who needs 1,023 yards to break the school's total-offense mark and 1,298 yards to become the school's all-time leader in passing yards.

"He's a beautiful guy," Glenn said. "He's a winner on and off the field."

"There's a lot of schools in this country that Casey Bramlet could be the starting quarterback at," Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry said.

Glenn will switch from Wyoming's wide-open spread passing attack to a controlled passing attack with more of an emphasis on the run game. He also wants to help Bramlet cut down on his interception total. He has thrown 38 picks in the last two years.

"I think his efficiency will get higher," Glenn said. "Casey's going to get a chance at the next level. He knows that. (But) stats are for losers. He knows we've got to protect our defense."

Senior running back Derek Armah, who rushed for 596 yards on just 124 carries (4.8 avg.) in 2002, will become more of an offensive focal point this season.

Defensively, Glenn must find a way to improve a unit that gave up 490.8 yards and 36 points last season. He is hopeful a better pass rush --- Wyoming amassed a pitiful 10 sacks last year --- will help to cover for a questionable secondary. The linebacking corps, led by senior Tyler Gottschalk (6-4, 236), is solid. Gottschalk had 125 tackles last season.

So can Glenn pull off a stunner and get the Cowboys into the postseason in 2003?

"I'm not going to predict the season and how it will go," he said. "But I know my seniors would love to go out with a bowl game. What better way for them to go out?"