Game Day Preview: App State at Wyoming

By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Leaving the relatively high elevation of Boone, App State Football faces a tall order in traveling west to play Wyoming on Saturday night.
 
Both 2-1 overall with noteworthy performances against Power Five teams this season, the Mountaineers and Cowboys will square off at 7 p.m. ET (or 5 p.m. local time in Laramie) on the CBS Sports Network.
 
Regardless of the elevation change — Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium ranks No. 1 at the FBS level by being 7,220 feet above sea level, compared to Kidd Brewer Stadium ranking 12^th overall and No. 1 in the Eastern or Central time zones at 3,333 feet — the Cowboys are a difficult way for App State to close out its nonconference schedule.
 
"(The elevation) is a big deal if we make it a big deal, but if they told us to play on Mars, we'd get on a plane and go to Mars," App State head coach Shawn Clark said. "We're just excited to go out there and play. It's going to be a great environment. I know they're going to have a great crowd there, and I have a lot of respect for their program. They do it the right way, and Coach Bohl was at North Dakota State for three national championships. He knows how to coach football. It's going to be a tough football game with two similar, alike programs. It will probably be one of the best games on TV this weekend."
 
The Mountaineers followed a double-overtime loss at No. 17 North Carolina with a 43-28 win against East Carolina last weekend.
 
Wyoming, meanwhile, won a double-overtime thriller at home against Texas Tech to open the season and was tied entering the fourth quarter of a 31-10 loss at No. 3 Texas last weekend.
 
The forecast currently calls for a high temperature of 63 degrees Saturday, with 27 mph winds and no chance of rain. In the Mountaineers' only previous visit to Laramie, back in 2004, the start of the game was delayed 33 minutes by lightning. That was a long time ago, as App State's 53-7 loss occurred a year before the Mountaineers began a national championship three-peat at the FCS level.
 
Wyoming coach Craig Bohl, who led his own FCS three-peat as the former head coach at North Dakota State from 2011-13, became the Cowboys' head coach the same year App State made its FBS debut. Since then, the Mountaineers' 32 road wins rank sixth nationally, and they'll have to grind out a win against a disciplined, tough, ball-controlling opponent to increase the total.
 
"It's two great programs, and it's going to be one hell of a football game," Clark said.
 
 
App State is officially allowing 30.7 points per game, but that number drops to 21.7 per 60 minutes from coordinator Scot Sloan's defense when taking away 13 overtime points from North Carolina and 14 points scored on defensive touchdowns by East Carolina.
 
The Mountaineers intercepted three passes and recorded four sacks in the victory against ECU.
Wyoming possessed the ball for 38 minutes last weekend at Texas and ranks 13th nationally in possession time, meaning there's added importance to the App State defense coming up with third-down stops and the offense making the most of its limited number of possessions.
 
Wyoming's Andrew Peasley, who started the first two games at quarterback before missing the Texas game with a shoulder injury, is a dual-threat option who totaled five touchdown passes and 111 rushing yards (with a 5.3 average) during the wins against Texas Tech and Portland State. The 6-foot-2, 218-pound Peasley was replaced in Austin by 6-5, 245-pound Evan Svoboda, who threw for 136 yards against the Longhorns.
 
Finding creases behind a big offensive line with five 300-pound starters, including four who are at least 310 pounds, physical running back Harrison Waylee made his season debut at Texas and had a 62-yard touchdown to highlight a 110-day day. He had posted eight 100-yard games during the previous three seasons at Northern Illinois.
 
"They're a blue-collar football team, similar to App State," Clark said. "They're really going to run the ball on offense and throw it deep when they can."
 
Wyoming's defense has been a multiple-front unit, playing differently against Texas Tech than it later did at Texas, for instance.
 
With national rushing leader Nate Noel (145.0 yards per game) and company coming up from Boone, the Cowboys have allowed just 3.5 yards per carry this season while holding pass-first Texas Tech and Portland State below 100 rushing yards. Texas officially ran just 52 plays, including 31 rushes that gained 185 yards.
 
It's unclear how much windy conditions could affect the passing game, after Texas Tech and Portland State combined for 592 passing yards in Laramie. Joey Aguilar has totaled nine touchdown passes (tied for eighth place nationally) and 690 passing yards in a little more than 10 quarters of work as he prepares to make his second road start.
 
One of the quarterbacks that Aguilar looked up to while growing up was Wyoming alum Josh Allen, another California native who played junior college football in his home state before moving on to the FBS level at a tradition-rich Group of Five program.
 
A strong running game led by Noel and App State's offensive linemen, plus the versatility and speed of a deep receiving corps, will work to create balance for the Aguilar-directed attack against Wyoming's defense.
 
"They keep everything in front and play very solid," Clark said. "We have to be very efficient and be patient as the game plan goes along."