For the second straight scrimmage the University of Wyoming’s offense struggled.
And for most of Saturday’s scrimmage in Laramie the defense didn’t do a lot to contribute to those struggles.
There were 12 dropped passes and six offensive penalties. The run game averaged 2.7 yards per carry and the passing game completed just 50 percent of its passes with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Needless to say, first-year coach Dave Christensen wasn’t happy afterwards, and for the second straight scrimmage he wasn’t shy about expressing his frustrations.
See Sunday’s story in the WTE about what he said about his receivers, but one thing he did say was that the defense had nothing to do with those drops. Christensen also thinks his offensive line isn’t physical enough, and he still doesn’t like the fact his running backs have a hard time running north and south.
But after this scrimmage Christensen had more of a broad-based criticism of his team.
“I’m disappointed in the mental toughness of our team,” he said. … “We’ve got to get tougher.”
Interestingly enough, I heard one player after the scrimmage say it was pretty hot on the field which could have led to the offensive woes. Do you think it’s been hot in Texas or Utah or any where else in the country this summer? That’s not a sign of a tough football team, is it?
But how do you instill that? That’s not something you can just give players, or expect them to pick up overnight.
“Toughness is a mental thing,” junior quarterback Robert Benjamin said. “Once you’re mentally tough, you’re physically tough.”
The physical part doesn’t seem to be the problem right now. Heck, the offensive line and receivers put in nearly 30 minutes of extra conditioning for their struggles after the scrimmage. And, the number of serious injuries are significantly down in fall camp compared to spring drills.
Seems like the Cowboys have a long way to go on the mental side of things. Just like the consistency issue Christensen harped on earlier in the week, toughness is another one that must be addressed and improved upon.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom from the scrimmage. Here are some highlights:
–Senior defensive tackle Mike Neuhaus had his second interception of camp when he picked off Benjamin. Both of his interceptions in camp have come against Benjamin. Maybe Neuhaus should get some work at receiver, a position he played in high school.
–Redshirt freshman defensive end Cory Orth blocked a 31-yard field goal, and senior defensive tackle John Fletcher played well on field goal and extra-point block teams. In fact, Christensen has been pleased with the progress of all his kickoff and punt units in fall camp.
–Senior kicker Jake Scott had his best scrimmage as he was a perfect 6-for-6 in field goals, with a long of 42. He also made all four of his extra points.
–Redshirt freshman running back James Caraway had a 65-yard touchdown run.
–Junior free safety Chris Prosinski had an interception to end the scrimamge, and he also had the hit of the day with a hard shot on senior receiver Greg Bolling. However, Bolling held on to the ball.
For an intersting read, see Sunday’s WTE and how three former college coaches who reside in the area have been impressed with what they’ve seen from Christensen and his staff thus far.
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