Wyoming

QB: Leak still does everything well, except he’s not an accurate passer. I was in the endzone, so I don’t know if it is his mechanics or not (I don’t remember thinking that last year). Don’t believe his completion percentage - half of those were shovel passes.
GRADE: B+

RB: Tough to say because we ran so little. No back was in long enough to establish any type of rhythm. No one looks half as good as C-4.
GRADE: TBA

WR: Jackson’s one hander was beautiful; Caldwell made some impressive jukes with the ball in his hands; they are a very good duo. Dallas Baker seems to have just given up and accepted being number three. Cornelius didn’t do much this game, but he proved himself last year.
GRADE: A

TE: I think there was one the field at some point.

OL: Couldn’t open any holes and let Wyoming get to Leak way too many times. Four botched snaps is atrocious - only one was Leak’s fault, the rest were bad shotgun snaps.
GRADE: D

DL: Moving McDonald outside does allowed them to get more pressure than last year (no shock he was the best rusher on the team as DT in 2004). I’m still worried they are soft to the run the same as last year, against a big OL there might be trouble
GRADE: B

LB: Didn’t make any big plays, didn’t blow anything either
GRADE: C+

DB: The corners were very good. Too bad they can’t catch - by my tally they dropped four balls that hit them in the chest.
GRADE: A-

Special Teams: Brown is a high effort, high energy guy as a punt returner - which is good because no one seemed too concerned about blocking for him. Nor do I like this kickoff strategy of kicking off to one side and leaving the far side of the field (outside the numbers) uncovered. It will only take one lateral to make us give that up. I know special teams are always rough in the first few games of the year, but there is no excuse for two botched extra point snaps.
GRADE: C

Coaching: Two of my criticisms I mentioned above. One was they did not run enough, even when they were ahead. It’s good to get in the habit of doing this in case you need to run out the clock against and FSU or another serious team. The high number of shovel passes go my larger point, this offense seems kinda cutesy. I didn’t see Utah last year, but the constant 5 wides and then have a running back motion into the backfield requires the OL to play better than it did Saturday. I know gimmick offenses can work in college ball, but I can’t shake the suspicion that this won’t work every week. The defense may end up carrying this team. I will say at one point (I think after a turnover) I said they should go deep to the endzone to end the game, and Meyer did just that. Good to see a coach who understands how to manage a game. And they had almost no penalties. In the end they won the game. Wyoming played tough, and got a lot out of their limited talent. Maybe they didn’t pound an inferior opponent as much as they could have, but the game was never in doubt. Still Wyoming players said after that Utah seemed faster - not good.
GRADE: B

Bottom line: This team in no national championship contender, we’ll loose somewhere (at LSU?). Might slip into a BCS bowl if we knock of Tennessee and win the SEC; but that is far from a lock.