The 7-5 Wyoming Cowboys will return to the field one final time this year on New Year’s Eve against the Georgia State Panthers.
This will be the fifth Arizona bowl game since its start in 2015. The Cowboys will appear in their third bowl game in the Coach Craig Bohl era and their sixteenth bowl game overall with a 7-8 record. The last bowl game they appeared in was the Idaho Potato bowl in 2017 under the leadership of Josh Allens, who was later drafted by the Buffalo Bills. Last year was a gap year as the Cowboys were not selected for a bowl game even though they were eligible with their sixth win in their final game of the 2018 season.
“It really put a chip on our shoulders because we had been to a couple of bowl games. Last year, we were able to get eligible but were bypassed for whatever reason and it was a source of hunger to have a chance of playing together as a team,” said Coach Craig Bohl.
In what should be an even matchup, Wyoming hopes to find their way to a win with their rushing offense with Xazavian Valladay with the ball.
As for the quarterback situation, the decision will be announced soon as to who will be the starter for the Cowboys. Since Sean Chambers was injured earlier towards the end of the season, Tyler Vander Waal took the reins as the starting quarterback for the last four games of the season. However, Coach Bohl and the coaching staff have given the true freshman Levi Willams playing time during the win against Colorado State and spent some quality time on the field against Air Force. During finals week, Vander Waal has put in a transfer request, so if it is expected to be just Chambers and Williams next season.
Their opponent, the Georgia State Panthers, will be appearing in just their third bowl in their program’s history. They appeared in the Cure Bowl in 2015 and 2017 where they gained a record of 1-1. The Panthers had a similar 2019 season to Wyoming’s as they went 7-5 in the Sunbelt conference and much like Wyoming, they lost three of their four final games of the season.
The Panther’s rushing offense will match up to Wyoming’s defense. They averaged 245.2 rushing yards per game, ranking 4th in the Sunbelt Conference. Wyoming is sixth in the nation for rushing. The defense needs to continue on its record from the regular season in order to stop the Panthers’ rushing game. The Cowboy defense only allowed about 99.4 rushing yards per game on average, so the Panthers might have to rely on their passing game a little bit more.
“They are balanced on offense and that always poses problems.” said Coach Bohl in a conference earlier in the month, “They run the football against most all of their opponents and then they can throw the ball well. So that’s going to pose a challenge for us.”
Kickoff is set for 2:30 PM Mountain Time at the Arizona stadium in Tucson, Arizona. The game will be aired on CBS Sports network.
