Boise State ventures to cold Wyoming today for an afternoon contest with the Cowboys. Anyone who thinks Wyoming is not a dangerous team has not been following the Cowboys this year. They have lost three games by a combined six points and star sophomore quarterback Brett Smith has missed two of those games due to injury. But Smith is back guiding the reins of the Cowboy offense this week against the Broncos.
Boise State leads the Mountain West in total defense, scoring defense and pass defense. The Cowboys will challenge that secondary today, coming into the contest averaging 240 yards per game through the air to rank third in the conference. Smith is averaging 301.80 yards a game in total offense, a number that would rank 17th in the country but Smith is one game under the minimum number of games played. Smith would rank 24th in passing efficiency with a solid rating of 150.16 Smith is the only sophomore named to the Manning Award Watch List.
Chris McNeill had eight receptions for 219 yards (6th best in Wyoming history) against Idaho earlier in the year; he's the go-to guy for Wyoming. McNeill is third in the conference with 65.7 receiving yards per game.
Up front, Wyoming is led by Nick Carlson. Carlson has been on the Rimington Trophy Watch List each of the past two seasons, and was selected to the 2012 Rotary Lombardi Watch List as well.
On the other side of the ball, Mike Purcell leads all Mountain West defensive linemen in tackles with 7.1 per game. Ghaali Muhammad returned to his linebacker position this year after playing running back as a junior and is enjoying an outstanding season. Muhammad leads the Pokes with 64 total tackles, 41 of them solo. Muhammad is tied for #1 in the nation in fumbles recovered with three and is fourth in the Mountain West with 1.07 tackles for loss per game. Fellow linebacker Korey Jones is second on the team with 60 tackles.
Strong safety Luke Ruff is on the 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, while cornerback Blair Burns earned First Team Freshman All-America honors last season after recording four interceptions.
The game will also be televised live on CBS Sports Network. CBS Sports Network is available on Channel 613 on DIRECTV and Channel 158 on DISH Network.
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