‘Lesser of two evils’: BYU’s Tom Holmoe explains why Cougars are traveling to Wyoming this week

BYU Cougars defensive lineman Fisher Jackson (53) knocks down a Wyoming Cowboys quarterback Andrew Peasley (6) as BYU and Wyoming play at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. BYU won 38-24. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Just before BYU beat Wyoming 38-24 in Provo on Sept. 24, 2022, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe told the BYU Sports Radio Network that the Cougars fully intended to return the game in Laramie in 2024.

“It is a good game. … It is a game we should be playing,” Holmoe said at the time.

After BYU beat its former conference rival for the ninth straight time, and perhaps not knowing what Holmoe had promised four hours before that, then-Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said he believed BYU would buy its way out of the agreement.

That seemed odd, because Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman had told the Casper Star-Tribune earlier that week that he fully expected BYU to make the trip, despite the fact that the Cougars were joining the Big 12 in 2023 and were in the process of trimming their 2024 non-conference schedule from 12 games to three.

Turns out, Holmoe and Burman were right.

Wyoming (0-2) will host BYU (2-0) at 7 p.m. MDT Saturday night in Laramie, the Cougars’ first visit back to the high plains 7,220 feet above sea level and 30,000-seat War Memorial Stadium since 2009. Quarterback Max Hall led the Cougars to a 52-0 win that day, throwing for 312 yards and four touchdowns in just over two quarters.

It looks like a trap game if there ever was one, considering that Wyoming is 0-2 and coming off a 17-13 home loss to FCS Idaho and BYU is 2-0 and coming off an 18-15 road win at the ACC’s SMU. But BYU coach Kalani Sitake would have none of that talk earlier this summer.

“Wyoming is always good, and really physical, especially up there,” he said.

The Cougars return to LaVell Edwards Stadium the following week, hosting a Kansas State team expected to contend for the Big 12 title, in BYU’s conference opener. Wyoming is at North Texas on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lesser-two-evils-byu-tom-003003924.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-09-09 00:30:03

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