Wyoming Notes
• The Wyoming vs. Illinois game this Saturday is one of 11 FBS games to be played in Zero Week to kick off the 2022 season. More information is on Page 2 of these game notes.
• Wyoming and Illinois will be meeting for the first time in football in the two schools’ histories.
• The Cowboys and Fighting Illini are two of the youngest teams in college football entering this week’s season opener.
• Junior running back Titus Swen has been named to three Preseason Watch Lists, including the Doak Walker Award, Paul Hornung Award and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.
• The Cowboys have won five of their last six August games.
The Wyoming Cowboys and Season Openers: As the Wyoming Cowboys enter their 126th season of college football in 2022, the Pokes record in season openers stands at: 79-44-2 (.640) in 125 previous season-opening games. The Cowboys are 59-18-1 (.763) in season-opening games at home, and are 20-26-1 (.436) in road games to begin the season.
• Wyoming’s record in 125 Previous Season Openers (Home & Away) 79-44-2 (.640)
• UW in Season-Opening Games at Home (78 Games) 59-18-1 (.763)
• The Cowboys in Season-Opening Games on the Road (47 Games) 20-26-1 (.436)
• UW vs. Non-Conference Opponents in Season Openers 65-27-1 (.704)
• The Pokes vs. Non-Conference Opponents at Home in Season Openers 50-11-1 (.815)
• UW’s record vs. Non-Conference Opponents on the Road in Season Openers 15-16-0 (.484)
• Wyoming’s record vs. Conference Opponents in Season Openers 14-17-1 (.453) Season Openers in the Bohl Era: Wyoming is 5-3 in season-opening games during the eight previous seasons that Craig Bohl has coached the Cowboys. Now entering his ninth season leading Cowboy Football, Bohl’s teams have opened the season at home five times and this will be the fourth time they have opened on the road.
• The Cowboys are 4-1 in season-opening games at home during the Bohl era, including wins over Missouri (2019) and Northern Illinois (2016).
• On the road, the Pokes are 1-2 in season-opening games, having won at New Mexico State (2018) and losing at Iowa (2017) and at Nevada (2020).
Wyoming vs. Illinois is One of 11 Week Zero Games This Weekend to Kick Off the 2022 Season: The Wyoming Cowboys will be part of the 11 college football games to kick off the 2022 season in Week Zero this coming Saturday.
• Among the 11 games to be played in Week Zero this season the Mountain West has five (5) teams competing and is tied with Conference USA (5) for the most teams playing on Week Zero.
• The rest of the teams competing in Week Zero listed by league include: Big Ten (3), ACC (2), FBS Independents (2), SEC (1) and FCS teams (4).
Wyoming’s August Games and Week Zero Games: The Wyoming Cowboys will be playing only their 12th August game in school history when they travel to Champaign, Ill., this coming Saturday. They will also be playing in only their second Week Zero game in school history. In certain seasons, Week Zero games are played the week prior to the start of the full college football schedule.
• Wyoming is 6-5 in its previous 11 August games, including a home win over SEC member Missouri in 2019.
• UW has won five of its last six August games.
• Wyoming won its first Week Zero game in school history in 2018 when it went on the road at New Mexico State and defeated the Aggies by a score of 29-7.
Wyoming Will Face a 2022 Schedule That Will be Filled With Seven Postseason Teams From Last Season: The 2022 Wyoming schedule will be filled with seven teams who earned postseason bids a year ago.
The seven teams on Wyoming’s 2022 schedule who, like the Cowboys, earned bowl bids last season, include non-conference opponents BYU and Tulsa and Mountain West Conference opponents Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai’i and Utah State. Four of those postseason teams will play in Laramie — Tulsa, Air Force, Boise State and Utah State.
Pokes Face Big Ten Team for the First Time Since 2017: The last time the Wyoming Cowboys played a Big Ten team was in the 2017 season opener. That season was the final season that former Cowboy quarterback Josh Allen played for Wyoming. The Hawkeyes won that game 24-3.
Wyoming’s History Versus the Big Ten: Wyoming will be looking for only its second win over a Big Ten team when it travels to Champaign, Ill, this Saturday.
• The Cowboys only previous win over a Big Ten opponent was a 21-12 win over Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., on Sept. 27, 1986. The Badgers won the other two meetings vs. Wyoming — 37-28 in 1973 in Madison and 41-17 in 1985 in Laramie, Wyo.
• Wyoming will be playing Illinois for the first time in history.
• The Cowboys have only played half (7) of the current member schools of the Big Ten.
• The Big Ten team that Wyoming has played the most is Nebraska. The Cowboys are 0-8 vs. the Cornhuskers. Since Nebraska began competing in the Big Ten in 2011, Wyoming is 0-3 vs. the Huskers, losing in 2011, 2013 and 2016.
Illinois Notes
Illinois, Wyoming Kick Off College Football Season
• Illinois and Wyoming meet in Week 0, the Illini’s second straight season playing the first week of the year. Last season, Illinois beat Nebraska, 30-22, in Week 0.
• Illinois and Wyoming meet on the football field for the first time in history.
• Illinois is hosting one of 11 games involving FBS teams and one of six Power-5 teams to play during Week 0. Nebraska and Northwestern meet in Dublin, Florida State hosts Duquesne, North Carolina hosts Florida A&M, and Vanderbilt travels to Hawaii.
Big Wins in the Bielema’s Year One
• Bret Bielema became the first first-year head coach in Illinois history to win two top 25 games. The Illini had marquee wins at #7 (AP) Penn State, in the longest game in college football history, and at #20 (CFP) Minnesota, in Illinois’ first ever College Football Playoff ranked win.
• The Illini were one of four teams to win two AP/CFP ranked games on the road in 2021, along with Boise State, Fresno State, and Mississippi State.
• Illinois had as many AP/CFP ranked wins in 2021 (2) as the previous 12 years combined.
• Illinois tied for its most Big Ten wins (4) since the 2007 team went 6-2 en route to the Rose Bowl (tied with the 2010, 2013, 2019, which also had four Big Ten wins).
• Illinois dominated Northwestern, 47-14, in the season finale for the Illini’s first win in the Land of Lincoln Trophy rivalry game since 2015, snapping a six-game losing streak.
• According to ESPN’s SP+ metric, Illinois had its best season since 2011 and 8th-best season in the last 25 years.
Defensive Improvement
• Illinois announced a contract extension for defensive coordinator Ryan Walters on Nov. 14, 2021, after Walters helped Illinois have one of the best defensive turnarounds in college football.
• Illinois’ defense made a 13.0-point improvement from 2020 to 2021 (34.9 ppg to 21.9 ppg). The 13.0 ppg improvement is the program’s third-best improvement since 1950.
• Illinois’ scoring defense (31st from 97th), total defense (32nd from 89th), and third-down defense (51st from 114th) all improved 50 or more spots in the national rankings.
• Illinois allowed only 18.9 points in Big Ten games, the fourth-best in the conference. In 2020, Illinois allowed 34.9 points allowed per Big Ten game, ranking last in the conference.
• Illinois’ Big Ten defensive ranks in conference play improved 7+ spots in points per game (4th from 14th), touchdowns allowed (t-3rd from 14th), yards per play (4th from 13th), yards per game (5th from 14th), rush yards per carry (7th from 14th), pass yards per throw (4th from 14th), and pass yards per game (1st from 10th).
• Illinois held nine of its 12 opponents under their season scoring average.
• Illinois’ total defense improved by 101.0 yards per game from 2020 to 2021 (467.3 to 366.3). The 101.0 ypg improvement is the program’s fourth-best improvement since 1950.
• Illinois’ defense allowed only 48 points (12.0) in regulation of its four Big Ten road games in 2021, including only four TDs by opposing offenses in Big Ten road games.
• Illinois allowed only one passing touchdown over its final six games of the season and none in the final 19 quarters (4 games + final 3 quarters at Penn State).
• Illinois allowed only 2.5 yards per carry in Big Ten road games in 2021 (142 carries, 361 yards) and only 1.7 yards per carry in the fourth quarter of those games (31 carries, 52 yards).
• Illinois had a streak of holding opponents to 24 points or fewer in seven straight games from September 17 to November 6, 2021.
HOME OPENER
Illinois debuts its new turf during the first game of the 2022 season. Some of the notable changes are “Zuppke Field” written in the sidelines, “FamILLy” displayed beyond the south end zone and the sideline, and orange sidelines inside the 20-yard lines to mimic those of the Rose Bowl.
Illinois is 276-247-14 all-time at Memorial Stadium.
Illinois is 84-43-5 in season-openers and 61-28-4 when opening the season at home.
Ground Game
• Illinois lined up with seven offensive linemen for 24 snaps at Penn State, leading to the most ever rushing yards by an opposing team at Beaver Stadium in a Big Ten game (357 rushing yards). The “barge” package produced 129 yards (5.4 yards/carry) and nine first downs.
• Illinois was 4-0 when it ran the ball 46+ times in 2021 with wins vs. Nebraska, vs. Charlotte, at #7 Penn State, and at #20 Minnesota.
• Brown had two of the nation’s top 17 rushing games of the season. He and Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker III were the only running backs with two of the top 17 highest rushing games.
• Brown rushed for a career-high 257 yards against Charlotte, the fourth-most in a game in Illinois history, and 223 yards at Penn State, the seventh-most in a game in Illinois history.
• Brown’s 257 yards are the seventh-most by a running back in college football this season.
• Brown’s 257 yards were the most by a RB coached by Bret Bielema in his 13 years as a head coach.
• Brown led the nation in yards after contact in Week 8 with 145 at Penn State, according to PFF. He led the nation in yards after contact twice in a four-week span in October and he was the only running back to lead the nation in yards after contact twice in 2021.
• Brown had 200 yards after contact against Charlotte according to PFF, the most yards after contact in all of college football in Week 5 and tied for the fifth-most yards after contact in a game during the 2021 season.
• Josh McCray ran for a career-best 156 yards on 24 carries against Purdue 9/25/21. It was the fourth-most rushing yards by a true freshman in program history.
• McCray had 144 yards after contact at Purdue according to PFF, the second-most yards after contact in Week 4. He had another 100 yards after contact at Penn State.
• McCray’s 156 rushing yards at Purdue were the fifth-most by a true freshman in 2021.
• McCray’s 156 rushing yards at Purdue were the most by a true freshman in a road game in 2021.
