By Robert Gagliardi
WyoSports 

UW defense has room for improvement, new challenges for next game

 

Blaine McCartney/WyoSports

Wyoming's youth and inexperience showed in the loss to North Dakota this past Saturday as Cowboys dropped their season-opener. Heading into this Saturday's game against Eastern Michigan, the Cowboys are trying to address those issues as much as possible to prevent a similar outcome.

LARAMIE -- The reasons were numerous for the defensive struggles for the University of Wyoming in its 24-13 season-opening loss to North Dakota this past Saturday.

"Being disciplined with my eyes," redshirt freshman walk-on safety Marcus Epps said.

"Cancelling out gaps" along the defensive line, second-year coach Craig Bohl said.

Defensive coordinator Steve Stanard said "lining up correctly, playing faster and taking better tackling angles" as his biggest areas of improvement.


"Youth and jitters" were first two things cornerback Robert Priester said.

That's a lot to work on and correct as UW prepares for its second game at 2 p.m. Saturday against Eastern Michigan (0-1).

Of all those areas, the youth may have been the most evident.

Three of the four starters in the secondary played their first-ever games for UW. And, juniors Eric Nzeocha and D.J. May played their first games at linebacker after playing offense last season.


"We need to play a lot faster, and some of the young men who have not played were on their heels a little bit," Stanard said. "But I was encouraged in the second half that they played at a faster pace and on their toes a little more."

More youth will be added this week as redshirt freshman walk-on safety Adam Pilapil is inserted into the starting lineup.


Pilapil, the starter coming out of spring and most of fall camp, was suspended for the North Dakota game for a violation of team rules.

North Dakota led 14-0 at halftime, and it scored on runs of 52 and 44 yards.

UW eliminated a lot of those big plays in the second half.

The defense also struggled to get off the field on third down throughout the game as North Dakota converted 9 of 17 times. North Dakota was 5 of 8 in the first half, and 4 of 9 in the second. The latter figure isn't ideal, but it showed some improvement.


"I feel like (the North Dakota loss) was a reality check," Priester said. "We just need to calm down and play our game. We need to learn from the loss, but we have to move on and improve. If we will do that, the result will be more wins."

However, a new game poses new challenges for UW's defense.

Eastern Michigan sophomore Reginald Bell is dual-threat quarterback who threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 58 yards in the Eagles 38-34 season-opening loss at home to Old Dominion last week.

Last season, Bell threw for 409 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for 101 in a game against Ball State.

Senior running back Darius Jackson ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns against Old Dominion, and has a good combination of speed and size at 6-foot, 220 pounds.

UW allowed 276 rushing yards against North Dakota, including 148 yards and two touchdowns for true freshman John Santiago.

The Cowboys will have a game plan for Eastern Michigan, but taking care of their own issues may be the most important aspect if it expects improvement.

"In practice it is important that they are playing as hard and as fast as they can, and that they're paying attention to detail," Stanard said. "We have to control the things we can control. As coaches, we need to coach them up on that end and make sure (the players) are held accountable for those things."

May Suspended

Bohl announced Tuesday that May would be suspended for the Eastern Michigan game for a violation of team rules.

The junior linebacker will likely be replaced by sophomore Tim Kamana. Bohl said he would have no further comment on the suspension.

 
 

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