I’ve been working on this post for a while, after breaking down the full 2016 Boise State vs Wyoming football game and then researching their respective depth charts.
Boise State has a clever and physical approach to football, taking the classic underdog route of using speed and game planning to best their opponents. But in an era where that’s the norm, Wyoming’s “neanderball” approach of just bullying people at the point of attack may be the stronger path to underdog glory.
My brother went to Boise State, so let me get my bias out of the way right now.
As for the answer to your evocative title to your article, I’m going to so no for the time being. Their offensive approach is interesting, and it could end up being a key new underdog strategy. But the Cowboy defense has a long ways to go before I think there’s a new presumptive Mountain West king of the hill in town. Lots of bad defensive performances in 2016.
Their defense wasn’t that great but they return most of the good players, were undersized and undeveloped a year ago, and they sacked their DC and brought in another ND St guy.
Whether they take down Boise or not, the evolution of the game and the test case that this is is a really interesting one for greater trends across the game. Boise is pushing the game forward on another level and the Cowboys are pushing something else entirely that’s really interesting.