LARAMIE, Wyoming — Wyoming football players, coaches and fans have spent a lot time the past week talking about how important BYU’s visit on Saturday is to them, and how great it would be if they could knock off their once-bitter rivals on the high plains of Laramie.

“They are a wounded dog right now, and we better be ready to go, because they have got great coaches, they have got good players, and they have got good schemes. So we gotta be ready for their best shot.”

—  BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill

At least one Cougar knows that it isn’t idle talk. BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker’s father, former BYU and minor league baseball player Stephen Glasker, was born in Wyoming, and every year the family travels to Rock Springs, Wyoming, for a family reunion on Independence Day.

“All my cousins live there and they are diehard Wyoming fans, so they kinda give me crap all the time about (playing for BYU),” Glasker said. “I would say I got a little extra juice going into this game, for sure, just because the whole family is going to be there.”

They won’t be alone. Despite the Cowboys’ 0-2 start, and the embarrassing 17-13 loss to FCS Idaho last week, 30,000-seat War Memorial Stadium was close to being sold out as of midday Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Saturday and the game will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.

BYU leads the series 46-30-3 and has won the last nine matchups. The Cougars (2-0) are 10-point favorites and obviously have bigger games down the road in their second season in the Big 12, but Glasker says they won’t be looking past the Cowboys, after hearing from their own coaches who have played and coached in Laramie about how charged up the home team will be.

“Honestly, I have never been there, so I can’t really say too much, but I am excited just to see the atmosphere,” Glasker said. “I have heard it is crazy, so for sure.”

For BYU’s defense, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Glasker said the key to success is simple.

“Stop the run. That’s it. We are big on stopping the run,” he said. “Make them beat us over the top, mostly.”

Wyoming has one of the bigger quarterbacks BYU will face this season — 6-5, 245-pound junior Evan Svoboda of Mesa, Arizona. He won’t be an easy QB to bring down for a BYU defense that has posted five sacks through two games.

“I feel like we are not too worried about (Svoboda’s size). He is a pretty good quarterback on film. So mostly we need to just keep him contained, and if we just do our job, we are going to be all right,” Glasker said.

Both teams will be without their best running backs, as Wyoming’s Harrison Waylee and BYU’s LJ Martin are sidelined with injuries. BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill said Wyo’s offense is still capable of exploding for a big game, after a rocky start.

“They are tough guys up front,” said Hill, who will call plays from the press box after suffering a heart attack on Aug. 29. “They have not been necessarily rolling, putting up big numbers yet. … But they are a wounded dog right now, and we better be ready to go, because they have got great coaches, they have got good players, and they have got good schemes. So we gotta be ready for their best shot.”

BYU coaches have told their guys to remember what happened in an opener last year, when the Big 12′s Texas Tech went into Laramie as a 13-point favorite and was stunned 35-33 by the Pokes in double-overtime. Texas Tech took a quick 17-0 lead, but Wyoming roared back.

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, a former BYU receiver and Utah assistant, said he’s seen firsthand how well Wyoming plays at home.

“First of all, every game in college football is huge. There is so much riding on every game. And you have to approach every single week the same way. And then going into Laramie, I have been trying to impress upon these guys what a (tough place that is). We are going to get their very, very best,” Roderick said. “They will play their best and their fans will be into it. This will be a hostile environment. … I have been up there a number of times, been in some really tough, dogfight games. … So I have been trying to make sure our players understand what they are up against.”

Roderick said Wyoming’s defense wasn’t totally to blame for Arizona State putting up 48 points on them in the opener in Tempe.

“I just go historically on how they have been. It is the same defense they have been running, and they are very good at it. Everyone is in their gap. Everyone knows what they are doing. They are very disciplined and tough, physically tough,” Roderick said. “They have a good defense.”

BYU starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff proved he can win on the road last week at SMU, improving late in the game after committing three turnovers. Retzlaff grew up in Southern California and admits he knew nothing about the BYU-Wyoming rivalry until this week. The Jewish QB was not in the program yet when BYU beat Wyoming 38-24 in Provo in 2022.

“It is a storied rivalry from the Mountain West days, and I know there is a good likelihood this is the last time we are going up there. So I am excited to go up there. They are a tough, physical team. They always play us tough,” Retzlaff said. “And so I am excited to go up there and go kick their butt.”

Data shows that 20 to 40% of marriages end because of money.

People who have financial issues are 20 times more likely to commit suicide.

You’ve heard the phrase, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” which seems accurate.

When you work hard for your money, you want to be able to buy the things you want and need. If you’ve ever wondered why people from California want to move to Wyoming, the answer aligns with all of these phrases and facts.

Money.

Earlier this year, Go Banking Rates.Com released numbers on how far a $100 bill will go in each state, and it’s no surprise that in California, it’s not going as far as it is in Wyoming.

If you have a crisp new $100 bill and walk into a store in California, it’s only worth $87.50. If you take that same crisp new $100 bill to a store in Wyoming, it will be worth $108.10.

You’re wondering how that works, so here’s how Go Banking Rates.com figured it out.

GOBankingRates ranked the states where $100 is worth the most and least and provided supplemental factors, such as median household income as sourced from the 2022 American Community Survey, annual cost-of-living expenditures as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2022 Consumer Expenditure, and typical home value for a single family residence as sourced from Zillow.

 

To go further down the rabbit hole, Arkansas is where you will get the most out of your $100 bill. It is worth $113.40.

10 Outstanding Ways To Save Money On Gas In Wyoming

PROVO, Utah – BYU football heads into week three against Wyoming with a 2-0 record.

For a team that many prognosticators projected to win five games or less, the 2-0 start is a positive. However, as Kalani Sitake noted, they didn’t improve enough from week one to week two.

“We didn’t make a good enough improvement, in my opinion, from week one to week two,” Sitake, a ninth-year head coach, said. “Now we need to make up for it from week two to week three and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Most of that lack of improvement was tied to the offensive side of the ball in the 18-15 win at SMU.

Starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff shined in week one against Southern Illinois. The following week in Dallas, Retlzaff had three turnovers.

Retzlaff, who emerged as the “clear-cut” starter at QB out of fall camp, had similar turnover problems in losses a season ago.

“Take care of the stinkin’ football”

Sitake was asked if he considers Retzlaff’s performance a one-off compared to his performance against Southern Illinois.

“No, there’s no one-offs,” Sitake said.

The head coach, who has always remained consistent in having players battle for their jobs every day, then followed up with a strong message for Retzlaff.

“Take care of the stinkin’ football. That’s what it comes down to.

“I’ve said it over and over and over again. I don’t want guys to play tight and feel like they can’t take a chance, but the football belongs to everybody. It belongs to the fans. It belongs to the team. It belongs to the program. It’s not just one player. It’s not his ball. It belongs to all of us. So they need to start thinking about it more like that.”

During his six games as BYU’s starting quarterback, Retzlaff has thrown five interceptions and lost four fumbles.

Jake Retzlaff on staying aggressive

“We never talk about avoiding things because your mind doesn’t process that,” Retzlaff told KSL Sports. “It only processes what you say. It doesn’t matter when you say, ‘Not this!’ Or ‘for this!’ So, I believe in protecting the football. That’s something I can tell myself. I believe in ball security. That’s something I can tell myself and making plays.”

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick praised some of the highlights from Retzlaff’s performance in the win over SMU. However, he notes that ball security is critical.

“The most important thing is we were always in a good position to win the game. No one has a license to just make mistakes at any position indefinitely, but we were always in a good position to win the game. He did make a lot of good plays in the game as well,” Roderick said. “There are some things in that game that were outstanding, but yeah, I’ll just say no has a license to play poorly forever. But he did a lot of good things as well.”

Will the license for Jake Retzlaff remain in place?

Could the license from Retzlaff be revoked, causing BYU to turn to backup Gerry Bohanon?

“We have trust in Gerry. But we didn’t think about changing in that [SMU] game,” said Roderick. “We were always in a good position to win. It felt like a couple of those mistakes were very preventable. We need to protect the ball better for sure. But there was a lot going on. Sometimes it isn’t always perfectly readily obvious to everyone who’s watching.”

Despite the struggles, Retzlaff, a former two-time JUCO transfer who has faced adversity during his college career, is enjoying the opportunity to be BYU’s starting quarterback.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity that A-Rod has put in front of me, and I know the coaches are all behind me,” said Retzlaff. “Being able to run out with this group of guys is second to none. So I’m grateful to be able to do this every week.”

Retzlaff and the BYU offense return to action this Saturday night against Wyoming. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network and KSL NewsRadio.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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