Week 5: Bowling Green at Wyoming

In the days when Gregg Brandon was a Wyoming assistant coach, the Cowboys were riding high. They won consecutive championships in 1987-88 in the old version of the Western Athletic Conference under coach Paul Roach, while Brandon worked with some outstanding receivers.

He will return to Laramie this weekend to find the Cowboys struggling and the offense in shambles after a 44-0 loss at BYU. The thing is, having faced a slightly more difficult schedule, Brandon's Bowling Green offense is not doing much better.

This first meeting between the Cowboys and Falcons matches the Football Bowl Subdivision's No. 116 (Wyoming) and No. 96 (BGSU) offenses, based on yardage. Wyoming is scoring 10 points a game to rank 117th. Bowling Green (17.0 points) is a little more productive, but the offense was disappointing in losses to Minnesota and Boise State that followed a season-opening upset of Pittsburgh.

The Falcons had last week off to regroup, trying to rediscover the offense that stunned Pitt and had carried them to three bowl games in the past five seasons since Brandon took over for Urban Meyer. Wyoming, meanwhile, was encouraged about opening the season with a 21-point effort against another Ohio school (namely, Ohio), but has regressed since then with three points against Air Force, 16 against North Dakota State and zero against BYU.

The Cowboys are running the ball reasonably well with Devin Moore leading the way, but quarterback Dax Crum has not delivered. Wyoming is passing for only 103 yards a game and lost six turnovers at BYU.

Things to watch

Brandon, a Colorado native, played collegiate ball at Northern Colorado, where Wyoming's Joe Glenn later became a highly successful coach.

While Wyoming's offense still needs major improvement under new coordinator Bob Cole, the defense is solid. The Cowboys are allowing 310 yards a game to rank 40th.

Wyoming's Devin Moore (98.5) is running for about a half-yard more per game than Bowling Green's team.

Key player (Falcons) — Diyral Biggs, DL

Biggs ranks second in the nation with five sacks in three games. He will be more important against the run this week, because that's what Wyoming emphasizes, but certainly will become critical when the Cowboys decide to pass.

Key player (Cowboys) — Austin McCoy, P

Yes, the punter. Wyoming's only hope is to win a tight, field position-oriented game, and that's where McCoy comes into play. He's averaging only 37.7 yards, not an impressive figure in Wyoming's 7,000-foot altitude. The Cowboys seemingly always have had great punters, and they need more from McCoy.

Bowling Green by 7