With the MTN ending quickly I've been spending some time the last couple weeks browsing their schedule and trying to record as many Wyoming games as possible. Without a network dedicated to the Mountain West these games will probably never be televised again. I've only had the MTN in my home for the last year, so I missed many of the earlier broadcasts.

One game intrigued me was the 2008 season opener where the Cowboys hosted Frank Solich and the Ohio Bobcats. I had never had a chance to see this game televised before. It took me like five times but I was finally able to see the whole game. It wasn't because it was a boring game, actually it was very dramatic. I ended up watching the game late at night when I was pretty tired. I watch the first half in one solid sitting. Next time I picked things up in the second half where I eventually fell asleep late in the third quarter. Twice more I attempted to finish the game but always fell unconscious with about five minutes remaining. I gave it another shot today and finally saw the Cowboys hold on to win 21-20.

The point of this article is not to recap a game that is four years old. But to see how far we have come since that time.

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There hasn't been much news coming from the men's basketball program about suspended Wyoming forward Leonard Washington. The Casper Star-Tribune published a recent article that bascially says it could take a while for everything to work itself out. In this situation no news can almost be viewed as good news.

The staff has met with Washington and have gone over what he needs to get back on the team. He enrolled in summer school and according to message board posters is working at the golf course.

That said, Washington has met with the second-year head coach and athletics director Tom Burman in recent weeks, according to several UW officials, and knows exactly what he must do if he wishes to be a part of the UW program for the 2012-13 season. It sounds as if the list covers several different areas.

If there was no chance of Washington being back on the team, then they would have never sat with him and worked out a plan. Let's a hope low key summer is in store for Washington and that he can reach all those goals.

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Cowboy Cribs is in full swing this summer. This time we have a first for Cowboy Cribs: a coach's house. Wide receiver coach Derek Sage welcomes us into his families home. He and his wife Mandy have a one year old daughter who is very active. Her toys dominate the living room, which certainly reminded me of my own home. I have a two year old and she has plenty of toys in the living room. I can also relate to not having the bed made most of the time. However on Sunday I changed the sheets and made our bed all on my own. Ready for my Husband of the Year Award.

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For the second straight year Wyoming center Nick Carlson has earned recognition for his play. Carlson was again named to the watch list for the 2012 Rimington Trophy that is handed out each year to the top center in college football. The senior from Arlington Heights, IL was one of fifty athletes named to the list. He is also was one of 21 that are on the list for the second consecutive year.

The Cowboys had a tremendous improvement in their offensive line last season. That was key for the increased scoring production and reduction in sacks as well. Carlson is a captain this year and will be counted on to lead a unit that lost several starters to graduation. The offense struggled for much of the spring but it is hard to tell if that is because of injuries to quarterbacks and running backs or if the line took a step backwards.

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Here is another video from the archives that we found. This time we go back to 1978 and the Cowboys who are coached by Bill Lewis. The Pokes finished 5-7 but certainly played a tough schedule. The soundtrack for these videos is incredible and is at least one reason you should check out these videos. They played the usual lot of tough WAC teams but also played Texas and LSU on the road that year. Those were two close losses that put the Cowboys out of bowl contention.

Lewis provides some narration during the video. Injuries also played a huge role in this season. Myron Hardmen was having a great year but injured his knee and missed the second half of the season. He finished with 658 yards in six games. Four different Cowboys had more then 100 rushing attempts on the year. It is great watching the option offense in action.

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The 2012 schedule is all set for the Wyoming football team. After that things get a little uncertain for the Pokes. There was a four game scheduling agreement with Utah State that is now gone. The Aggies will be joining the Mountain West in 2013 and now Wyoming will have three games to fill over the next several years.

With the Mountain West and Conference USA working on scheduling partnerships and further expansion possible, Wyoming may wait for some things to get settled before announcing any new games. Currently the Mountain West is set to only have eight conference football games. I doubt that number would increase at all. Air Force doesn't want to play any more then eight conference games because Army and Navy already take up two of their non-conference game slots.

So based on that thinking Wyoming will need to add one more opponent for 2013, and two more in 2014 and 2015.

Let's look at some possibilities here.

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After weeks of speculation the Boise State Broncos are sticking with their move to Big East along with San Diego State. The Broncos haven't secured a new home for their Olympic sports with the demise of the WAC. They are currently in negotiations with the Big West and need 8 out of 10 votes to land a spot in the California bus league.

Brett McMurphy reported that Boise informed the Mountain West this week that they will be leaving in 2013 as planned, The Broncos had second thoughts after it appeared their new league may not be a stable one. The Big East still has an uncertain future but Boise State was willing to risk it. If the Big 12 raids the ACC it could set off another round of expansion where the Big East is raided once again.

Now the Mountain West can finally get down to business with CUSA and TV executives about contracts and partnerships. The Mountain West stands at 10 teams and now CUSA will be at 14 with the recent addition of Old Dominion. That would bring it to a total of 24 teams between the the two leagues.

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The Wyoming defense line took an unexpected hit today with the news that starting left defensive end Ben Durbin is transferring to Iowa State for his senior year. The Cyclones announced the transfer today, the University of Wyoming has not released any statement at this time. Even though Durbin is a senior he will be able to play right away. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology this spring which he won't need to sit out a year. Durbin used his redshirt in 2008, didn't play in 2009 and then spent the last two years at defensive tackle.

"I was at Wyoming for four years and Laramie is a great place," Durbin said. "This is not about Wyoming. I talked to my friends and family about it. Iowa State is doing great things under (Iowa State head) coach Paul Rhoads. Coming home is a dream. Believe me, I appreciate this opportunity."

The Gilbert, Iowa native always felt that he was a Cyclone and wanted the chance to play in front of his family. He was not offered by Iowa State as a high school linebacker and chose Wyoming.

In the off season Durbin was moved from tackle to defensive end where he was a starter throughout the spring. The problem I have here is how long did Durbin know he was going to transfer? He took all those reps with the #1 defense this spring and the Pokes will see no benefit. Someone else who will actually wear brown and gold in 2012 could have used that valuable practice time.

The Pokes do have some depth at defensive end, so at least the cupboard is not completely bare.

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A bad off season for Wyoming forward Leonard Washington took another bad turn. The leading scorer for the Cowboys was suspended indefinitely on April 4th for not meeting the expectations and standards of the team. May Then yesterday Washington was sentenced in Albany County court for battery and criminal entry for an incident that occurred on April 15th.

The citation states that Washington admitted to entering a house without permission and then striking an individual with a closed fist. In laymen terms there a party that Washington visited without invitation and then punched someone. This can happen fairly often on college campuses and is certainly not good timing for Washington. Obviously fighting is never a good thing but at least it was not a serious assault case.

Washington was fined twice as well as some jail time and unsupervised probation. Surprising that news of this case was kept under wraps for so long. Nothing was mentioned of this incident until the sentencing today.

Here is a summary of the punishment handed down by the judge.

He received a $240 fine, with 10 days in jail suspended, for the criminal entry charge, and a $290 fine, with 21 days in jail suspended, for the battery charge. Washington was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation for the battery charge and six months of unsupervised probation for the criminal entry charge. The probation charges will run concurrently.

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Wyoming fans were mad when the Mountain West released their list of TV broadcasts for the 2012 football season. The Cowboys were only listed once, there is still a chance that a smaller channel like Altitude could pick up some of the open games.

One thing that most Wyoming fans were counting on was the season opener against Texas being shown on ESPN. That may not be the case as the mothership is trying to get back some money from their $300M investment in the Longhorn Network that launched last year. Verizon FIOS is the only cable system to carry the network at this time.

Basically ESPN is playing hardball with carriers and using football games as the bait to get more subscriptions.

UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Friday the Longhorns expect to have at least two and possibly three football games broadcast on the Longhorn Network this fall. A third game would be an increase from last year, when his office received widespread complaints about fans’ inability to watch two games on LHN.

The most coveted programming UT has is football. Dodds said if two games are on LHN this fall, they would likely be non conference games. A third game probably would be a Big 12 contest, Dodds said.

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Plenty of interesting things to read today on the inter-webs. We'll get you caught up on everything.

The latest BlogPoll was released yesterday and LSU is back at #1. I didn't vote this time and that meant that Wyoming got no love. Last time I put Wyoming at the #1 spot and it pretty much blew the computers up. Boise State was the only Mountain West team to make the Top 25 (landing at 22). Season opener Texas was 21.

Bill Connelly is doing incredibly in depth previews of every college football team. Right now he is progressing through the Mountain West. The Wyoming preview was just published and it is certainly worth reading. Bill is the innovator of the F+ ratings which haven't kind to Wyoming in the last couple years. He thinks the Cowboys will get a number of wins this year based on their depth and not just luck. There is also this Wyoming statistical profile that Bill compiled. It will likely blow your mind.

Josh Biezuns will get a shot with the Chicago Bears after signing as a free agent. He will attend the teams voluntary mini-camp that occurs later this month. Alvester Alexander reached a deal with Bears two weeks ago.

The latest Cowboys Cribs video was just released.

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This football season will be the first that includes a group of seniors that were part of Dave Christensen's initial recruiting class at Wyoming. Seems like time is flying by and several members of this group will be playing in their final college football games this fall.

Coach Christensen only had a couple months to put together this group of 22 new recruits. Nick Carlson and Josh Leonard signed at the same time as grayshirts but they were recruited under Joe Glenn. Attrition is at 50% with just 11 of the 22 signees on the current roster that Christensen recruited. That number has improved greatly with the recruiting classes afterwards.

Still this group has gone through plenty and been a huge part of turning around the Cowboy program. Four of the eleven are now seniors. 10 members of this signing class played their first year at Wyoming and helped the Cowboys make two New Mexico Bowl appearances in three years.

Let's take a trip down memory lane back to February 9, 2009 and that first signing class.

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Mark Branch has built the Wyoming wrestling program into one of the top in the nation. While he is losing several of his top wrestlers to graduation, the team is adding plenty of talent with the new recruiting class. Five wrestlers signed with Wyoming in the early signing period and then three more were announced on Monday.

That gives the 2012 class eight members, five of which are four-time state champions and five have earned Senior National All-America status. Gone are familiar names like Joe LeBlance, Michael Martinez, Shane Onufer, Dallas Hintz and Chase Smith.

Let's take a look at this group of future Pokes.

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The Mountain West will expand by two schools today and the WAC takes another step closer to death's door. The two newest members will be announced this afternoon are the San Jose State Spartans and Utah State Aggies. These twoadditions don't really make most fans excited like the last round of expansion did. Still I thought it was important to give our new conference mates another look and see what they offer.

Both schools will play in the WAC in 2012-13 season and then join the Mountain West on July 1st, 2013.

Let's start off with San Jose State.

SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS

Location: San Jose, CA

Total enrollment: Approximately 31,000

Endowment: $73.1M

The Spartans are a powerhouse in collegiate Judo with at least 43 titles. That pretty much sums ups their athletic prowess.

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The Mountain West released it's 2012 national television schedule today. With the Mtn. closing it's doors on May 31st we now see what life may be like under a new TV deal. It's not a pretty picture for Wyoming, Colorado State or New Mexico fans.

The press release boasts that a minimum of 25 games will be broadcast on either CBS Sports, NBC Sports or CBS. Navy at Air Force will be shown on CBS. There will even be four games broadcast on ESPN. Yes, you read that correctly: ESPN will be showing four Mountain West games this year.

But how many Wyoming games are set to be televised? Currently just the Boise State game in Laramie on October 27th. Colorado State only has a single game listed and New Mexico is totally missing. Craig Thompson tries to give these schools a sense a hope with this statement.

"This is the first phase of plans for the 2012-13 academic year," said Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson. "We are working with CBS Sports Network and member institutions to map out regional and local plans for the remaining 2012 football inventory. We anticipate announcing additional telecasts from these efforts in the coming weeks."

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With the conclusion of spring practice the coaches have had some time to evaluate things and have released a new depth chart. Players who were injured this spring were put in to the depth chart at their correct slot. So even if some players didn't participate they in spring scrimmages they can still be starters. There wasn't a ton of shuffling but there were certainly some noted changes.

Check out the full depth chart if you like.

What didn't change? Well Brett Smith is still your starting quarterback, Blair Burns is your number one cornerback and Nick Carlson is starting at center.

The biggest difference on this depth is that a nickel back position was added. Andrew Meredith was named the starter there with Luke Anderson listed as the backup. Meredith had a strong spring while Anderson was limited for most of the drills. Both should play next year. This position is very important for the defense that Tormey runs and it's multiple formations. Hopefully they aren't forced to listen to "How You Remind Me" when playing this spot.

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The 2012 NFL Draft is in the books and no Wyoming Cowboys were selected. That doesn't mean these former Cowboys are left out of a chance at making a NFL roster. After the draft is complete teams are busy contacting [;ayers aren't selected and trying to sign them. While it is always exciting to be drafted there were a number of big names in college football that went unpicked including Boise State QB Kellen Moore and Washington running back Chris Polk.

One big benefit of being an undrafted free agent is that you may get several offers and the you can pick the one that is best for you. DB Tashaun Gipson was the first signing to be announced on Saturday. Gipson chose an offer from the Cleveland Browns over several other teams. The Browns didn't focus on the secondary very much in the draft which will help Gipson earn a spot. They drafted one cornerback in the seventh round and then signed two others as free agents. Cleveland did not draft or sign any safety's this year. The versatility of Gipson to play safety and cornerback will be a big help to his chances.

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With the spring season now in the book it is time to look back and reflect. The football team will now have more then three months till their next official practice. Still this was a very productive spring season and was certainly different then the first three under Coach Christensen.

There are many more established starters on this team compared to previous years. Also less players were switching to new positions. Previous spring camps have felt like the team was desperately trying to find someone to fill a position. The QB battle of 2011 is a thing of the past.

Let's recap some highlights and figure out what all happened during this spring season.

OFFENSE

• Colby Kirkegaard is a much better quarterback then he was two months ago. With Brett Smith being kept out of contact drills it meant Kirkegaard took a large majority of the snaps behind center. We don't have a quarterback controversy on our hand by any means. But if Kirkegaard needs to come into a game next year I'd expect him to have much more confidence in the offense and himself. The Pokes are going to be thin at QB next year so having a quality backup will be very important if anything happens to Smith.
• The offensive line is still a work in progress. Their improved performance last year was a huge reason for the uptick in scoring. Now the hunt continues to find a solid starting five for the offensive line. A healthy Kyle Magnunson will help this fall. If the pass protection drops in 2012 it could spell trouble.
  

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It's been a busy week for the Wyoming basketball staff as they signed their second athlete in three days. The latest addition is 6-9 195lb forward Derek Cooke from Cloud County CC in Kansas. The long and lean athlete certainly took an interesting path before signing with the Cowboys.

Cooke in a DC native and played wide receiver in high school. He was only 6-2 and decided to take a year off after graduation. During that time he had a massive growth spurt and enrolled at Cloud County where he would play his first organized basketball. He used his redshirt in 2010-11 in order to learn some of the game's fundamentals. He played just one season at Cloud and will have three years of eligibility as a Poke. Over the season Cooke averaged 6.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and nearly one assist. He shot 55% from the field which led the team.

His defense is certainly ahead of his offense and Coach Shyatt is very excited about Cooke's quickness and athleticism. He can play the four or the five and can defend the post or on the floor. There is plenty of potential that Shyatt see in his latest commit.

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The Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences will extend their inter-league challenge for a fourth year. The two conferences announced the 2012 pairings on Monday. The Mountain West holds a 16-10 edge over the first three seasons, last year the conferences split the matchups 4-4.

Wyoming will hit the road this time for a trip to Normal, IL to face the Redbirds of Illinois State on December 4th. The Cowboys have won two straight in the challenge and are 2-1 overall. This won't be an easy contest and adding in a long trip for a Tuesday night game makes it even tougher. The majority of the games are being played on Saturday, December 1st.

Last year Illinois State finished 21-14 (9-9) and made it to the second round of the NIT as a seventh seed. The beat Mississippi in Oxford to start and then lost on the road to Stanford 92-88. Even scarier is that the Redbirds return every single player on a team that won 21 games. They have seven seniors for the 2012-13 season and will certainly be a contender for Missouri Valley title. 6-9 240lb F Jackie Carmichael led the team with 13.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. 6-4 SG Tyler Brown averaged 13.7 points and shot 45% from the field and behind the arc. PG Nic Moore had a strong freshmen season averaging 10 points and 3.9 rebounds. He finished the year with three straight games of 20 or more points.

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Coach Shyatt always talks about creating a family environment for his team. He also wants to bring in quality athletes who are a good fit for the Pokes. Looks like the Shyatt connections have paid off again with their latest signing. Wyoming announced today that Charles Hankerson Jr. has signed with the Cowboys and will be transferring from Alabama.

Hankerson will enroll in May to start classes and get a feel for the campus. He will need to sit out one year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules and then have two years of eligibility remaining. Hankerson Jr. visited Laramie this weekend and fell in love with the staff, the campus and the fans. He felt a great connection with Coach Shyatt who recruited him while he was in Florida. Jeremy Shyatt and Allan Edwards also recruited Junior while they were coaching at VCU. Having a relationship with all three coaches was a big plus.

In his two seasons at Alabama, Junior averaged 3.6 points and 1.5 rebounds in 11 minutes. Listed at 6-5 210lbs he was one of the top shooting guards in high school. Hankerson was rated 4 stars by Scout after averaging 31 points and 11.3 rebounds as a senior at Coral Reef High School in Miami.

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The greatest wrestler in Wyoming history has found a job before he has even finished school. Four time All-American Joe LeBlanc is set to join the Indiana wrestling team as an assistant coach in May. Hoosier Head Coach Duane Goldman was very excited about LeBlanc joining his team.

"I have been a fan of Joe LeBlanc since I first saw him at the NCAA Championships during his freshman season," said Goldman. "His attitude and passion for the sport are evident in the way that he competes. His commitment to wrestling, academics and family make him a great fit for our staff and the goals of our program."

The 184lb LeBlanc leads Wyoming with 147 career wins. He was a key figure in the amazing growth that the Wyoming wrestling has experienced under head coach Mark Branch. The Cowboys earned a Top 10 ranking this year and have been the most successful program in Cowboy athletics over the last several years.

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The 2012 spring football season is now complete after the annual Brown and Gold game capped off 15 practices. The Gold team lead the entire way in the 20-7 victory. I was predicting a victory by the White team but was certainly wrong. The real stars of the day were the defense on both sides of the ball. The depth and athleticism for the defense was a huge factor in this game.

First off though, why is the spring game called the "Brown and Gold" game but the teams are White and Gold?

Colby Kirkegaard took every single snap for the Pokes since Brett Smith was not competing in scrimmages. Kirkegaard finished 28 of 47 for 324 yards including two touchdowns and two interceptions. He must have been exhausted by never getting a series off. I'm sure that probably didn't help his performance by getting no rest or chance to talk strategy with the coaches between series. He did well with the short passes but missed several deep routes that could have gone for touchdowns. At halftime Kirkegaard was honored as the most improved offensive back for the spring.

The running backs also played for each team due to smaller numbers on the roster. Kody Sutton led the team with 41 yards on eight attempts. Brandon Miller ran 10 times for 32 yards. Zaquoya Parham had two carries for four yards but also had a fumble that was recovered by Marqueston Huff of the White team.

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With the draft taking place on Thursday we now have our roster for the Brown and Gold game. The four captains were divided up and had to go through and draft their teams.

Each team will be coached by a coordinator. Here we'll take a look at each team and see who may have the advantage on Saturday.

The game starts at 2pm at War Memorial Stadium and is free to all fans. There will be four 12 minute quarters and a running clock except for the finally two minutes of each half. They will use a normal scoring system for the game.

Remember that quarterbacks and running backs will be playing for each team due to smaller numbers.

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The fantastic web series Cowboy Cribs is back. This time we get inside look at the townhome that OL Zach Rushing and S Luke Anderson call home. These two southern boys are living pretty nicely in Laramie. The opening song is "Sweet Home Alabama" but Zach is from Missippi and Luke is from Texas.

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