Wyoming QB Andrew Peasley is ready for Texas-sized challenge

LARAMIE – Andrew Peasley was icing his shoulder on the sideline during the fourth quarter against Portland State.
Wyoming’s starting quarterback was not taken out of the game due to injury but by head coach Craig Bohl, who was hoping the game was on ice.
The Cowboys (2-0) led by 21 points after Peasley’s third touchdown of the afternoon with 1:55 remaining in the third quarter.
But UW struggled to run the ball once Evan Svoboda came in for mop-up duty in the 31-17 victory over the FCS Vikings.
Now Peasley, coming off his best passing performance with the Pokes, is focused on playing well for four quarters to give the visitors a chance at No. 4 Texas on Saturday at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium (6 p.m., Longhorn Network).
“Heck yeah,” Peasley said Monday when asked if he was up for the challenge. “We’re always going to be an underdog no matter who we play, so I think it will be fun for us to get this opportunity to go into a big crowd against a No. 4-ranked team in the nation.
“We just have to stay humble and play with Cowboy grit. That’s what it comes down to for us.”
The Longhorns are coming off an impressive 34-24 victory at then-No. 3 Alabama. Peasley’s counterpart, Quinn Ewers, carved up the Crimson Tide secondary for 349 yards passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Bohl also was impressed with the performance of his QB1 after Peasley finished 11-for-16 passing for 201 yards with a career-high three touchdowns and one interception. Wide receiver Ryan Marquez fell down on the turnover.
“We threw the ball and caught the ball as well as what I can remember for many years,” Bohl said during his weekly Monday press conference in the High Altitude Performance Center. “It was Andrew Peasley’s best game, and his numbers bear that out. He was on point. The one throw that was intercepted the receiver got tripped up. I thought he played his best game, and the receivers did an outstanding job.”
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was 14-for-17 for 255 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also was sacked five times while Ewers’ offensive line kept him clean throughout the statement win in Tuscaloosa.
“They are hitting on all cylinders,” Bohl said of Texas, which he describes as a national championship contender. “Ewers is the real deal. He’s as good as advertised.”
The Waylee factor
Overall, Bohl is pleased with how his team has started the season. Two areas of focus after getting outscored 7-0 in the fourth quarter against Portland State are running the ball better and closing out games better, which go hand in hand with the lead.
Harrison Waylee is expected to make his UW debut if practices go well this week. The dynamic transfer had 1,929 rushing yards and eight 100-yard rushing games during his time at Northern Illinois.
“We anticipate that he’ll be full speed and we’ll determine where he’s going to sit on the depth chart by how practice is going, by how he’s moving,” Bohl said. “But I would anticipate him playing a pretty significant role in this game.”
Sam Scott (114 yards, one touchdown), D.Q. James (68 yards) and Jamari Ferrell (39 yards, one touchdown) rotated during the first two games. Each player has lost a fumble, which is something the Pokes will have to avoid in order to compete against the Longhorns.
“If you just look at everything on paper, for us to have an opportunity to win I think we’re going to need to flip that around and be like plus-three (on turnovers) in the game,” Bohl said.
Notable
Texas climbed to No. 4 and had two first-place votes this week in The Associated Press poll, which is the program’s highest ranking since finishing the 2009 season No. 2 following a loss to Alabama in the BCS national championship game. …
The Cowboys trail the all-time series 5-0 with four of the losses coming in Austin. Texas has won by an average of 32.6 points in the five meetings.
Quotable
“As the head football coach, I recognize bills need to be paid. This is part of the nature of college football,” Bohl on UW receiving $1.85 million for the guarantee game at Texas, which was scheduled in 2020 with no return trip for the Longhorns to Laramie.