What Will Wyoming’s Offense Look Like Under Bouknight?

LARAMIE -- What will Wyoming's offense look like under newly-crowned coordinator Jovon Bouknight?

Great question.

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The Hall of Fame receiver has a limited history when it comes to playcalling. He served as a co-offensive coordinator at Utah State back in 2016, taking the reins inside the 20-yard line and on third-down situations.

In 2020, Bouknight, then a wide receivers coach at Kentucky, was handed the play sheet against North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl.

The Wildcats escaped with a 23-21 victory in Jacksonville on the heels of a 148-yard rushing performance from running back A.J. Rose. As a team, UK ran the ball 47 times for 288 yards and two scores, both courtesy of Chris Rodriguez Jr.

The game plan was to rely on the front five that afternoon inside EverBank Stadium. Statistically, UK featured one of the worst passing attacks in the country that season.

The Wolf Pack also was without four defensive starters. Three giveaways -- and seven penalties -- didn't help matters, either.

Terry Wilson connected on just 13-of-21 throws for 92 yards and finished with a quarterback rating of 39.6. That's an average of only 4.4 yards per completion.

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Utah State converted 69-of-178 third-down opportunities with Bouknight running the show. That's broken down to a 38.8% succession rate. That is roughly middle of the pack in the FBS.

That Aggie team, led by signal caller Kent Myers, finished just 3-9 during that '16 campaign, including a 1-7 mark in Mountain West play. The offense did reach the red zone 35 times that fall. They scored on 30 of those trips, including 21 touchdowns.

The best outing for Bouknight and Co. came in Laramie, crossing the goal line on all four trips in a 52-28 loss to the Josh Allen-led Cowboys.

Just moments after announcing Monday that Jay Johnson was being replaced by Bouknight, Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said his expectation for this program is to score at least one touchdown per quarter -- at minimum.

The math is pretty simple when you consider his defense is allowing just under 23 points an outing.

"This is a body of work where I'm looking at it and saying, 'We got to score points, OK? And that's the bottom line to it," Sawvel added. "I feel like we're going to recruit players that can be dynamic and I do think there's an expectation that we need to be more productive."

What is the boss looking for over these final five games with Bouknight in the driver's seat?

"Obviously, he's very passionate, very fiery and very direct," Sawvel said of the 42-year-old, who is in his first season as the full-time wide receivers coach in Laramie. "I think that our players will respond well to that. Now, I'm giving him a voice to a number of different players as opposed to just a position group.

"I expect that to resonate, you know, across the board, from all the positions, offensively. Look, he's a sharp guy, he's a smart guy, and there's a layer to it that way."

Sawvel said Bouknight didn't flinch Sunday when he received the news of this promotion.

The latter has worked on offensive staffs at Oregon, Texas Tech and Marshall, along with the aforementioned stops above.

Bouknight will continue to work from the sidelines. Johnson, who is staying on through the remainder of the season as an analyst, will remain in the booth. Bryce Missey will now be the interim quarterbacks coach.

Though the decision was a difficult one for Sawvel, who also worked alongside Johnson at the University of Minnesota back in 2016, the numbers don't lie: Wyoming is averaging just 20 points per game.

He hopes Bouknight can bring a "jolt" to this offense before this season becomes a lost one.

"I'm excited for him and for his opportunity to do this, but I'm also excited for our players, because, like I said, we need to get going, offensively," Sawvel said. "We still can have a very good season."

Bouknight's debut will take place this Saturday night when Border War rival Colorado State pays a visit to War Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.