Editorial:

Quirky or otherwise, Wyoming leaves its bowl game footprint

Posted 1/10/23

The last time the University of Wyoming played in the Arizona Bowl football game the Cowboys won 38-17 over Georgia State, and the UW following ran the hosts out of beer.  That was 2019. …

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Editorial:

Quirky or otherwise, Wyoming leaves its bowl game footprint

Posted

The last time the University of Wyoming played in the Arizona Bowl football game the Cowboys won 38-17 over Georgia State, and the UW following ran the hosts out of beer.  That was 2019.

This year the Arizona Bowl hosts were better prepared. Beer was sold in super-size, 25-ounce cans for the Dec. 30, 2022 game, and the supply lasted — even through an overtime period as the Pokes were nipped by Ohio University 30-27.

And, no, it had nothing to do with the sponsor name of the Arizona Bowl — Barstool Sports.

Barstool produced the game on its digital and pop culture media platform, selling tickets via its mobile app.  A Barstool personality sang the national anthem before kickoff, and Barstool voices did the play by play and color announcing for the telecast.

On the day following the game, the Tucson newspaper called the presentation of the 2022 Arizona Bowl a little quirky; not outlandish, simply quirky in keeping with bowl game history.

The digital nature of it went a little far for me in that there were no printed game-day programs. No matching player names and numbers.  Of course, the digital generation in the stands could turn to their phones to find a corresponding outlet for rosters somewhere. Not me.

The description of the Barstool announcers from folks back home has also been interesting. The reviews have not been over the top laudatory. The characterizations have ranged from “sophomoric and smutty,” to “too much like game show hosts — loud and off the wall, talking over each other.”  In short, they were not network grade commentators.

All of that aside, it was a pretty spectacular day in the colorful University of Arizona Stadium.  Game time temperatures near 70.  An Air Force jet flyover and parachute jumpers gliding in at 120 miles per hour before kickoff; fireworks exploding in the darkening sky at game’s end.

An announced crowd of 27,691 had to look good to a TV audience on the lower levels of the stadium.

And, yes, Wyoming did its part and then some. The UW athletic ticket office sold 2,200 tickets, not counting 500 tickets given to the UW Western Thunder Marching Band and players’ families.  Clearly, more attended and purchased tickets through other outlets, leading the UW Athletic Department to estimate 6,500 Cowboy fans in attendance.

This mantra held true and continues to make UW an attractive invitee: Wyoming fans will travel.

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