Mountain West · Jay Sawvel, year 3 (8-18) · War Memorial Stadium · 29,181 · 24,105 avg in 2026
LastW 21–13 vs Northern Colorado · Sat Sep 12 · Jones Thomas 2 INT, 5 tackles
Nextat Central Michigan · Sat Sep 19 · 1 pm ET · Kelly/Shorts Stadium · Central Michigan by 1.5 · series 2-1 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #111 | #79 | +3✗ | @Colorado State | L 13–35 120 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #112 | #257 | -23.5✗ | Northern Colorado | W 21–13 122 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #130 | #131 | +1.5 | @Central Michigan | |||
| 4 | Sep 26 | #131 | #77 | Hawai'i | ||||
| 5 | Oct 3 | @North Dakota State | ||||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @San José State | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | Northern Illinois | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Air Force | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 8 | @UNLV | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @UTEP | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 22 | New Mexico | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | UConn |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12 | Northern Colorado | W 21–13 | 304 | 2 | 28:53 | +0.179 | 41.9% | 105.1% | |
| Sep 5 | @Colorado State | L 13–35 | 273 | 4 | 30:41 | -0.025 | 41.8% | 90.0% | |
| Season average (2 games) | 288 | 3.0 | +0.077 | 41.9% | 97.6% | ||||
Wyoming plays the highest home games in major college football — 7,220 feet up in Laramie, where the thin air and the cold are the program's best recruit, and 'Cowboy Tough' is a literal description.
Cowboy fans are tired of being filed under 'cold, remote, forgettable' by people who've never had to play a December night in Laramie. They say the altitude humbles every recruiting-ranking darling wh…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 4-8 · last season
✓ measured from 12 games · ranks are among Mountain West teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Cold. 3-7 over the last 10, and won the last one.
Next Sep 19
vs Central Michigan · away
~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-14
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Wyoming's 4-8 record this season contrasts with its 2017 11-2 peak, highlighting the challenge of recapturing the altitude-driven, high-octane identity that once defined Laramie football.
our readdeveloping
Wyoming enters 2026 — the 4-8 record and 1% returning production create a stark contrast to the program's altitude-driven identity and 2017 legacy.
our readbackground
Jay Sawvel enters his third season with a 4-8 losing record to uphold, as Wyoming's altitude advantage and past success remain the only markers of its identity in a weak FBS tier.
our readbackground
Johnmichael Gyllenborg is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Michael Fitzgerald is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Wyoming enters 2025 at No. 110 in SP+ — top-quintile returning production can't mask Jay Sawvel's 4-8 record in his second year under the Laramie altitude.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Wyoming · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Wyoming: the fanbase's identity shifting.
The optimistic read: momentum, and the 'this is real' takes.
The analytical counter: rankings, results, and 'the hype is ahead of the tape' takes.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 44 of 413 board posts (11%) over the last 60 days — engaged but not consumed. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
Board health this week (73 posts): 21% positive · 45% neutral · 34% negative. Team-level weekly mood — not specific to this event. The boards ≠ the fanbase: a self-selected vocal slice.
Wyoming enters 2026 rated No. 110 in 2025 SP+ (-11.3). It is top-quintile returning production in FBS — 1% of production comes back. SP+ describes what the program HAS done, not what it will do. The season is the field test. The preview consensus leans in — but preseason ratings reward the recent past, not the season ahead.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 50 of 413 board posts (12%) over the last 60 days — a fanbase consumed by it. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
Board health this week (73 posts): 21% positive · 45% neutral · 34% negative. Team-level weekly mood — not specific to this event. The boards ≠ the fanbase: a self-selected vocal slice.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Wyoming is the Mountain West program whose 7,220-ft War Memorial Stadium altitude + Craig Bohl 2017 11-2 + Josh Allen 2018 #7 NFL draft define what Laramie-frontier-football looks like.
Wyoming QB battle emerges
Fall camp shorthanded, SP+ trending down, and now the QB room has no clear answer — Sawvel's 2026 rebuild starts with the hardest question still open.
Tim Polasek joins NDSU staff
Polasek leaving Wyoming for NDSU while the Cowboys carry a class ranked 89th and a falling SP+ isn't a lateral move — it's a signal about which program he thinks has actual upward trajectory right now.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
TX leads the 2026 class with 5 commits. National footprint reaching 11 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
105 signees across 16 states, 2023-2026. TX leads the pull.
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Wyoming player grew up 762 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to War Memorial Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 106 of 115 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
No high-engagement r/cfb discussions tracked for this program in the last year.
Fan confidence in a typical range for this program right now
55th percentile among FBS programs
The penalty battle is a wash: 13 penalties committed vs. 12 drawn on opponents.
107 penalty yards committed vs. 97 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Wyoming · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026