Wyoming Football Travels to UTEP, Northern Illinois in 2026
LARAMIE -- UTEP and Northern Illinois are the new kids on the block.
Both will officially join the Mountain West in July, the latter in football only.
Wyoming will receive an up close and personal look at its new conference partners, traveling to El Paso and DeKalb this fall, the league announced on Thursday. The rest of the road slate includes trips to UNLV and San Jose State.
Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Front Range rival Air Force will all make the trip to Laramie. Dates and times are to be announced.
The 2026 season kicks off Sept. 5 just down the road in Fort Collins. It's the 118th meeting of the annual Border War between the Cowboys and Rams. It will be the first as members of a different conference.
CSU, along with Boise State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State, will enter the new-look PAC 12 next season.
Northern Colorado comes to War Memorial Stadium in Week 2 and Wyoming travels to Mount Pleasant to take on Central Michigan the following Saturday. There's another oddity to this schedule. UConn will also make its way to the high plains. That game is slated for Nov. 28, the season finale.
The Cowboys won't face a Power-4 program for the first time since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign.
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The Cowboys haven't made the trek to west Texas since 1995. Joe Tiller's squad rolled to a 42-19 that November day. Wyoming holds a 26-6-1 advantage in the all-time series against UTEP and has won nine of the last 10 meetings. The one tilt finished in a 28-28 tie in 1991.
Wyoming and Northern Illinois have met just twice. Both were memorable.
In the 2016 season opener in Laramie, Josh Allen dove into the end zone, capping a three-overtime thriller. That score, which served as the quarterback's coming out party, came at 2:34 a.m. after thunderstorms in the area caused lengthy delays.
Five years later, Wyoming built a 26-point lead on the road midway through the third quarter. That disappeared in a matter of minutes. Running back Clint Ratkovich bullied his way past the goal line to give the Huskies a 43-42 lead with less than five minutes remaining. Sean Chambers led the Cowboys on a 10-play, 75-yard drive and scampered into the end zone from nine yards out to avert disaster.
Wyoming's 2026 schedule:
Sept. 5. - @ Colorado State
Sept. 12 - vs. Northern Colorado
Sept. 19 - @ Central Michigan
TBA - vs. Nevada
TBA - vs. New Mexico
TBA - vs. Hawaii
TBA - vs. Air Force
TBA - @ Northern Illinois
TBA - @ UTEP
TBA - @ San Jose State
TBA - @UNLV
Nov. 28 - vs. UConn
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
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