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Updated Football Schedule

OrediggerPoke said:
I agree with this. I see the next MWC football expansion (now that NDSU has opened the door) as a potential UC-Davis, South Dakota State, Montana and Montana State foursome to get the conference to 14 teams and 2-7 team divisions. I don't personally see UNLV sticking in the conference past 2031 however. I don't know what Air Force will do after 2031.
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I could also see Idaho trying to get one of those spots, maybe I'm biased as someone who loves UofI but that school has seemed ready to jump back up for a good bit now and already is competitive in their biggest rivalry, the battle for the Palouse with Wazzu. We'll see but the gap for western FCS->FBS moves is wide open now, so it'll be interesting to see whose hats get thrown in.
 
OrediggerPoke said:
It is the nature of those two programs being the only two programs sought by others when the MWC was imploding. The PAC was courting UNLV and the AAC was courting Air Force. Because of that, UNLV and Air Force each asked for a bigger share of the pie to stay (i.e. to make up any losses that they would incur by virtue of foregoing AAC and PAC opportunities).

Wyoming's alternativeoption was to let the MWC implode/dissolve and wipe away any exit fee payments and join CUSA or drop down to the Big Sky.

Given that range of options, was there a realistic alternative to the structure that was ultimately reached?

And you want to talk about unequal distributions and flagships, Gonzaga is getting a full share distribution from the PAC without a football program. This is despite the fact that all numbers reveal that roughly 85% of conference and media revenues come from football. So, the PAC is paying Gonzaga a share of revenue that would equate to the share of basketball revenue that every other PAC member will receive combined...and without the costs of a football program. Is that better than the UNLV and Air Force structure?!?!? Hell no.
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Yeah, UNLV and Air Force had the leverage and they used it to their advantage. Yes, there wasn't really another viable alternative for Wyoming given the situation. Therein lies the problem.

Wyoming's athletic programs have declined to a point where to just stay at the FBS level, we have to sell our soul to other schools in order to make it happen. There are no other options for a program like Wyoming. That reality should be a real eye opener for the school and the state. But I doubt it will be. We've mostly assured ourselves of another 5 years at the FBS level and then we will be back in the same predicament in 2031.

It sounds like you expect a large influx of Big Sky school into the MWC over the next few years. Does it really matter if we drop down into the Big Sky or the Big Sky comes to us and we call ourselves the MWC? Personally, I would love a regional conference like that, and I really don't care whether it is called the Big Sky and part of FCS or if it is called the MWC and part of the FBS. What exactly is being the FBS getting us these days? The chance to get to the college football playoff? Lol
 
TheRealUW said:
Yeah, UNLV and Air Force had the leverage and they used it to their advantage. Yes, there wasn't really another viable alternative for Wyoming given the situation. Therein lies the problem.

Wyoming's athletic programs have declined to a point where to just stay at the FBS level, we have to sell our soul to other schools in order to make it happen. There are no other options for a program like Wyoming. That reality should be a real eye opener for the school and the state. But I doubt it will be. We've mostly assured ourselves of another 5 years at the FBS level and then we will be back in the same predicament in 2031.

It sounds like you expect a large influx of Big Sky school into the MWC over the next few years. Does it really matter if we drop down into the Big Sky or the Big Sky comes to us and we call ourselves the MWC? Personally, I would love a regional conference like that, and I really don't care whether it is called the Big Sky and part of FCS or if it is called the MWC and part of the FBS. What exactly is being the FBS getting us these days? The chance to get to the college football playoff? Lol
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I see the MWC already as a Big Sky level football conference beginning next year. Given the new hierarchy of college football (namely the Big 10 and SEC), I already see us as part of the 2nd/3rd tier.

Personally, I would like to see Wyoming in a regional conference for olympic sports and the best possible conference it can get its football team into (regionality doesn't matter for football). Wyoming absolutely should work with other regional schools to form a regional bus league for olympic sports (DU, Air Force, Northern Colorado, New Mexico, etc...). This would save a lot of money in the long run and makes damn good prudent sense.

If you look at the 2025 Wyoming financial accounting, football returned roughly a 3+ million surplus. The rest of the sports were a huge drag (namely travel costs). As long as football is in the black, try to get the team into the best conference possible where the team can be competitive.
 
As far as scheduling NDSU, Wyoming is automatically adding an “L” to every season with the current leadership in place.
 
Haven't taken the time to see who everyone else had to trade for a shot at NDSU, but I think trading a shot at redemption in Reno for a trip to Fargo to play in the IPF has to be the worst in the conference.
 
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cowpoke pride said:
Haven't taken the time to see who everyone else had to trade for a shot at NDSU, but I think trading a shot at redemption in Reno for a trip to Fargo to plan in the IPF has to be the worst in the conference.
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Looks like SJSU avoided them, they're playing 11 games as it stands (probably trying to sneak SDSU onto the schedule) and SJSU is the only MW school they aren't playing
 
Bryoming said:
If we don't go 6-0 at home this year Sawvel is cooked.
Northern Colorado
UCONN
Air Force
New Mexico
Hawaii
Northern Illinois
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Sawful should have been gone last year. The OC and his system and the new transfer QB will save sawful as they get to 6 wins and a bowl in 2026.
 
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Except for UNC all games are tossups or near tossups.

Northern Colorado W
UCONN 55%
Air Force 50^
New Mexico 40%
Hawaii 45%
Northern Illinois 55%

At best 4-2

Probable 3-3 or 2-4

0-6.
UNC smelling an upset beats Wyo
17-14
 
7-5 - (Frisco Bowl)

WIN at Colorado State
WIN Northern Colorado
WIN at Central Michigan
WIN UCONN
Loss Air Force
WIN at North Dakota State
Loss Hawaii
Loss at San Jose State
WIN New Mexico
Loss at UNLV
Loss Northern Illinois
WIN at UTEP
 
laxwyo said:
4 road wins? bold
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WIN at Colorado State ( Border War- No reason to think WYO won't win)
WIN at Central Michigan (This is the one I am nervous about, however Sawful did beat Akron last year)
WIN at North Dakota State ( FCS school, this out to be a good game, we should be able to squeak it out)
WIN at UTEP (One of the worst CUSA teams, if Sawful loses this he should be fired on the flight home)
 
Loss at Colorado State (Mora’s first game)
Win Northern Colorado
Loss at Central Michigan
Win UCONN
Loss Air Force
Loss at North Dakota State
Loss Hawaii
Loss at San Jose State
Loss New Mexico
Loss at UNLV
Win Northern Illinois
Win at UTEP

4-8 sounds about right.
 
WYOFLETCH said:
WIN at Colorado State ( Border War- No reason to think WYO won't win)
WIN at Central Michigan (This is the one I am nervous about, however Sawful did beat Akron last year)
WIN at North Dakota State ( FCS school, this out to be a good game, we should be able to squeak it out)
WIN at UTEP (One of the worst CUSA teams, if Sawful loses this he should be fired on the flight home)
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Anyone else on here got us going to Fargo and winning?
 
WYOFLETCH said:
WIN at Colorado State ( Border War- No reason to think WYO won't win)
WIN at Central Michigan (This is the one I am nervous about, however Sawful did beat Akron last year)
WIN at North Dakota State ( FCS school, this out to be a good game, we should be able to squeak it out)
WIN at UTEP (One of the worst CUSA teams, if Sawful loses this he should be fired on the flight home)
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We're more likely to lose 2 of these 4 and pickup a couple home wins against, say AF and NIU or Hawaii
 
Crazy to think we still matter in this era of D1 college football (or should I say, semi pro football) not as fun to stay loyal, but that's me I guess) I should say as a fan, once a Cowboy always a Cowboy😁
 
stymeman said:
Crazy to think we still matter in this era of D1 college football (or should I say, semi pro football) not as fun to stay loyal, but that's me I guess) I should say as a fan, once a Cowboy always a Cowboy😁
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I think what you are describing is what a lot of us enjoyed about college football in the previous era. Programs like Wyoming had a niche in the old system where the values of amateurism acted as a kind of governor on the sport. The blue bloods could pour money into facilities and exposure, but the returns eventually diminished. A good coach with the right group of kids...and I use that term intentionally...could still build a team that punched above its weight and occasionally stuck a thumb in the eye of the “elite” programs.

Since the days of Roach and Tiller, though, the sands of amateurism have run out of the hourglass. The sport has professionalized in everything but name. When the music stopped, Wyoming thought it still had a chair — but the entire structure that once allowed programs like Wyoming to compete on the margins had already been pulled out from underneath them.
 
The music for Wyoming stopped when the passenger trains quit running in the early 60’s through every small USA town and it was the first strike to an already isolated university with little to entice a visitor.

Riding the bus was never an enticement (especially in winter over the hill) and at anytime a flight was quicker it finished off the isolation because only CU, DU, CSU, AFA and UNC are in a modern bus ride vicinity with at least two considering Wyoming too far beneath them to take the short ride.

It’s 2026 and you still won’t find air service to anywhere in Wyoming besides Jackson printed on an airline napkin. What little air service there is, is not enough to entice programs that can generate revenue on their own to play a team that won’t count as a quality win but will definitely hurt with a loss.

Let’s face it, in the modern era Wyoming (Laramie) is considered even less enticing of a program to interact with. Winning and finding a way to do it with national recognition (like beating a weak name team) will be the only thing that might open the door of interest a little.

The door was never really open on the national stage but at least in era’s gone by it was possible to stick that thumb in the eye of the elite. Programs like Boise and NDSU in modern history have found ways to dominate their geographic alignments which got them some national attention. The seasons those teams drop a few games they disappear off the national attention map even if they win their conference.

Wyoming needs to start being really good at competing with conference teams. Sub .500 conference seasons are demoralizing.

If it ever happens that Wyoming wins the MWC and plays in the “feature” bowl game or the NCAA’s, us fans will be feeling like the spirits of Roach/Brandenburg have returned.
 
PorkerPoke said:
The music for Wyoming stopped when the passenger trains quit running in the early 60’s through every small USA town and it was the first strike to an already isolated university with little to entice a visitor.

Riding the bus was never an enticement (especially in winter over the hill) and at anytime a flight was quicker it finished off the isolation because only CU, DU, CSU, AFA and UNC are in a modern bus ride vicinity with at least two considering Wyoming too far beneath them to take the short ride.

It’s 2026 and you still won’t find air service to anywhere in Wyoming besides Jackson printed on an airline napkin. What little air service there is, is not enough to entice programs that can generate revenue on their own to play a team that won’t count as a quality win but will definitely hurt with a loss.

Let’s face it, in the modern era Wyoming (Laramie) is considered even less enticing of a program to interact with. Winning and finding a way to do it with national recognition (like beating a weak name team) will be the only thing that might open the door of interest a little.

The door was never really open on the national stage but at least in era’s gone by it was possible to stick that thumb in the eye of the elite. Programs like Boise and NDSU in modern history have found ways to dominate their geographic alignments which got them some national attention. The seasons those teams drop a few games they disappear off the national attention map even if they win their conference.

Wyoming needs to start being really good at competing with conference teams. Sub .500 conference seasons are demoralizing.

If it ever happens that Wyoming wins the MWC and plays in the “feature” bowl game or the NCAA’s, us fans will be feeling like the spirits of Roach/Brandenburg have returned.
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Lot's of unfortunate observations here...If there is such a thing as a poster fly-over state...Wyoming is it.
 
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