This Saturday’s game, hosted on Sept. 30, 2023, against New Mexico marks the 100th year of Homecoming football matchups for the Pokes. Wyoming has a historic football program, dating back to the school’s beginnings.
In 1923, the Pokes went 0-8 on the season, losing to other historic programs including Colorado State, Colorado University, and Utah.
Throughout the rest of the 1920s, all of the 1930s, and into the 1940s, Wyoming continued to play teams mainly in the Rocky Mountain region, often only grabbing a few wins a season.
It wasn’t until 1949 that the team experienced its first success. Under Head Coach Bowden Wyatt, the Pokes went 9-1 that year, an enormous jump from 4-5 the previous season.
In 1950, coach Wyatt helped put the Cowboys in their very first bowl game, which ended up being a win in the 1951 Gator Bowl.
In 1969, Head Coach Lloyd Eaton dismissed 14 black players before the game against BYU, because they planned to wear black armbands to protest the racial prejudice displayed by the opposing school. Other schools were outraged when they heard about the incident, and even wanted to drop Wyoming from their schedules because of it.
A promising Pokes season faltered without 14 standout players, and Eaton was fired the next year.
It wouldn’t be until 1970 that the Cowboys recorded another losing season. Along the way, they went to 4 more bowl games, winning 3 of them, including a victory over Texas Tech in the 1955 Sun Bowl.
Paul Roach was hired as head coach in 1987, and he turned the team around.
After a few losing seasons in the early 1980s, the Pokes were back, going to bowl games in 1987, 1988, and 1990. 1999 marked their first year in the Mountain West, their current conference.
Dave Christensen began his head coaching tenure in 2009, and led Wyoming to two bowls before handing the reins to current head coach Craig Bohl in 2014.
The Cowboys entered a new era under Bohl. During his time, the Cowboys have sent several players to the NFL, including Josh Allen, Logan Wilson, Andrew Wingard, and Carl Granderson.
Additionally, the High Altitude Performance Center was built, a bright spot for all Wyoming athletics.
Bohl boasts a 3-2 record in bowl games, and 5 winning seasons, with another potentially on the way.
The journey for that 6th winning season under Bohl is a possibility, as Pokes fans are excited to see where that prestige can take this team in the future.
It’s been a long and winding road for the University of Wyoming football team, and their journey continues on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, against the New Mexico Lobos at 2:00 P.M.
