Wyoming Cowboys 2026 Football Schedule Released, Key Dates Announced

The University of Wyoming Cowboys will open their 2026 season on the road against Colorado State in the 118th edition of the Border War before returning to War Memorial Stadium for a 13-game slate that gives Laramie fans two separate stretches of consecutive home weekends.

The schedule, announced jointly by UW and the Mountain West Conference on March 9, places the home opener on Sept. 12 against Northern Colorado. Wyoming then travels to Central Michigan on Sept. 19 before beginning Mountain West play Sept. 26 at home against Hawaii in a matchup for the Paniolo Trophy.

Back-to-back road games follow in October, with Wyoming visiting North Dakota State on Oct. 3 and San Jose State on Oct. 10. The Cowboys return to Laramie on Oct. 17 to host Northern Illinois, then welcome Air Force on Oct. 24, giving War Memorial Stadium two consecutive home dates in mid-October. An open week on Oct. 31 follows before Wyoming heads to UNLV on Nov. 7 and then to UTEP on Nov. 14, a game that marks the Cowboys' first meeting with the Miners as members of the Mountain West Conference. The season closes with a second run of back-to-back home games: New Mexico visits on Nov. 21 and UConn wraps the regular season on Nov. 28 in Laramie.

For Albany County residents, those two pairs of consecutive home weekends concentrate game-day commerce in Laramie, with local businesses along with bars, restaurants and lodging in the area standing to benefit from the concentrated foot traffic in October and late November.

Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman has spoken to expectations for the program heading into 2026, with the Casper Star-Tribune reporting he anticipates significant improvement under second-year head coach Jay Sawvel and believes Sawvel is the right person to lead that turnaround.

The Mountain West championship game format remains straightforward: the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will meet for the title, with the date and site to be announced later in the year. National television partners CBS Sports, FOX Sports and The CW will begin selecting specific games for broadcast, with kickoff times to follow once those selections are finalized.

The Cowboys play six home games at War Memorial Stadium in 2026, with the Sept. 12 home opener against Northern Colorado and the Nov. 28 finale against UConn bookending a schedule that tests Wyoming with trips to four road venues before Thanksgiving.