The Utah State–Wyoming football rivalry is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the

Utah State Aggies The Utah State Aggies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Utah State University, located in Logan, Utah. Utah State fields 16 – seven men and nine women – National Collegiate Athletic ...

and the

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

. The rivalry is one of the oldest for both schools; it is Utah State's fourth-oldest rivalry and Wyoming's fifth. The schools played for the first time in 1903, a Aggie victory and Utah State leads the series On November 25, 2013, "Bridger’s Battle" was announced as the name for the rivalry, after

American frontier The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...

sman who spent much of his career in the region. A .50 caliber Rocky Mountain

Hawken rifle The Hawken rifle is a muzzle-loading rifle that was widely used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. Developed in the 1820s, it became synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, ...

was announced as the trophy for the rivalry, widely considered to be what Bridger carried.

Meetings

Utah State and Wyoming have a storied history dating back to the early 1900s as both schools were members of the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

(RMAC) from 1916–37 and later members of the

Mountain States Conference A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

from 1938–61. Following the dissolution of the Mountain States Conference in 1962, Utah State and Wyoming continued to play almost every year until 1978, then did not play again until 2001. They would meet only four additional times from 2003 to 2011. Until 1947, Utah State dominated the series with a 24–4–1 record. However, since the 1947 game Wyoming has been the better team, boasting a 24–16–3 record against the Aggies. Utah State joined the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

in 2013 and was placed in the same division as Wyoming; the rivalry was renewed and is again played on an annual basis. The 2020 matchup, scheduled to be played in Laramie, was cancelled due to a spike in cases of COVID-19 within the Utah State program amid the ongoing pandemic. The game was not played in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, as the Mountain West eliminated its divisional format for football.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Utah State-Wyoming football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Utah State Aggies football Wyoming Cowboys football

Meetings

Game results

See also

References