Cowboys Welcome Utah State for “Bridger’s Battle” on Saturday Evening
• Contest is set for 5 p.m. Start
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The Wyoming Cowboys host the Utah State Aggies for “Bridger’s Battle” on Saturday evening inside War Memorial Stadium. The contest set for a 5 p.m. start is the first meeting between the schools since 2022.
The contest will be televised on CBS Sports Network with John Sadak on the call with Luke Kuechly analyzing the action. The game will also be available on the 26 stations of The Cowboy Sports Network with Keith Kelley on the call, Kevin McKinney on color and Erick Pauley on the sidelines.
Ticket Information
Fans may order tickets online, via email or by phone at:
- Go to GoWyo.com/tickets
- Email tickets@uwyo.edu
- Call (307) 766-7220
- Stop by the UW Athletics Ticket Office on the West Side of the Arena-Auditorium on the corner of Willett Drive and 19th Street
Wyoming and Utah State Continue Rivalry That Began in 1903, “Bridger’s Battle” Tradition Was Introduced in 2013: Wyoming and Utah State first played in football in 1903, and this year’s meeting will be the 73rd in the series. Wyoming has won 28 of the previous 72 meetings, while Utah State has won 40 times and there have been four ties.
A new tradition was incorporated into the century-old rivalry in 2013 when the Wyoming Cowboys and Utah State Aggies introduced a new “Bridger’s Battle” tradition to the football series between the two schools.
As part of the new tradition, a traveling “Bridger Rifle” is awarded to the winner each year. The rifle is a .50-caliber Rocky Mountain Hawken rifle that was popular among mountain men of the 1800s, and is widely-considered to be the rifle carried by the legendary Jim Bridger. “Bridger’s Battle” was chosen as the name for the new series due to Bridger’s ties to the Wyoming-Utah region. The Bridger’s Battle portion of the series now stands at 5-4 in favor of Utah State.
The last six games between the two schools have seen Wyoming winning four times and Utah State twice. Wyoming defeated Utah State 28-14 on Oct. 22, 2022 in the last meeting, which came in Laramie.
Forcing Turnovers: The Cowboys recorded a season-high four turnovers against San Jose State with three coming in the first half. Wyoming recorded two interceptions and recovered two fumbles in the contest. It was the most since forcing a school-record eight turnovers in a win over Central Michigan in the 2017 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The last time Wyoming had exactly four in a game was at Iowa in the season opener that same season.
Through The Air: The Cowboys got it done through the air against San Jose State. The Cowboys threw for a season-high 310 yards in the contest. It was the first time that the Pokes have thrown for 300 or more yards since recording 319 yards last season against Hawai’i.
Career Days for Passers: The Pokes had two passers have career days against San Jose State. Evan Svoboda threw for a career-high 194 yards in the game. Kaden Anderson threw for 116 yards in the game. Both threw for a touchdown in the contest.
J Mike Over 100 Again: Tight end John Michael Gyllenborg had a career day at San Jose State. He grabbed five catches in the game tying a career-high for a career-high 137 yards. He recorded a long reception of 63 yards for the longest of the season for him. He has four or more catches in each of the last four games for the Pokes. He leads the team this season with 18 catches for 311 yards.
Tyrecus Causing Havoc: Cornerback Tyrecus Davis made some big plays for the Cowboys at San Jose State. He recorded his first career field goal block coming in the first half. Later in that half, he recorded a forced fumble for the first fumble recovery for the Cowboys this season. It was the second forced fumble of his career.
The Turnover Titan: Nickel Wrook Brown had another solid day against San Jose State. He led the team with eight tackles in the contest in his return to the position after playing safety for two games. He also recorded an interception in the game for his second of the season, a team-high. It also marked the fifth of his career with the Brown and Gold.
Stevenson Hauls in Score: Redshirt freshman wide receiver Justin Stevenson hauled in his first career touchdown pass in the third quarter at San Jose State. The leaping catch was also the longest reception of the season for the receiver.
True Freshman Makes Another Big Play: Wide receiver Chris Durr, Jr., a true freshman had another great day. He finished the game at San Jose State with two catches for 53 yards. He recorded a career-high 40 yard reception on a strike from Svoboda in the third quarter. He has nine receptions for 140 yards this season.
Two Thumbs Up for Ekeler: Safety Wyett Ekeler, who is playing with two broken thumbs with a cast on both hands recorded an impressive interception against San Jose State. It was his first of the season and the fourth of his career with the Brown and Gold. It was his first game action since the BYU game, as he broke both thumbs in the game against the Cougars. Both coming on the same drive in the third quarter of that game.
Siders With Another Sack: Defensive end Braden Siders recorded a sack for the second-straight game at SJSU. In fact, it is the second-straight game he earned a sack without touching the quarterback. Both sacks were intentional grounding penalties on the offense. He has a team-high 3.5 sacks this season and has recorded 13.5 sacks in his career with the Cowboys and now has 23 tackles for loss for the Pokes in his career.
Some More Chunk Plays: The Pokes made plays through the air against San Jose State. In fact, the Pokes recorded nine chunk plays through the air against the Spartans for a season-high. It was the most chunk plays passing for the Cowboys this season. In fact, UW recorded five of those receptions that went for over 20 yards.
A Blocked Kick: The Pokes recorded the first field goal block of the season against San Jose State. The 40-yard attempt was blocked by Tyrecus Davis. Wyoming recorded three blocked kicks last season. Defensive end DeVonne Harris had two of those blocks last season for the Cowboys.
One Cool (ey) Customer: Punt returner Caleb Cooley is back for the Pokes after missing time with a leg injury. He had two returns for a career-high 18 yards against San Jose State. He recorded a career-long return of 15 yards in the contest.
Offense Gets Going Again: The Cowboys offense finished the contest with 366 yards of total offense against San Jose State. It was the second most in a game this season after 381 against San Diego State. UW has recorded over 350 in each of the last three games. Wyoming recorded 361 yards in a win over Air Force.
Coaching Ties: Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel and Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling have never coached together, but have worked for the same head coach. Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel coached with Jerry Kill at Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Minnesota. Dreiling spent last season as defensive coordinator at New Mexico State for Kill.
About Utah State: The Aggies (1-6 overall, 0-3 Mountain West) are coming off a wild 50-45 home loss to New Mexico. Utah State had 503 yards of total offense but gave up 552 yards (280 rushing, 272 passing) and allowed two touchdowns in the final 3:53 to fall to the Lobos.
Quarterback Spencer Petras has thrown for over 300 yards in each of the last three games and is completing 66% of his passes for 1,631 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the five games he has played in. Wide receiver Jalen Royals has 55 receptions for 834 yards and six touchdowns and running back Rahsul Turner has 132 carries for 666 yards and five touchdowns to lead Utah State.
Defensively, the Aggies are allowing an average of 43.9 points and 502 yards per game, which ranks 133rd out of 134 FBS teams ahead of only Kent State (45.9 ppg, 538 ypg).
Utah State leads the all-time series 40-28-4. The Cowboys won the previous two meetings – 28-24 in 2022 in Laramie and 44-17 in 2021 in Logan – to retain the Jim Bridger Rifle traveling trophy. The first meeting between the two programs was in 1903. The Aggies had a 10-game winning streak against UW from 1927-37. The Pokes have a 24-17-3 advantage in the series since the end of World War II.
