The last time Wyoming came to the Sun Bowl, in November 1995, the Cowboys won 42-19 and both schools still belonged to the Western Athletic Conference, where they had been rivals since the late 1960s. Wyoming moved on to the Mountain West, UTEP spent 21 years in Conference USA, and the series went quiet for three decades. The Miners joined the Mountain West on July 1, and Saturday night the old WAC neighbors meet for the 34th time, in the stadium UTEP built into a natural bowl on its campus in 1963.
Wyoming leads the series 26-6-1 and is 12-5 in El Paso, but this Wyoming team didn't look like a contender in September. Jay Sawvel came into his third season under pressure, and early on the Cowboys lost at Colorado State and at Central Michigan, the second a game Sawvel called "about as low of a point that I've ever had as a coach." A 28-0 loss at North Dakota State on Oct. 3 looked like more of the same. Instead it was the bottom. Wyoming has won four straight since, and a fifth would be its first such run since 2016.
The latest was a 41-35 win at UNLV last Saturday that got tighter than it needed to. Samuel "Tote" Harris ran for a career-high 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Markell Holman added 110, the first time since 2022 that two Cowboys ran for 100 in the same game. The defense sacked UNLV six times, with linebacker Ethan Stuhlsatz getting 2.5 of them. The Rebels cut a 20-point lead to six before cornerback Tyson Shamsid-Deen, playing with a club on an injured hand, picked off a pass in the end zone, his second interception of the night. On the next play Holman broke four tackles on a 49-yard run, and Wyoming ran out the clock.
The cost of that night was the quarterback. Tyler Hughes, who leads the team in rushing as well as passing, left before halftime with what Sawvel later called a small fracture in his right forearm. Sawvel listed him as doubtful on Monday, and the Mountain West's availability report has since ruled him out. That puts Landon Sims, who began his career at East Central Community College in Mississippi and joined Wyoming last year, in line for his first college start. He threw a touchdown pass and ran for another in relief at UNLV. "We're not going to overly change what we do," Sawvel said, adding, "Everyone has a ton of confidence in Landon Sims."
UTEP has a quarterback question of its own. EJ Colson, the Miners' starter, has been slowed by injuries for weeks and is listed as unavailable for Saturday. Raymond Moore III, a transfer from Morgan State who leads the team in rushing, will start again. Moore started last Saturday against Hawaiʻi, and the Miners hung around before losing 17-14, the seventh straight loss for Scotty Walden's team. Safety Xavier Smith made an interception in the end zone, but by the fourth quarter a defense that had spent far more time on the field than the offense was wearing down.
That is the trouble Wyoming brings to El Paso. The Cowboys' pass rush has 17 sacks during the winning streak, with end Esaia Bogar leading the team, and UTEP has allowed more sacks than any team in the country while converting third downs at the lowest rate in FBS. The other side of it is the Wyoming running game. With a first-time starter at quarterback, expect Sawvel to lean on Harris and Holman, and a Miners defense that tired late last week will have to last four quarters.
Wyoming is already bowl eligible and sits second in the league, one loss behind unbeaten New Mexico. Win here and beat the Lobos in Laramie next Friday, and the Cowboys would host the Mountain West championship game for the first time since 2016. Stuhlsatz didn't hedge: "We want to win a Mountain West championship."
For UTEP, Saturday is Senior Night and the home finale, with trips to Air Force and Northern Illinois still ahead. The Miners have yet to win a Mountain West game, and 21 seniors would like to leave the Sun Bowl with one.
The projection is Wyoming 24, UTEP 13. The Cowboys have the stronger ground game and pass rush, and a defense that has carried them through the streak, and UTEP has struggled to score against almost everyone. Sims is the reason this isn't wider. A first start on the road can go sideways, and UTEP has reason enough on Senior Night to keep it close into the second half. El Paso should sit in the upper 40s at kickoff under partly cloudy skies, with a light west wind.
The market, for the record: Wyoming is about an 8.5-point favorite, and the total is 40.5. The projection (Wyoming by 11) sits a little over the line.
What breaks it: Moore gets loose on the edge, as on his long touchdown run in Fargo, UTEP keeps its quarterback upright, and Sims spends the night throwing from behind. The other way it breaks: Harris and Holman wear the Miners down early, Bogar and Stuhlsatz force a couple of mistakes, and Wyoming has this one in hand by halftime.