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Utah football vs. Wyoming by the numbers

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Utah football vs. Wyoming by the numbers


Looking to remain unbeaten before embarking on a rigorous Big 12 slate, Utah wraps up its nonconference schedule Saturday with a trip to Laramie, Wyoming, to take on the Cowboys.

The Utes (2-0) enter the matchup following consecutive wire-to-wire victories to open the 2025 regular season, having thumped UCLA (43-10) and Cal Poly (63-9) in their first two games.

The Cowboys (2-0) also have an opportunity to move to 3-0 after beating Akron (10-0) and Northern Iowa (31-7).

Here’s a look at some key numbers and statistics ahead of Saturday’s game.

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7,220: Elevation of War Memorial Stadium (in feet)

No venue in Division I sits at a higher elevation than Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium. Located in the heart of Laramie, Wyoming, the home of the Cowboys is positioned at a staggering 7,220 feet above sea level, according to the team’s official website. Perhaps the only stadium in the country that sits at a higher elevation is Division II constituent Western Colorado’s Mountaineer Bowl in Gunnison, Colorado (7,750 feet above sea level).

For comparison, Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium is approximately 4,600 feet above sea level. Whittingham doesn’t expect the discrepancy to impact Saturday’s game much, though it’s still worth mentioning for any fans who plan on making the trip to Laramie for the first time.

200: Receiving yards for Wyoming’s Chris Durr

Just two games into his sophomore season, Wyoming’s Chris Durr has already accounted for 57% of his total production from last season (348 receiving yards in 12 games). The 5-foot-10 Chicago native is putting up 100 yards per game and has scored touchdowns in each of the Cowboys’ wins over Akron and Northern Iowa to start 2025, with 146 of his 200 total receiving yards coming in the 10-0 victory over the Zips in Week 1.

Wyoming Cowboys wide receiver Chris Durr Jr.

Oct 26, 2024; Laramie, Wyoming, USA; Wyoming Cowboys wide receiver Chris Durr Jr. (15) runs against the Utah State Aggies during the fourth quarter at Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium. / Troy Babbitt-Imagn Images

Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham mentioned in the lead-up to Saturday that his secondary has allowed too many opposing pass-catchers to turn “loose up the field” due to what he called “poor eyes” from his younger defensive backs. The Utes’ pass defense could be something to monitor against the Cowboys, especially with regard to Durr.

83: Previous meetings between Utah, Wyoming

For those who didn’t hear Whittingham or Jay Sawvel discuss it already, Saturday’s matchup will be a brief rekindling of an old Mountain West Conference rivalry between the Utes and Cowboys, as they’ll square off on the gridiron for the first time in roughly 15 years when they take the field at War Memorial Stadium.

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According to Utah’s team site, the Utes lead the all-time head-to-head record 49-31-1, with victories in eight of their last nine meetings dating back to 2000. Their last four wins over the Cowboys came by an average margin of 29.8 points, including a 50-0 thumping in 2007. Granted, the two schools haven’t seen each other since October 2010.

82.4: Utah’s third down conversion rate

No Division I team has been as efficient on third down as Utah has been through the first few weeks of the season. The Utes lead in the country with the most third down conversions per game (14.0) and rank No. 2 in the land in third down conversion rate at 82.4% — just slightly behind Arkansas at 83.3%.

79.2: Devon Dampier’s completion percentage

Speaking of efficiency, Utah quarterback Devon Dampier has been superb through the air in his first couple of games as the Utes’ signal-caller. The junior who transferred in from New Mexico enters Week 3 with the second-highest completion percentage in the Football Bowl Subdivision at 79.2%, trailing only Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (79.5%).

Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier

Sep 6, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) is hit by Cal Poly Mustangs linebacker Troy Bean (2) as he passes the ball during the first quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Saturday will pose a different test for Dampier, as he faces a Wyoming defense that’s allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 42.1% of their passes (No. 4 in the country) in 2025, and one that held Dampier to 16-of-31 (51.6%) through the air last season in a 49-45 win for Wyoming over his Lobos (albeit, Dampier also rushed for 207 yards in that game).

3.4: Yards per play allowed by Wyoming

There are only seven other teams in the country that have held opponents to a worse yards-per-play average than the Cowboys have this early into the season. After holding Northern Iowa to just 170 total yards of offense last week, Wyoming will attempt to slow down a Utah offense that’s averaging 492 yards per game (16th-best in the country).

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2: Total touchdowns allowed by both teams

Utah’s only offensive touchdown allowed so far this season will have been two weeks ago by the time Saturday rolls around, while Wyoming’s only touchdown score against it was to a Football Championship Subdivision team. Both defensive units have been stout out of the gate, though time will tell if one begins to crack on Saturday.

MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS



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Casper veteran David Giralt joins race for Wyoming U.S. House seat

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Casper veteran David Giralt joins race for Wyoming U.S. House seat


CASPER, Wyo. — David Giralt, a Casper-raised military veteran and conservative Republican, has announced his candidacy for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The congressional seat is being vacated by Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman, who launched a campaign in December for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis. […]



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Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate

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Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate


It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.

WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026

Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.

CLASS 4A

Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)

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CLASS 3A

Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)

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CLASS 4A

Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)

Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic

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Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)

CLASS 3A

Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.

Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)

Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)

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Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)

Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)

Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)

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CLASS 4A

Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

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#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)

Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)

CLASS 3A

#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)

#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

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Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

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CLASS 3A

Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)

Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)

Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

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Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026

4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne

Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com





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Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers

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Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers


Controversy has engulfed Wyoming’s state legislature after a conservative activist was photographed handing checks to Republican lawmakers on the state house floor, in an incident that has highlighted intra-conservative divisions and the role of money in the Cowboy state’s politics.

The political storm started on 9 February, when Karlee Provenza, a Democratic lawmaker, took a photo showing Rebecca Bextel, a conservative activist and committeewoman for the Teton county Republican party, handing a check to Darin McCann, a Republican representative, on the legislative floor. Marlene Brady, another Republican representative, stands in the photo’s background, a similar piece of paper pinched between her fingers.

“You have a person from the richest county in the country coming down to Cheyenne to hand out checks on the house floor,” Provenza said. “I have never seen something so egregious.”

Questions around the checks were soon swirling, and answers weren’t forthcoming. When asked what Bextel gave to her, Brady told a reporter for local outlet WyoFile: “I can’t remember.”

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Then Bextel herself addressed the incident. “I raised $400,000 in the last election cycle for conservative candidates, and I will be doubling that amount this year,” Bextel wrote on Facebook on 11 February. “There’s nothing wrong with delivering lawful campaign checks from Teton county donors when I am in Cheyenne.”

Since then, it has emerged that the checks came from Don Grasso, a wealthy Teton county donor, who told the Jackson Hole News and Guide that he wrote the checks for Bextel to deliver to 10 Freedom caucus-aligned politicians. Grasso said the checks were intended as campaign contributions, and were not tied to specific legislation. It is unclear how many checks were ultimately delivered, but two of four confirmed recipients include the speaker of the house, Chip Neiman, and John Bear, the former head of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

The Wyoming house has formed a legislative investigative committee, and the Laramie county sheriff’s office said they’d open a criminal investigation.

Bextel declined to answer questions from the Guardian. Brady, McCann and Bear did not respond to requests for comment.

Neiman said he considered the criticism a “wraparound smear campaign”. He said: “It never once crossed my mind that this was bribery.

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“These legislators, myself included, are now guilty until we can prove that we’re innocent. How is that right in this country? Isn’t that a little bit backwards?”

The scandal has highlighted long-standing divisions in Wyoming’s Republican party, which in recent years has seen a growing divide between old school, more moderate conservatives and a harder-right Freedom Caucus.

Several former Republican lawmakers forcefully condemned their colleagues for accepting the checks, and a local Republican party branch called for the lawmakers’ resignations.

Ogden Driskill, a Wyoming Republican senator, told the Guardian he does not consider Bextel’s actions to be illegal, but that “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should”.

Bextel has spent years pushing against housing mitigation fees in Wyoming, and Driskill noted that she distributed the house floor checks just days before a bill she had publicly supported was set to be heard. Bextel was registered as a member of the press, not as a lobbyist when she delivered the checks.

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“Ethically and morally, it’s bankrupt to a massive degree,” Driskill said.

Neiman said that he and other legislators who received checks have supported similar bills in the past: “Bribery is paying somebody to do something they would not otherwise do.”

Nationally, the 2024 election cycle saw record-spending from the mega-wealthy, as well as dark money groups. Wyoming followed the trend, in a tense red-on-red primary season.

For those gearing up to campaign this year, Teton county, the richest in the US, and Bextel’s picturesque home turf, is an essential stop. Its extreme wealth gives it a foothold on the national level as well. Palantir chief executive Alex Karp and Donald Trump attended an annual Republican leadership fundraiser at Jackson Hole in 2024, and JD Vance attended the same one in 2025.

Bextel pulls dollars from Teton county into the Freedom Caucus side of Wyoming’s conservative split. She hosted no-press-allowed meet and greets earlier this year benefitting leading candidates for Wyoming’s governor and open US House seat.

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In an interview with the Open Range Record, a media network she co-founded, Bextel said controversy around the checks was solely because she was making “even playing field” in Wyoming against the state’s more moderate Republicans, who she calls “George Soros” candidates. She said that she will be sure to keep raising money – just away from the legislative floor.

“I guess I’m gonna ask all the gentlemen and gentleladies to step outside the Capitol while I hand them a check,” Bextel said. “Let me be clear: I’m doubling down.”

But it’s not just wealthy local donors putting their weight behind the factions. Last election cycle, out of state groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on anonymous and often inaccurate mailers.

“These actors, especially from the far right, they like to push the bounds of the norms,” said Rosa Reyna Pugh, an organizing and advocacy consultant at Western States Center, an Oregon-based non-profit focused on democracy in the western United States. “They like to see what policies they can kind of push, and see where they can play a piece,” Reyna Pugh said.

While Neiman and Driskill fight politically, they do agree on one thing: summer will bring an expensive and brutal campaign season.

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“You’re going to see more dark money than you’ve ever seen. We’ve done absolutely nothing to enforce it. Our secretary of state has not even made a slight attempt to deal with it,” Driskill said. “You’re going to see lots and lots of outside money and I think you’re seeing it on both sides.”

As national questions swirl around pay-to-play politics and profiteering in the Trump administration, Provenza wants better for the Cowboy State.

“We should not be aligning ourselves with how the federal government is conducting itself or how federal elections conduct themselves,” Provenza said. “We owe something far better and more honest to the people of Wyoming than that.”



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