For a first time in nearly a month the Wyoming Cowboys will play a home game Saturday night, when they take on the New Mexico Lobos in Laramie.

This is the annual Homecoming game for the Cowboys and will be the 93rd edition in school history. UW is only 45-44-3 in their previous 92 Homecoming games.

More importantly, Wyoming (4-3, 2-1) needs a victory to stay in the race in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference. After a loss at Boise State last week, the Pokes can’t afford too many setbacks if they want a shot at the MW Championship game.

New Mexico (3-4, 1-3) has lost two straight coming in with both coming against division leaders Fresno State (West) and Colorado State (Mountain).

The Cowboys are meeting the Lobos on the football field for the 70th time. It’s the fourth longest rivalry for UW, trailing only CSU, Utah and BYU. While Wyoming leads the series 36-33 all-time, but they have lost three lost in a row to New Mexico.

Junior tight end Austin Fort caught the first touchdown pass of his UW career last week against the Broncos. KOWB’s David Settle visited with Austin about that play, dealing with an injury this season, the Pokes offensive struggles this season and looking ahead to New Mexico.

On the other side of the ball, UW’s defense continues to have a good season. They’re No. 2 in the MW in passing yards per game (173.4), points per game (21.6) and sacks per game (2.71). All three rank in the top 38 in the nation. In addition, the Cowboys lead the conference and are No. 15 in the country in tackles for loss per game at 7.71.

Saturday’s game against New Mexico is the third in a row that features an opponent that rotates quarterbacks. Senior Lamar Jordan and redshirt freshman Tevaka Tuioti share the QB position.

Wyoming will also honor former head coach Joe Tiller during Saturday’s game by wearing a special decal with his initials in gold inside of a brown circle. It will be a helmet decal.

The Cowboys face the Lobos Saturday with kick-off set for 5:30 p.m. from War Memorial Stadium. You can watch the game on ESPNU or listen to it on KOWB (AM 1290), KOWB’s live stream or the new KOWB app.

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