Just the Facts: Wyoming's bowl history

LARAMIE -- Did you know Wyoming has more bowl wins than seven of the Mountain West's 12 football programs?

The Cowboys have eight total, which ties them with Hawaii for fourth most in the league.

Nevada (7), San Jose State (7), Border War rival, Colorado State (6), San Diego State (6), Utah State (5), New Mexico (4) and UNLV (3) all have less.

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The Air Force Falcons lead the way with 13, followed by Fresno State and Boise State, which both have 12 postseason victories.

Wyoming also has as many or more bowl appearances (16) than nine Power-5 schools, including Washington State (16), Iowa State (16), Northwestern (16), Oregon State (15), Duke (14), Indiana (13), Kansas (12), and Rutgers and Vanderbilt, both with nine.

Wyoming is one of five teams in the MWC with a .500 or better mark in bowl games at 8-8. Craig Bohl's Cowboys have won their last two trips to the postseason, most recently knocking off Georgia State, 38-17, in the 2019 Arizona Bowl.

The Pokes have beaten Washington & Lee (20-7 Gator Bowl, 1950), Texas Tech (21-14 Sun Bowl, 1955), Hardin-Simmons (14-6 Sun Bowl, 1958), Florida State (28-20 Sun Bowl, 1966), UCLA (24-21 Las Vegas Bowl, 2004), Fresno State (35-28 New Mexico Bowl, 2009), Central Michigan (37-14 Potato Bowl, 2017) and that victory over Georgia State in Tucson.

Here are the games UW fell short in:

20-13 LSU, 1967 Sugar Bowl

41-7 Oklahoma, 1976 Fiesta Bowl

20-19 Iowa, 1987 Holiday Bowl

62-14 Oklahoma State, 1988 Holiday Bowl

17-15 California, 1990 Copper Bowl

52-17 Kansas State, 1993 Copper Bowl

35-17 Temple, 2011 New Mexico Bowl

24-21 BYU, 2016 Poinsettia Bowl

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Mountain West Conference bowl records:

Air Force: 13-13-1-27

Boise State: 12-7-19

Colorado State: 6-11-17

Fresno State: 12-13-25

Hawaii: 8-6-14

Nevada: 7-11-18

New Mexico: 4-8-1-13

San Diego State: 6-9-15

San Jose State: 7-4-11

UNLV: 3-1-4

Utah State: 5-8-13

Wyoming: 8-8-16

Here's another crazy fact: The Cowboys should've arguably played in more postseason games.

Wyoming went 9-1 in 1949. No invite.

They went 7-2-1 two years later. No invite.

How about a perfect 10-0 in 1956. Nada.

There was the 9-1 campaign in 1959, too. You guessed it. UW went 8-2 the following year, too. Home for the holidays.

Fast forward to 1996. Wyoming goes 10-2 overall, one of those losses came against No. 6 BYU in the inaugural Western Athletic Conference Championship game in Las Vegas -- in overtime, no less.

That one still stings.

Dana Dimel's teams won seven games or more in his three seasons in Laramie only to be left out in the cold, too.