This Saturday the Wyoming Cowboys will host their final non-conference game of the 2017 season when the Texas State Bobcats travel to Laramie for a game that will kick off at 2 p.m., Mountain Time.  Saturday's game will feature a number of special events, including Band Day, which is expected to bring over 1,000 high school students to campus from 22 schools.  It will also be Boys & Girls Club Day, Celebrate Energy Day and Family Weekend at Wyoming.

The Cowboys and Bobcats have played only two previous games against one another prior to this season -- one in Laramie in 2011 and one in San Marcos, Texas in 2013.  The home team has won each of the previous two meetings.
Texas State is a member of the Sun Belt Conference.  The Wyoming Cowboys have played seven of the 12 schools that are currently members of the Sun Belt.  Wyoming holds a 16-3 all-time record vs. those schools.

Wyoming's 2017 conference opening win over Hawai'i last Saturday marked the third time in the four seasons of the Craig Bohl era at UW that the Pokes won their Mountain West Conference opener.

The play of Wyoming junior strong safety Andrew Wingard in the 28-21 overtime win over Hawai'i last Saturday was recognized by the Mountain West Conference as he was named the Defensive Player of the Week.  It is Wingard's first MW Player of the Week honor this season and the second of his career.  Wingard had nine tackles in the win over the Rainbow Warriors, including six solo tackles, one tackle for a loss for a minus four yards, one interception for 22 yards and two pass breakups.  Prior to the start of the 2017 season, Wingard was voted by conference media members as the Preseason Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Wyoming's true freshman running back Trey Woods had the first breakout game of his young career in Wyoming's win over Hawai'i.  Woods ran for 135 yards on 15 carries and scored his first touchdown as a Cowboy.  He averaged 9.0 yards per carry versus Hawai'i, had a 34-yard TD run and a 59-yard run to set up another Cowboy touchdown.  
 
The win over Hawai'I was also one of only four home games in Wyoming history to go to overtime.  Since the overtime rules were introduced in college football in 1996, Wyoming has played a total of 15 overtime games but has played only four overtime games at home, and it took 18 years before they played their first home OT game in 2013.  Since 2013, Wyoming has played four of its last five overtime games at home.  With their win over Hawai'i this season, the Pokes now have a 3-1 (.750) home record in overtime games in War Memorial Stadium.

Wyoming enters Saturday's game with a 2-2 overall record and a 1-0 record in the Mountain West.  Texas State has started off the 2017 season with a 1-3 record and is 0-1in the Sun Belt Conference.  The Bobcats defeated Houston Baptist, 20-11, in their season opener.  They lost 37-3 at Colorado, played fellow Sun Belt Conference member Appalachian State close before losing 20-13 and last week lost to Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) 44-14.

Both the Cowboy offense and defense have been productive in the red zone this season.  The offense has been a perfect 6 of 6 in converting its red-zone opportunities in 2017, tying for No. 1 in the nation in that category.  UW's offense has converted 3 of 6 red-zone opportunities into touchdowns and 3 of 6 into field goals.  Defensively, Wyoming ranks No. 4 in the Mountain West and No. 44 in the NCAA, allowing opponents to convert only 76.9 percent (10 of 13) of their red-zone chances.

For the second consecutive season, the Wyoming defense has been very successful at forcing turnovers.  Wyoming currently ranks No. 7 in the nation in forcing turnovers.  A year ago, Wyoming finished the season ranked No. 10 in the NCAA in turnovers forced.  The Cowboy defense has forced five opponent fumbles this season to rank No. 7 in the nation in that category and have intercepted five opponent passes to rank No. 16 nationally.

Not only has the Wyoming defense been outstanding at forcing turnovers, but the Cowboy offense has done an excellent job of not turning the ball over.  Wyoming has committed only four turnovers this season to rank 28th in the NCAA.  The combination of forcing opponent turnovers and not turning the ball over themselves have the Cowboys leading the Mountain West and ranking No. 8 in the nation in turnover margin.

Special teams have also excelled for the Wyoming Cowboys early this season.  Never was that more evident than Tyler Hall's 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that was key in Wyoming's 28-21 overtime win over Hawai'i.  But kickoff returns is only one of the Cowboy special teams that have been exceptional this season.  Hall ranks No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 8 in the nation in kickoff returns, averaging 33.8 yards per return.  Cowboy Austin Conway leads the league in punt returns and ranks 12th nationally, averaging 15.9 yards per return.  As a team, the Cowboys rank No. 14 nationally in kickoff returns and No. 16 in punt returns.

When Hall returned the kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown against Hawai'i it marked the first time in 10 seasons that a Cowboy had returned a kickoff for a TD.  The last Poke to accomplish that was former Cowboy great Devin Moore, who returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown vs. Colorado State on Nov. 23, 2007.  

It has been 30 years since the Wyoming Cowboys had both a punt returner and a kick returner on the same roster who had a punt return for a TD and a kickoff return for a TD.  Conway returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown against UNLV on Nov. 12, 2016.  The last time two Wyoming teammates had a kickoff and punt return for touchdown between them was In 1987-88, teammates Peter Gunn (kickoff return) and Chuck Kimbrough (punt return) held that distinction.

Saturday's game will be the first Cowboy Football game ever televised on Facebook.  The telecast will be produced by Mountain West Conference television partner Stadium.  The game may be heard on radio over the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboys Sports Network beginning with the pregame show starting one hour before kickoff.