GALLERY: Winning Most Certainly Wasn’t For the Birds

LARAMIE -- What if I told you before the season that Wyoming would lose the Bronze Boot, get smoked at Central Michigan, of all places, and throw up a goose egg inside the Fargodome?

All of that typically equates to disaster.

Not this fall.

After North Dakota State went down Saturday night in electric Albuquerque, the Cowboys now sit all alone in second place in the Mountain West standings with three conference games remaining on the schedule.

That nightmare in Fargo has served as a turning point for this entire program, and three words have changed the dynamic, especially under center: "Let it Rip."

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* Hughes, Pokes Win Third Straight, Knock Off Air Force, 28-14

* Final Live File: Wyoming 28, Air Force 14

Tyler Hughes not only received that message loud and clear, he's been proving it over the previous three weeks, beginning with a gutty 92-yard rushing effort at San Jose State. That night in the Bay Area, Wyoming snapped an 8-game road losing streak with a 16-13 overtime victory over the Spartans.

He followed up that performance by garnering league offensive player of the week honors. That tends to happen when you rush for 183 yards and four touchdowns in a rout of Northern Illinois.

The Georgia native picked up right where he left off six days later, gashing Air Force for a 68-yard touchdown on the second play from scrimmage. He capped his night with 146 yards on the ground. Just like against the Huskies, it took just 12 carries to do that damage.

Wyoming knocked off its Front-Range rival, 28-14. While the all-black uniforms were supposed to represent the state's coal industry, the Cowboys may have just dressed properly for a Falcon funeral.

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Troy Calhoun, ever since that rainy 2012 night when Dave Christensen vocally chewed him up and spit him out at midfield, has dropped six straight inside War Memorial Stadium.

The Cowpokes emptied the tank in this meeting. A well-deserved bye week is now upon us after eight straight games -- and a full month of training camp -- with a major matchup against UNLV looming in Sin City. Air Force running back Owen Allen predicted he'd be the one having a long, relaxing weekend after a win in Laramie.

Oops.

"It's going to be good to relax a little bit and get some of the corrections going on," Hughes said with a smile, following the victory. "We can go back and watch some of the things that (we need to correct) and just continue to get better, as a team, because we've got a nice stretch of games ahead of us."

Re-live the ongoing "Cowboy Curse" through the lens of our talented photographer Hilario "Ian" Cadena, who was at field level for the biggest victory of the 2026 season.