The Mountain West Conference announced on Thursday the new rotation schedule for conference football games for the 2023-2025 seasons. The new three-year rotation will coincide with the Mountain West eliminating divisions beginning with the 2023 season.
The three-year schedule will see each Mountain West team play two conference opponents in each of the next three seasons, while playing the other nine MW opponents at least twice in the three-year schedule.
For Wyoming, the two Mountain West schools the Cowboys will play each of the next three seasons are Colorado State and Air Force.
In May, the league announced the elimination of football divisions beginning with the 2023 season.
The new schedule rotation, which will allow MW institutions to play each other more often, enhances the opportunity of matching the two best teams in the MW Football Championship Game annually, providing access to the New Year’s 6/College Football Playoff more frequently.
The new model, which avoided repeat matchups at the same location from 2022 to 2023, is based on a 2-6 structure where each team will play two guaranteed opponents annually and face six other Conference teams. During the three-year cycle, all teams will face nine of 11 opponents at least twice, once at home and once on the road, and two opponents in each of the three years.
The rotation was created based on work of a subcommittee of MW athletics directors and was formally approved by the entire group of athletics directors.
The top two teams with the highest Conference winning percentage will compete in the MW Football Championship Game on Dec. 2, 2023.