The sun, just barely starting to rise, cast pink on Thursday morning’s clouds, but the sky was bright with the War Memorial Stadium lights. 

A team assembled on the 50-yard line at 6 a.m. ready to run the ball. But they weren’t football players with their eyes on the endzone. The goal line for the University of Wyoming cadets, in fatigues and boots, was the Colorado-Wyoming border, some 30 miles south of Laramie. 

Cadets from the University of Wyoming’s Army ROTC Cowboy Battalion and Air Force ROTC Detachment 940 assemble at War Memorial Stadium before running the Border War game ball to the Colorado border on Nov. 14, 2024. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile)

Covering the distance as a relay, cadets from the Army ROTC Cowboy Battalion and Air Force ROTC Detachment 940 each planned to run a mile or so before passing the ball to fresh runners following along in a convoy of vans. 

At the border, the UW cadets pass the ball to Colorado State University ROTC, whose cadets run it over 30 miles to Fort Collins. 

The ceremonial exchange of the ball started in 1991 and happens every year before the CSU-Wyoming football game, also known as the Border War. Friday’s 6 p.m. game at Canvas Stadium marks the 116th time the rivals will face off. 

Jacob Jewell with the Cowboy Battalion flag and Vahn Williams with the ball head south out of Laramie on Highway 287 toward the Colorado-Wyoming border on Nov. 14, 2024. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile)

Talk of CSU leaving the Mountain West Conference in 2026 has raised uncertainty about the future of the rivalry game. 

“I believe the Border War will continue,” UW Athletic Director Tom Burman said. “I have talked to John [Weber], the AD at Colorado State, and I believe that’s what he thinks. It’s in all of our best interests that we play CSU in multiple sports every year. It’s 66 miles away. College athletics has lost its balance, and we’re traveling sports teams all over the country to compete. This is one that just makes sense. And I would say, let’s just not screw it up.”

Tennessee Jane Watson is WyoFile's deputy managing editor. She was a 2020 Nieman Abrams Fellow for Local Investigative Journalism and Wyoming Public Radio's education reporter. She lives in Laramie. Contact...

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  1. Truly one of the best traditions in college sports. It might not be as important to the standings in the future, but it will always be important to folks that love the college game. I hope they can keep it going forever…

    Reply