The 1956 Wyoming Cowboys football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

as a member of the

Skyline Conference The Skyline Conference is a college athletic conference based in the New York City area that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The league was originally chartered on May 16, 1989, as a men's basketball conference and now sponsors 17 sports (ni ...

during the

1956 NCAA University Division football season The 1956 NCAA University Division football season saw the University of Oklahoma Sooners finish a third consecutive season unbeaten and untied to again win the national championship. The 1956 season saw the NCAA split member schools into two divi ...

. In their fourth season under head coach

Phil Dickens William Phillip Dickens (June 29, 1914 – November 16, 1983) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Wofford College (1947–1952), ...

, the Cowboys compiled a perfect 10–0 record (7–0 against Skyline opponents), won the Skyline Conference championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 252 to 112. The Cowboys were ranked No. 19 in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

issued on November 19, 1956, but dropped out in the final poll. The team's statistical leaders included Larry Zowada with 878 passing yards, Jim Crawford with 1,104 rushing yards and 72 points scored, and John Watts with 287 receiving yards. Crawford led the nation in rushing yards and went on to play five seasons for the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

. Believing that they would get a better bowl appearance, the team declined a Sun Bowl invitation. No other invitations came.

Schedule

References

{{Skyline Conference (1938–1962) football champions

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Wyoming Cowboys football seasons Mountain States Conference football champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

Wyoming Cowboys football The Wyoming Cowboys football program represents the University of Wyoming in college football. They compete in the Mountain West Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I and have won 14 conference titles. The head coac ...