11/13/2026 3:00:00 PM | Football
Reliving the 1985 Australia Bowl between UW and UTEP
The University of Wyoming football team has only ever played one game outside of the United States in the history of the program.
That one contest happened to be against the UTEP Miners, in a game played at the VFL Park in Melbourne, Australia on December 7, 1985. While the contest made history as the first college football game played in Australia, the implications within the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) weren't as significant as one would assume.
Both teams sat at the bottom of the league standings, with each team only featuring one conference win while only combining for three total wins heading into the season finale. On top of that, both programs had lame duck coaches at the helm, as both UW head coach Al Kincaid and UTEP head coach Bill Yung were coaching their final games at their respective schools after being fired earlier in the season.
The Cowboys' lone conference win of the season came against San Diego State in a contest that saw only 1,946 fans pack into a snowy War Memorial Stadium on a sub-zero day, a staggering attendance mark that contributed to the lowest attendance average (14,010 in six home games) in a season since 1962, UW's first season in the WAC.
UTEP's only conference and overall win came in a victory that shocked the entire nation, as the Miners defeated No. 7 BYU by a score of 23-16 inside the Sun Bowl earlier that season. That win still remains as UTEP's highest ranking win over an AP Top-25 opponent, as the Miners are 4-61 all-time against AP Top-25 teams.
Regardless, the only connotation for the matchup was playing to not finish last in the WAC standings–which made for quite an intriguing contest, and one that ultimately came down to the wire as well.
Dec. 7, 1985
The Australia Bowl was originally never meant to be a game played between UW and UTEP.
As noted in an article from the Laramie Boomerang from Dec. 4, 1985, the game was originally intended to be played by Hawai'i and San Diego State. However, scheduling conflicts made it so neither team could compete, and both UW and UTEP were called upon instead.
"I thought it was a great move to do," Kevin McKinney—longtime color commentator for Wyoming football and the Director of Sports Information in 1985—said of the game in the most recent episode of UW athletics podcast Behind the Brand. "I thought it was a great experience for the players and I was anxious to go myself."
The conference matchup between the Cowboys and the Miners was originally slated to be played in El Paso on Oct. 19, but the two teams collectively decided to move the contest to Dec. 7 after being formally invited by the Australian government to compete in the first-ever "Australia Bowl" in Melbourne.
"We're extremely proud that the University has been invited to take part in this historical event," then UW athletic director Gary Cunningham said. "Certainly it is an honor for our University, and for the Western Athletic Conference. The educational experience for our student athletes will be invaluable, and we are able to accept the invitation at no expense to the school."
The contest at VFL Park, which seated around 75,000 people at the time, was expected to attract a hefty crowd of diehard UW and UTEP fans and Australian locals capable of filling many of those 75,000 seats.
Instead, only a contingent of around 19,100 people were recorded in attendance—though those who did attend were treated to an exciting football game, regardless of the stakes of the contest.
The game did not get off to much of an exciting start, though, as neither team scored in the opening quarter.
The Miners quickly changed that in the first three seconds of the second quarter, punching the ball into the end zone from a yard out behind freshman running back John Harvey. It took the rest of the quarter for the Cowboys to eventually respond, but they did behind a 14-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Scott Runyan to sophomore receiver Lawrence Chavers.
UTEP quickly struck back with a 96-yard kick-off return to begin the third quarter and again scored a rushing touchdown on the following possession, this time by a 19-yard scoring run by running back Randy Forrest. Within just minutes the Miners commanded a 21-7 lead.
Runyan was keen to keep the Cowboys in this one, though, as he would scamper into the end zone from two yards out to bring the game within a possession and passed for another touchdown to bring the Cowboys within a point, as they trailed 21-20 after failing to convert a two-point conversion after the passing touchdown.
UW eventually took a 23-21 lead in the fourth quarter behind a 34-yard field goal by senior kicker Andy Cottingham with 9:35 left in the contest. That would end up being the game-winner for the Cowboys as their defense would hang on, as an interception at UW's own 38-yard line by sophomore linebacker Galand Thaxton sealed the deal.
The Australia Bowl was discontinued after just one game due to financial constraints, as McKinney also mentioned that the organizers didn't even have enough funds to feed all the players while in Melbourne.
College football did eventually return to Australia, just two years later under different organizers in 1987 for the Melbourne Bowl between two other WAC opponents, BYU and Colorado State.
