Weekly rankings for Wyoming high school football back to 1984 posted on wyoming-football.com

I’ll be honest: During the season, one of the things I look forward to most between games is the weekly rankings.

I love them because they are a great gauge for perspective. Is that team as good as I think it is? What do others think? Are y’all seeing what I’m seeing?

I also love them because it gives every team in the state except for the five teams ranked No. 1 some motivation. You know, “everyone” is overlooking us, “no one” thought we could do it, etc. Motivation can come in many forms, but rankings are the most public. Without them, how could anyone ever feel slighted?

Most of all, though, I love them because they are basically one big way for coaches and media types to have a conversation about who they think are the best teams without ever having to talk to each other.

The problem with rankings is that they’re only good for a week. Friday comes along, a whole slew of games are played, and that new information is incorporated into a new set of votes for next week’s rankings.

However, looking at old rankings can give us lots of insight into a season. Who rallied after a poor start? Who was the team that everyone knew was coming and lived up to expectations? Who lived fast and died young?

Since I want to know the answers to those questions, I started tracking down every single weekly poll for Wyoming high school football, all the way back to the start of such statewide polls.

This research took several weeks of evenings and weekends, most of which was spent either on wyopreps.com or the Casper Star-Tribune archive on newspapers.com. To this point, research has taken me back to 1952, which I believe is the first year for a coordinated statewide effort at an actual poll and not just rankings put out by individual newspapers.

I’m ready to share a big chunk of that research today.

Starting today, weekly polls from 1984 to 2021 will be available on wyoming-football.com. Polls for each year will be linked from the results by year page.

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Highlights

With 38 years of week-by-week rankings now part of wyoming-football.com — and with more to come — we can take a quick look at which teams have done what in the polls.

Most weeks ranked, most weeks at No. 1: It should be no surprise that Cokeville has spent the most weeks ranked (313) and the most weeks ranked No. 1 (141). With 345 weekly rankings available — and with not every week containing a ranking for the classification that Cokeville was in at the time — the Panthers have been ranked more than 90% of the time and have been No. 1 more than 40% of the time.

Not coincidentally, the same five programs that spent the most time both at No. 1 also spent the most time in the rankings, period.

Behind Cokeville in time in the No. 1 spot is Natrona at 94 weeks, Big Horn at 92, Star Valley at 86 and Sheridan at 80.

Behind Cokeville in total weeks ranked is Natrona (279), Sheridan (265), Big Horn (263) and Star Valley (259).

Cokeville is also the program that has spent the most weeks ranked at No. 2 with 82 weeks, tied with Lusk for the most time spent in the second slot.

Who’s been No. 1: In all, 38 teams since 2010 have been ranked No. 1 for at least one week, and since 1984 all but eight programs have failed to reach the top spot. Those who haven’t been ranked No. 1 since 1984 include:

• Saratoga (last reached No. 1 in the final AP poll of 1982)
• Pinedale (last reached No. 1 in the UPI poll in Week 9, 1981)
• Newcastle (last reached No. 1 in the UPI poll in Week 5, 1980)
• Rawlins (last reached No. 1 in the AP poll in Week 10, 1974)
• Cheyenne South, Encampment, St. Stephens, Wyoming Indian (never ranked No. 1, according to currently researched polls)

Five more programs (Hulett, Kelly Walsh, Ten Sleep, Tongue River and Moorcroft) have been ranked No. 1 for just one week since 1984.

Of the teams that have been around since 1984, Wyoming Indian (15 weeks), Rawlins (29 weeks) and Saratoga (36 weeks) have spent the least amount of time ranked. Every other program that has existed since 1984 has spent at least 42 weeks ranked. Of the eight Class 4A programs that have existed since 1984, Kelly Walsh has the fewest weeks at No. 1 (one week) and the fewest total weeks in the polls (93 weeks).

No. 1 all season long: In all, 60 teams have gone wire-to-wire ranked No. 1, most recently Southeast and Farson in 2020. Of those 60, 41 eventually won a state championship.

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At the end of this post is a table that notes the total weeks at No. 1, the total weeks ranked and the last time ranked No. 1 for each program.

Prior to 1984, two polls existed for most years — the Associated Press poll and the United Press International poll. Research is continuing on those, and I hope to share them, or at least what we can find, soon. Poll information from 1952 to 1983 is much more spotty, but I will share it all once I feel like it’s in a “shareable” state; right now, it’s not quite there yet.

Remember, weekly polls from each season from 1984-2021 are on the results by year page. More blog posts are coming, so keep your eyes open! I’m still exploring the current data, including figuring out who’s spent the most consecutive weeks ranked and the most consecutive weeks at No. 1.

My huge gratitude goes out to “Stat Rat” Jim Craig and his help for finding a few of the polls I couldn’t. Do a search for his name on this blog and you’ll see how helpful he has been for many, many years, and he’s also one of the key architects to the work posted on sister site wyoming-basketball.com. Thanks again, good sir!

I’m always looking for new information I can post to wyoming-football.com. What do you want to see next?

–patrick

Weekly poll rankings, 1984-2021

Team	Weeks at No. 1	Total weeks ranked	Last ranked No. 1
Cokeville	141	313	Playoffs 2017
Natrona	94	279	Week 2 2019
Big Horn	92	263	Playoffs 2019
Star Valley	86	259	Week 1 2020
Sheridan	80	265	Week 4 2021
Meeteetse	66	145	Week 5 2021
Mountain View	54	217	Week 8 2020
Southeast	54	218	Preseason 2021
Campbell County	51	239	Playoffs 2016
Powell	49	199	Week 4 2020
Rocky Mountain	46	135	Playoffs 1999
Buffalo	46	202	Week 3 2019
Lovell	42	219	Week 2 2020
Snake River	39	107	Playoffs 2021
Glenrock	37	164	Week 4 2018
Rock Springs	36	131	Playoffs 2021
Torrington	35	169	Preseason 2021
Lusk	33	229	Week 2 2021
Jackson	30	144	Week 2 2021
Big Piney	30	152	Week 2 2007
Lander	29	112	Week 8 2004
Thermopolis	28	105	Week 5 2010
Kemmerer	28	120	Playoffs 2008
Lyman	28	127	Playoffs 2021
Cheyenne Central	28	154	Week 6 2020
Guernsey	27	131	Week 4 2015
Cody	27	185	Playoffs 2021
Green River	24	143	Week 6 2016
Wheatland	22	145	Week 3 2021
Douglas	22	188	Playoffs 2014
Farson	21	79	Playoffs 2020
Laramie	21	124	Week 8 1996
Burlington	21	163	Playoffs 2008
Dubois	20	106	Week 4 2013
Riverton	20	117	Week 7 2014
Greybull	17	121	Week 5 1991
Shoshoni	15	121	Week 5 2021
Worland	14	93	Playoffs 2003
Midwest	13	132	Week 3 2010
Thunder Basin	12	57	Week 1 2021
Riverside	12	76	Week 3 2007
Kaycee	12	89	Playoffs 2017
Upton-Sundance	11	73	Playoffs 2016
Evanston	11	117	Week 5 2007
Cheyenne East	11	182	Preseason 2021
Pine Bluffs	9	101	Playoffs 2021
Sundance	8	86	Week 2 2006
Wright	7	62	Week 4 2005
Lingle	7	86	Week 7 2015
Upton	7	106	Week 2 2006
Wind River	5	44	Preseason 1998
Burns	3	63	Playoffs 2013
Hanna	2	66	Week 5 2000
Moorcroft	1	54	Preseason 1997
Tongue River	1	69	Preseason 2007
Ten Sleep	1	91	Week 4 1987
Kelly Walsh	1	93	Week 4 2006
Hulett	1	93	Week 6 1994
Rock River	0	0	Never
St. Stephens	0	0	Never
Basin	0	4	Never
St. Mary's/Seton	0	5	Never
Cheyenne South	0	7	Never
Wyoming Indian	0	15	Never
NSI	0	25	Never
Encampment	0	29	Never
Rawlins	0	29	Week 10 1974
Saratoga	0	36	Playoffs 1982
Pinedale	0	42	Week 9 1981
Newcastle	0	43	Week 5 1980

Note: Post updated 5:49 p.m. Jan. 18, 2022, to reflect Newcastle’s last No. 1 ranking in 1980.