Fort Collins – The Mountain West Conference race started without Colorado State.
Air Force and Utah already are hoping to avoid a second league loss tonight. Every MWC team will have played at least one game before the Rams open league play next Thursday against Air Force, as BYU opens league play Saturday when TCU comes calling.
In an ideal world, all schools would play nonleague games in September, then begin the conference schedule. CSU is the only MWC school with such a tidy arrangement.
Air Force always gets an early start in the MWC because it plays its service academy rivalries later in the season. BYU has an Oct. 22 date at Notre Dame.
Adding TCU to the conference further complicated scheduling.
The Rams must deal with their home opener against Nevada on Saturday before turning their attention to the MWC. It’s just difficult to keep from checking out the league, especially with back-to-back televised Thursday games (TCU-Utah and AFA-Utah).
“I’m extremely anxious to get conference play started,” CSU wide receiver Dustin Osborn said. “We had two tough games against nonconference opponents. There’s a lot of talent in our conference, and I’m excited to get it rolling.”
Said defensive end Jesse Nading: “Every time you get to watch everyone else get that first conference game out of the way, it always puts excitement in you. We obviously want to get that rolling.”
While Nevada has the Rams’ attention this week, Nading said, “Obviously (the conference) is in the back of our minds.”
Running back Kyle Bell is just excited about getting his first start Saturday.
“With Nevada it’s another test to fine-tune for conference play,” Bell said. “You get antsy (for conference play), but it’s three games to really prepare yourself. For us to have these three to get ourselves ready, we have to use that as an advantage.”
Considering how close most of the league games have been, CSU coach Sonny Lubick almost isn’t in any hurry to get to the MWC.
“I don’t know if seven points separate the top eight teams,” Lubick said.
The Rams (0-2) have gotten a history lesson this week about the 1997 team, which started 2-2 and ran the table after a bye week to win the conference and then the Holiday Bowl.
“Hopefully we can do that again this year,” Osborn said.
Footnotes
CSU officials expect a crowd of 25,000-28,000 for Saturday’s 4 p.m. kickoff. … Starting quarterback Justin Holland has practiced all week after resting most of the bye week with a sprained ankle. Lubick estimated Holland was 80-90 percent at midweek and expects backup Caleb Hanie to get in the game.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
