LARAMIE — I like going to Wyoming games for a number of reasons. Once you cross the Colorado-Wyoming state line, you wonder why the state is so sparsely populated.
The wide-open plains stretch to the edge of craggy mountains. The blue sky couldn’t be clearer on a fall day if it were airbrushed.
From my press box seat, you can see the Laramie Mountains. I can look out the back window and see the Snowy Range. After the game, you can prowl a college town in a true Old West setting.
It’s not theme-park Old West like Old Sacramento, either. Downtown Laramie seems right out of the days of stagecoaches and the Pony Express.
The people are educated and friendly. It’s fairly easy to avoid bar fights.
Unfortunately, the football game experience has been one big, amused yawn. Wyoming is the only program I’ve seen in the country that doesn’t have a major tailgate culture. Two hours before game time, there are more cars in the Safeway parking lot than at War Memorial Stadium.
Only an average of 18,234 rattled around the 32,580-seat stadium last year — and for good reason. Only about 530,000 people live in the state, and for the last few years, the football has been dreadful.
That all changes at 1:30 p.m. Saturday when No. 2-ranked Texas comes calling.
“It’s the biggest game in history, without question,” said Kevin McKinney, Wyoming’s senior associate athletic director. “How can it not be?”
Wyoming has played football since 1892. It only seems like McKinney has attended every game since. The Cheyenne native arrived at the university as a freshman in 1967 and has worked for the athletic department, as sports information director, radio analyst and administrator, for 38 years.
The highest-ranked team to visit Laramie was Urban Meyer’s No. 7 Utah in 2004. Wyoming got clocked 45-28. Texas is a 33 1/2-point favorite.
“We’ve had Texas A&M come up here, Virginia, Mississippi, Wisconsin,” McKinney said. “But never a top three or four.”
How in the world did Wyoming convince Mack Brown to bring his Longhorns to Laramie? Credit Tom Burman, Wyoming’s aggressive third-year athletic director. He had already signed home-and-homes with Oregon and Missouri. Wyoming had done them with Virginia and Syracuse. But he wanted someone bigger. He wanted the “Wow!” factor.
He targeted Texas, Notre Dame and Nebraska. Then he simply Googled. Who had an open date? Turns out Texas had a conflict with its Sept. 12 game at Arkansas and needed a game. Wyoming offered a two-for-one, and Texas bit. Burman paid New Mexico State $300,000 to vacate the date.
Except for a few student tickets, the game was sold out by June. That’s despite jacking up the tickets from the normal price of $28 to $55. The game, the main reason season- ticket sales this season jumped 20 percent, means a cool $1 million to Wyoming’s coffers.
“We took a pretty substantial budget cut with the economic situation in the state,” Burman said. “Over the next two years we’ll lose $1 million, so it saved our bacon.”
Wyoming visits Texas for the same $250,000 guarantee next year. But in the third game, at Austin in 2012, Wyoming receives $900,000.
As the old joke goes, it’ll buy a lot of body bags. While Burman balances the books, he’s sending rookie head coach Dave Christensen and his brand-new spread offense against one of the best defenses in the country. Oh, and must I tell you Heisman runner-up Colt McCoy will throw against a Wyoming defense with a true freshman safety?
“If you look at the history of great upsets, they generally don’t happen in Austin and Lincoln,” Burman said. “If you get one of those teams on the road, especially at 7,200 feet, in front of our crowd, I’m not going to say we have a great chance, but we’ve got a chance.
“And you beat somebody like that, it changes the perception of your program.”
Merely scheduling somebody like that changes it too.
An ounce of prevention . . .
NEW YORK — Helmets and shoulder pads — and hand sanitizer.
College football players are protecting themselves from more than hits and tackles this season. Swine flu can flatten them too.
And the list of teams affected has been growing steadily. Many players are under orders to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze.
“After the first couple of cases, when people got sick on campus, me and my roommates, we went and got a big bottle of disinfectant,” Mississippi running back Brandon Bolden said. “And as soon as we walk into our house, we have hand sanitizer.”
At Ole Miss, the number of Rebels to miss practice with flu symptoms was up to 30 by Thursday. That includes star quarterback Jevan Snead and top running back Dexter McCluster. Luckily, the Rebels have a bye this week.
At Wisconsin, at least 10 players were dealing with flu symptoms. Division II Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala., had to cancel its opener last week against Clark Atlanta because 37 players had flu-like symptoms.
Also reporting cases recently: Duke had two or three dozen players experience flu symptoms; Tulane cleared 27 players with mostly mild symptoms to return to practice; and Washington State had 16 players get sick before its home opener Saturday amid a larger flu outbreak at the school.
The Associated Press
