Nov. 10, 1999

Home Not So Sweet in MWC

In terms of wins and losses, you can bet teams around the Mountain West Conference were a little more concerned about making biannual trips to Provo and Laramie rather than Tulsa or Dallas.

But not as concerned as you might think.

After leaving the WAC behind, the new conference has increased the level of competitiveness and brought more parity to the eight-team league.

But if you listen to MWC coaches, there's no place around the league that is more painful to visit than sitting through a night of bad CBS sitcoms would be.

"I don't think there's a team in our conference that when you play you're going to death valley," Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick said.

Lubick knows all about big-time college football environments. Before coming to Colorado State, Lubick was the defensive coordinator at Miami from 1988-92.

During the Hurricanes' glory days, nobody wanted to visit Miami. The heat, not to mention one of the nation's most powerful teams, wasn't exactly kind to opposing teams, Lubick said.

So how does Lubick describe a visit to 65,000-seat Cougar Stadium?

"It's a nice place to play," Lubick said. "We love to go there, except they're always so darn good."

That doesn't exactly sound like a description of The Swamp or The Big House.

In terms of fan attendance, Cougar Stadium is probably the MWC's most difficult environment to play in. But when it comes to visiting Provo, Lubick isn't the only coach that uses pleasant words to describe facing BYU on the road.

"Certainly, it's a fun place to go play at BYU," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said.

Fun? Nice? But what about those 65,000 screaming fans?

"Crowds don't bother me," DeBerry said. "The more people there are and the louder it is, the better."

THE TRUTH is, the MWC has plenty of difficult places to play, but no place that is overwhelming.

Maybe that's why road teams in this conference carry a record of 13-5.

BYU is the only team in the MWC without a conference loss at home. The three other teams who still have a shot at a share of the conference title -- Utah, Colorado State and Wyoming -- have all dropped games on their home fields. The Utes lost to Wyoming last week, the Rams fell to San Diego State, while the Cowboys stumbled in their homecoming game against lowly UNLV.

So is there a "toughest" place to play in the conference?

It depends on how you describe tough.

There's no question that when it comes to fan support and a nationally prominent program, Cougar Stadium is the MWC's showcase venue.

But it may not elicit the greatest number of groans when opposing teams see it on the schedule.

"The toughest place to play is Wyoming, no doubt," said San Diego State defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila. "At Wyoming, playing in the snow, it has to be the toughest place."

Combine high elevation, bitter-cold temperatures and a lively crowd at 33,500-seat War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, and Wyoming may have the best home-field advantage in the conference.

BYU COULD find that out this week.

"It's a tough place to play," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "They've got very vocal fans."

But then again, this isn't exactly the easiest year to apply that label to any one place.

Wyoming couldn't handle UNLV at home. Air Force ended up on the wrong end of a 21-15 score against Utah in Falcon Stadium. And San Diego State, which has struggled in conference play, came away from a snow-covered Hughes Stadium with a win over Colorado State.

"Some of our kids hadn't even made a snowball before," SDSU coach Ted Tollner said after the game.

Forget Provo, Colorado Springs and Laramie. Come November, San Diego is the place to be, no matter what happens on the field.

NOTES: After suffering a massive concussion against Wyoming, Utah quarterback Darnell Arceneaux could miss the team's next two games. Arceneaux is going to class, but that's about it. "He's not doing anything right now," Utah coach Ron McBride said. "He's still foggy, and he's kind of out of it."

Air Force is out of the MWC race, but the Falcons did achieve their top objective with a win over Army that locked up the Commander-in-Chief's trophy.