Nov. 19, 1999

FORT COLLINS - Hughes Stadium is a long way from Miami, and Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick didn't need a 26-degree wind chill to remind him.

But Thursday night, Lubick looked a lot like he'd just won a national championship, a pleased-as-punch grin glued to his face after his Rams clobbered Air Force, 41-21, in a cold, wind-whipped stadium that Lubick happily left Miami for seven years ago.

It's a place with big-time dreams and small-time TV ratings. You coach here and you spend your Decembers hoping middling bowls throw you a bid. You coach here and Air Force starts looking like Notre Dame. The Falcons have been to seven bowls in the past 10 years. The Rams have been to five. Ever.

But this year is different. The past two seasons have been Air Force's time. The Falcons were the little-team-that made good. They had their folksy, older coach, their underdog mentality, their we'll-play-anybody-any time attitude. They climbed over CSU for two come-from-behind wins that still stick in Rams' players sides, like poison needles.

"You never want to lose games like we lost to them," said CSU receiver Pete Rebstock. "Especially league games. Especially to a rival like Air Force."

CSU reversed all of that Thursday night. For a change, it's the Rams' time. There was no Air Force comeback. CSU led 20-6 at halftime and Lubick almost didn't need to give the speech he gave. He didn't need to remind anybody of what happened the last two years.

"Our kids, they know what happened," said Lubick. "They knew they'd better play hard in the second half. Air Force is a strong team. You knew they were going to come out strong in the third quarter."

But that third quarter told you everything you need to know about both teams. CSU had the ball three times and scored three touchdowns, throwing, passing, whatever it took. Air Force had the ball four times. The Falcons punted twice, fumbled and finally scored a touchdown after CSU had gone up, 41-6.

The Rams dominated on offense, dominated on defense and their fans, who had waited in traffic that didn't clear until 5 minutes before halftime, felt so comfortable they started traffic in the other direction with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. Air Force was left kicking itself over a mind-boggling season. The Falcons felt so close to pulling through so many times. Bowl scouts were here watching them, too. They had lost three Mountain West games but were still in the running for the conference's second bowl bid.

"It's been really tough," said Air Force linebacker Corey Nelson. "We feel like we're right there, but we're not right there.

"Last year, it seemed like every time we needed a big play, somebody made a big play. Somebody made an interception or a big run or something. We had chances tonight. We had a couple of interceptions that we bobbled. We had them pinned deep and they had that big run. They made the big plays like we used to."

CSU didn't exactly lock anything up Thursday. The Rams still have a game to go, against UNLV. And the way this bowl thing works, folks at CSU never feel completely comfortable until the men in loud sport coats come to campus to make it official.

"We don't want to talk about a bowl too much," said CSU quarterback Matt Newton. "We still have a game to play, and it's a road game. We haven't always done well in road games."

It was tough, however, for the Rams not to celebrate. Clearly, this season isn't like the others. CSU, which had a habit of playing its worst in national TV games, is 4-1 on TV screens this season. Air Force, coincidentally, is 1-4. And this was the biggest one, the last bowl audition, CSU's chance to show off from this little corner of the Front Range.

"I don't know about the bowl business," Lubick said. "But anybody who watched this game, I think they saw a pretty exciting football team who beat a team that beat Washington and played BYU down to the wire. Teams don't put all those points and all those yards up against Air Force."

But Lubick's team did. That was Lubick's wife, Carol Jo, outside the locker room hugging every player that walked by, running back Kevin McDougal lifting her clear off the ground. That was the CSU band filing by, greeting Lubick with with "Way to go Sonny!" and high-fives.

The wind still whirled outside and the cheerleaders were layered in sweat suits and nobody could close their eyes and even imagine Miami.

Lubick didn't need to. He was warm enough.