Steve Carp: Wyoming could find itself shut out

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

IMAGINE YOUR favorite football team finished its season with a 10-2 record. You'd be downright giddy and calling the school to see how much those bowl game packages are going to cost. And by the way, is it possible to buy a couple of extra tickets?

Under normal circumstances, that scenario would play itself out at campuses across America. But it may not at Wyoming, where a magical season could end up bittersweet if the Cowboys lose to Brigham Young in Saturday's Western Athletic Conference championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium.

While there has been much conjecture about the Cougars claiming a spot in the bowl alliance and BYU and the WAC reaping the benefits of an $8 million payday from the Fiesta Bowl, the flip side of this equation is that Wyoming, should it lose, could very well be on the outside looking in.

The few bowls that have slots open are not looking at accomplishments on the field at this point, but the drawing power of dollars off it. Wyoming may be a big state in terms of acreage, but it's not a populous one. And the concerns of the Cowboys' ability to travel big may affect the decisions of the guys in the bad-colored blazers.

Consider two 6-5 teams (Michigan State and Stanford) are ticketed for the Sun Bowl. Or 6-5 California gets to play 7-4 Texas Tech in the Aloha Bowl. Or Texas, which would be 7-5 should it lose to Nebraska in Saturday's Big 12 title game, would still go to a bowl game.

As Wyoming's Marcus Harris so aptly put it, it would be a miscarriage of justice if his team was shut out of postseason play.

But the fact is it could happen. There's nothing that says the Copper or the Holiday Bowl has to take Wyoming. The Copper Bowl may announce its pairings today or Wednesday and not wait for Wyoming. The Holiday is supposedly considering 8-3 San Diego State, which beat Wyoming but lost to UNLV, as the WAC's representative in San Diego later this month. Obviously, the thinking is the hometown Aztecs will have more drawing power than Wyoming.

There's a chance the Independence Bowl would take the Cowboys. But the folks in Shreveport are waiting to see how Army does against Navy Saturday. If the Cadets win, they could be headed to Louisiana.

Right now, it doesn't bode well for Joe Tiller's team. Tiller, who is bound for Purdue as soon as Wyoming is finished, wants to be a Cowboy for one more game following Saturday.

"Wyoming has a lot of quality players to offer a bowl game," Tiller said. "From the kicker (Cory Wedel) to the quarterback (Josh Wallwork) to wide receiver (Harris), there are a lot of exciting players I think fans would want to see.

"But all we can do is what we can do."

What Wyoming can do is make all of this moot by beating BYU Saturday. It would sure make things easier for the bowl folks. The only stressed-out person would be the Wyoming ticket manager, who would have to handle the flood of calls come Monday from fans looking for tickets.