Colorado State’s reward? Date with Colorado

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1998 | 10:54 a.m.

Pitty Sonny Lubick.

His Colorado State football team rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat Michigan State 23-16 on Saturday in the Black Coaches Association game in East Lansing, Mich., for one of the biggest wins in recent Western Athletic Conference history.

But Lubick barely had time to enjoy the win.

Reason? Because the Rams have perhaps their game of the year Saturday night when they face in-state rival Colorado at Denver's sold-out Mile High Stadium.

"I would think (beating Michigan State) was a huge win," Lubick said Monday. "I wish I had more time to enjoy it, strut around and maybe get a few beers from someone."

But the Rams must now get ready to face a Colorado team that is trying to put behind a nightmarish 5-6 season in 1997. The Buffs have also defeated Colorado State in each of their last seven meetings.

"It's going to be a big game for sure," Lubick said. "I'd like to say it's not a big deal, but it is a big deal for the fans."

How big?

Well, as the Rams exited the field following their big comeback win at Michigan State, they were immediately greeted with chants of, "Beat CU, Beat CU."

All 76,000 seats have been sold for the contest, which will be played on a neutral field for the first time in the 69-game series. CSU students recently camped out over night to get a crack at buying tickets for the game.

"It's a state football game with two schools who have a lot of motivation from all the hype," Lubick said. "But (hype) is not going to decide the game."

And what about speculation that Colorado State would be in good position to go undefeated and get an eventual spot in the Bowl Championship Series if it can win this week?

"For us to even think about bowl games the next seven or eight weeks would be crazy," Lubick said. "So much can happen. ... It doesn't take long in this business to get knocked down to Earth again. It can happen any week."

Patchgate kip6p

Patches? We don't got no stinkin' patches.

Seems that Colorado State's uniforms in Saturday's nationally televised victory failed to include the traditional WAC logo patches on their sleeves.

So was it an intentional slap in the face by the soon-to-be former "breakaway eight" member Colorado State? Remember, CSU president Albert Yates was one of the ringleaders of the WAC breakup. Or was it just a simple oversight?

"We were informed during the summer that all 16 schools would still wear WAC patches," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. "We filled our orders for them and sent them out in the last 30 days. I was surprised that Colorado State's patches weren't in place. I talked to their athletic director, Tim Weiser, and he said that they had new uniforms and a new manager and it was just an oversight ... and that they will be in place for their next game."

Benson did not attend Colorado State's game at Michigan State. He also is not scheduled to be at Saturday night's much anticipated Colorado-Colorado State showdown even though the WAC offices are in Denver.

WAC NOTEBOOK:Benson is hopeful that the ill-fated Freedom Bowl, which has applied again for NCAA certification and wants to hold a game in 1999 at 3-Com Park in San Francisco after failing miserably in Southern California, will seriously consider taking a WAC team should it return to the bowl lineup. ... Hawaii coach Fred vonAppen said the school has been contacted by defensive lineman Lui Fuga, who recently left UNLV because of homesickness. However, vonAppen said he was not sure he would take Fuga, who is from Waipahu, Hawaii, because he reneged on an earlier verbal commitment to the Rainbows to sign with UNLV. ... Hawaii hosts Arizona on Thursday night on ESPN2. The Wildcats are coached by former Hawaii head coach Dick Tomey and also added Bob Wagner, the man vonAppen replaced, on their staff as a linebackers coach. "We're not playing their staff," vonAppen said. "We didn't schedule an inter-staff scrimmage. A lot has been made out of Dick and Bob coming back here ... I don't think the players give a rip about that. None of them were here when Dick coached here and only a few were around when Bob was here." ... UNLV coach Jeff Horton said that cornerback Mark Hays has enrolled in school and is hopeful the senior from Bellflower, Calif., could join the team in the next couple of weeks. Horton said Hays has "personal problems" to resolve and could redshirt if things aren't cleared up soon. ... UNLV will vote on its 1998 team captains today. ... BYU opens its season at Alabama, which hired ex-Cougar assistant Charlie Stubbs away from UNLV to be its quarterback coach. What edge will that give the Tide? "It's certainly not the first time we've played an ex-player or coach," said Cougars head coach LaVell Edwards. "I'm not sure how much it affects things. It boils down to execution and the team playing well, really."