Columnist Steve Guiremand: Wyoming coming in as big winner$

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

The Wyoming Cowboys are four touchdown underdogs in their season-opener against fifth-ranked Tennessee on Saturday. But no matter what the final score, the Pokes will end up big winners.

That's because the Cowboys figure to pocket close to $2 million from the Nashville Sports Council for moving their home game with the Vols from Laramie to a "neutral" field in Nashville.

The Nashville Sports Council paid the Cowboys, who will wear their home uniforms in front of the mostly orange-clad crowd, $2.35 million to move the game to The Coliseum in Nashville.

For Wyoming athletic director Lee Moon, it's like hitting college football's version of Megabucks.

The $2 million will help the Cowboys erase a 15-year athletic department debt and will triple Wyoming's normal football season profit. Wyoming usually makes only about $725,000 for a big home game against Mountain West Conference rivals like Colorado State and Air Force and about $500,000 for other games.

Wyoming, which has gone just 3-19 over the last two years under Vic Koenning, including 0-14 in Mountain West play, more than likely would have gotten its tail kicked anyway at War Memorial Stadium by a Tennessee squad many college football followers believe has a chance to go to the national championship game at the Fiesta Bowl. Now at least the Cowboys will have something to show for the likely drubbing.

Call it a win-win situation. The Vols also got out of having to travel to Laramie.

Meanwhile, give Moon credit for getting Tennessee to play a home-and-home series to begin with.

One wonders why former UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro couldn't work a similiar deal with the Vols, who probably wouldn't have minded visiting Las Vegas if they were willing to travel to Laramie. Instead, the Rebels will go to Knoxville in 2004 to conclude a two-game deal with the Vols that included no return game in Las Vegas.

Think the Las Vegas economy could have benefitted from having about 25,000 Tennessee fans in town for a weekend?

Once around the MWC