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Tuesday, August 19, 1997

Can WAC crash alliance party?

By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) - Brigham Young without a star quarterback? Rice challenging for a division title? Colorado State the strongest team in the Western Athletic Conference?

While the WAC spent the offseason fighting to get its champion into a bowl alliance game, the league could be ready for a few surprises.

- BYU is without a solid quarterback and coach LaVell Edwards might resort to the running game.

- Rice, which won six of its last seven games in 1996, looks ready to challenge the Cougars in the Mountain Division. BYU beat Rice 49-0 last season, but the Owls, led by quarterback Chad Nelson, get the Cougars at home Oct. 11.

- Colorado State, led by quarterback Moses Moreno (2,921 yards) and fullback Damon Washington (1,075 yards), appears ready to dethrone Wyoming in the Pacific Division. The Rams just might be the class of the 16-team league.

"I think Colorado State will be the strongest contender," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. "But BYU is always there. Rice also has a chance to make a strong run."

Rams coach Sonny Lubick welcomes the favorite's role.

"I feel very good about this team," said Lubick, entering his fifth season at Colorado State. "It could be the best team we've had since I've been here.

"I like recognition. I'd rather it be this situation than the way we've been. Now, we'll just have to see how well we handle these expectations."

Everyone is still gunning for BYU, which enters the season with a 12-game winning streak, longest in Division I-A.

BYU has a question mark at quarterback, although Edwards likes both Paul Shoemaker, a junior, and Kevin Feterik, a sophomore. Steve Sarkisian, who threw for more than 4,000 yards last season, is gone.

"We have a chance to be a good club," Edwards said. "I've got a gut feeling we'll be OK at quarterback. They aren't experienced, but I'm excited about both of them."

BYU has a tough nonconference schedule with a home game against Washington, the only team to beat the Cougars last season, and a road game against Arizona State, the defending Pac-10 champion.

Moreno threw 18 TD passes, but had 12 interceptions. Wide receiver Geoff Turner, with 52 catches, 921 yards and six TDs in '96, should be his top target.

"It will be hard to surpass last year's offensive production," said Lubick, whose team averaged 31.9 points per game - fifth in the WAC. "Hopefully, our defense will improve."

San Diego State and Air Force are expected to give the Rams the toughest battles in the Pacific, which includes Wyoming, Fresno State, UNLV, Hawaii and San Jose State.

"We're going to be disappointed if we're not in it," San Diego State coach Ted Tollner said. "We want the Nov. 22 game against Colorado State to be meaningful."

Utah and Rice are expected to challenge BYU in the Mountain, followed by New Mexico, TCU, SMU, Tulsa and Texas-El Paso.

The WAC title game is Dec. 6 at Las Vegas.

Last year's title game was part of a dramatic final regular-season weekend. BYU beat Wyoming 28-25 in overtime in the first title game.

"You couldn't write a better script for the WAC than the way things went the first year," Rice coach Ken Hatfield said. "The conference will be very competitive again."

Hatfield said Rice is expecting 50,000 fans for its opener against Air Force. The Owls were 7-4 last season, their best record since 1961.

"With the Houston Oilers leaving, we think fans in Houston are going to come back to college football," Hatfield said.

After BYU was left out of an alliance game despite a No. 5 ranking last year, the WAC and alliance agreed on a new formula that would allow a league team ranked sixth or higher to be included in the new four-bowl alliance package that begins in 1998. Otherwise, a WAC team could be given one of two at-large bids.

"We're relieved to have the issue behind us," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. "Some said we caved in or gave up, but that's not true. We got as much as we could possibly get. We now can consider ourselves part of the elite of college football."

There are four new coaches in the WAC: Mike Cavan at SMU, Pat Hill at Fresno State, Dana Dimel at Wyoming and Dave Baldwin at San Jose State. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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