Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Reggie Miller, Baron Davis, Kevin Love and 11 national championships; the University of California-Los Angeles has some tradition, tradition that the Cowboys will get to taste first hand when they head into the Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 23.

UCLA is ranked fourth in the nation in both the AP and the ESPN/USA Today preseason rankings and the Bruins have been to the Final Four the last three seasons, making up only one-sixth of their 18 Final Four appearances.

The Cowboys will be onhallowed ground.

“It’s going to be exciting, going to UCLA and playing in a famous arena against the greatest college team ever,” senior forward Tyson Johnson said. “It is going to be a great experience.”

Second-year head coach Heath Schroyer shared a similar admiration for UCLA’s history.

“They may be the best team ever in college basketball. It’s just a special place, I think having these guys [Cowboys] play in Pauley Pavilion and being able to coach in Pauley Pavilion is something we’ll all remember,” Schroyer said.

As the Wyoming Cowboys and Colorado State Rams step onto the field at War Memorial Stadium Saturday for the final time of the 2008 regular season, a dizzying congregation of uncertain and stirring emotions will likely dominate the atmosphere in Laramie throughout the afternoon.

The two teams have divergent stories: one, a CSU team desperately attempting to clinch bowl eligibility, and the other, a Wyoming Cowboys program attempting to salvage some final glory in what has been one of its most disappointing campaigns in recent years.

It may be rivalry week, but the ambiance surrounding the 100th Border War resounds with something more this year, a significance and an emotional backdrop which are perhaps higher than they have ever been this entire decade.

The speculation concerning the future of Joe Glenn as Wyoming’s head coach has abided since the preseason, but it boiled to a climax after the Cowboys’ 22-14 loss last week at Nevada-Las Vegas, a defeat which eliminated Wyoming from bowl eligibility and ensured the Cowboys a fourth losing season under Glenn’s tenure which began in 2003.

Although Glenn turned around a program which was 5-29 from 2000-02 and led Wyoming to its first bowl victory since 1966 in his second season, his team’s struggles since that victory in the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl have led many to believe he may be on his way out of Laramie at the end of this season.

Glenn, who is 19-27 since the beginning of the 2005 season, was unable to guide the Cowboys to a return bowl appearance this season despite a schedule which contained seven home games.

Still, despite being eliminated from bowl contention last week, it is difficult to imagine that the Cowboys won’t be emotionally charged for their rivalry matchup with CSU.

If the Border War is indeed Glenn’s final appearance on the sidelines wearing the brown and gold of Wyoming, his team will undoubtedly be earnestly-focused on sending him off with one final triumph, especially the Cowboy seniors, who would be departing alongside their head coach.

“I know Joe Glenn is a tremendous coach,” CSU head coach Steve Fairchild said. “He’s won everywhere he’s been and not just won, but won big. I know him as a coach, I know him as a personal friend and you’re not going to find a better guy or a better coach than Joe Glenn. I know those players know that as well.”

The Cowboys will also take the field with the intention of exacting a little revenge upon the Rams, who spoiled Wyoming’s bid for bowl eligibility in Fort Collins last season.

“It is a great rivalry and it’s a tremendous, tremendous football game. Like any other rivalry like this, you can kind of throw everything out. They’re going to come with their best shot and so are we,” Fairchild said.

And, as the Wyoming Cowboys and Colorado State Rams prepare to meet for the 100th time, only one thing remains certain: another chapter will be written in the storied annuls of the Border War rivalry – this one with a bit more significance than most of the rest.

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