The No. 7 Utes (9-0, 5-0) headto Laramie, Wyo., this Saturdayfor a 5 p.m. battle with the WyomingCowboys (6-3, 3-2). Thegame pits the two bowl eligibleteams of the Mountain WestConference against each otheras well as featuring two of theMWC’s most prolific offenses.On a roll as of late, Wyominghad a rough start to the year,losing its second game of theseason to Texas A&M 31-0, buthas won five of its last seven includingits last two. Last weekend,the Cowboys downedUNLV in an epic triple-overtimethriller to run their conferencerecord to 3-2.The Utes will face a Cowboyteam that is unbeaten at homethis season, although Wyominghas never beaten a team rankedin the top 10. Tommy Hackenbruck,senior linebacker for theU, acknowledged the difficultyof playing in a hostile environmentlike War Memorial Stadium.He said the Utes will haveto overcome several factors toachieve victory this weekend.”It’s a tough place to play,”Hackenbruck said. “I understandthey’re undefeated athome, and I think they’ve struggleda little bit on the road, butthey have a rowdy crowd, theelevation gets to you, it’s cold,it’s windy and it will be a realtest.”U head coach Urban Meyeralso expressed his awarenessof the difficulty of playing oneof the better teams in the conferencein a location known forits passionate fans and brutalweather conditions. With Wyomingplaying its best footballof the year, Meyer said he isthankful the weather forecast isnot for extreme cold or heavysnow.”Wyoming is playing verywell right now,” Meyer said.”The great news is that it’s goingto be 40 degrees and partlycloudy.”Though the Cowboys sufferedtough road losses to BYUand Colorado State a few weeksback, their offense has beenclicking recently. Wyoming hasscored 96 points in the last twoweeks, and now ranks No. 2 inthe MWC in scoring offensewith an average of 28.6 pointsper-game. Still well short ofthe Utes’ No. 1 ranked scoringoffense, which averages 45.8points-per-game, conventionalwisdom says that Wyomingwill need an offensive explosionto compete with the U thisweekend.Wyoming quarterback CoreyBramlet-little brother ofWyoming’s quarterback fromlast year, Casey Bramlet-appearsto be up to the challenge.Bramlet has adjusted to his roleas team leader and currentlyranks as one of the top-ratedpassers in the MWC. ThoughBramlet has a propensity to letgo of the ball when he shouldn’t,accounting for his 10 interceptionson the season, his innate sense forthrowing the long ball has kept histeam in several games this year.Impressed with Bramlet’s maneuverability,Hackenbruck said theU defense will have its hands fullagainst an offensive attack that specializesin big plays.”It looks like Corey Bramletpicked up where Casey left off, so Ithink they’re going to have a prettygood offense,” Hackenbruck said. “Ithink they’re going to try to run theball and then look for the big playagainst us.”Sporting an offensive attack thatranks in the MWC’s top three in firstdowns, time of possession and thirddown conversions, the likelihoodthat the Cowboys will have somesuccess moving the ball appears tobe quite good.Always willing to show opposingcoaches the respect they deserve,Meyer said that his biggest concernis facing a coaching staff that hasbeen around for several years andknows how to win.”I admire their coach,” Meyer said.”Joe Glenn is a very good friend ofmine and I’ve known him since hewas at Northern Colorado. His planis time- tested so he’s not a one-shotwonder.”Considering that Glenn’s coachingstaff has been together for severalyears, Meyer said that Wyomingis one of the best-coached teams inthe conference.”You can see it on film, they’revery well-coached,” Meyer said.”They’re up there in turnover ratio,they’re very good on special teams,and they do a lot of the things thatwe think develop good teams.”With a solid offensive attack andtop-notch coaching, Wyoming couldgive the undefeated Utes a run fortheir [email protected]