Oct. 6, 2002

Laramie, WY - The snow-capped mountains are beautiful, and Citadel players might even have spied, through their bus windows, some pronghorn antelope grazing on the rolling plains between Cheyenne and Laramie.

But don't expect the Bulldogs to make another excursion to the West anytime soon.

"No, I'm not for it," Citadel coach Ellis Johnson said after his team's 34-30 loss to Division I-A Wyoming Saturday. "I don't think it helps us in any way, in any form or fashion.

"We don't recruit out here, and it doesn't serve any purpose for us. It's no big deal, if they're on the schedule, we'll play them. But there is really no point in coming out here, in my opinion. I like to play teams in a geographic area where we are recruiting, and if we have to make money every now and then, that's fine. And then we've got to get some people into Johnson Hagood Stadium to play some home games."

Citadel players said neither the altitude of War Memorial Stadium - the highest in the nation at 7,220 feet - nor the wind-chill of 39 degrees had a large impact on the game.

"It really didn't," said quarterback Jeff Klein. "I got short-winded a couple of times, a couple of guys did. But it wasn't to the point where it affected us. It wasn't the altitude, it was just not getting things done, and that's frustrating."

With the Dogs starting the heart of their Southern Conference season next week against East Tennessee State, Johnson gave his players a light week of practice and did not place a lot of emphasis on this game, he said.

"This was for fun," Johnson said. "It wasn't a whole lot of fun in that locker room at the end of the game, but this one was for fun."

THIRD-DOWN MAGIC

The Citadel converted a remarkable 17 of 23 third-down situations Saturday, and much of that was due to some clutch throws by Klein. The fifth-year QB was 24 of 47 for 335 yards overall, but was even better on third down. In those situations, he was 14 of 17 for 188 yards.

"The Citadel had a really effective offense," Wyoming coach Vic Koenning said of the Dogs, who totaled 536 yards to Wyoming's 504. "Their quarterback does a really nice job."

Said Klein, "We've got to understand that we are doing well, we're playing well. We've just got to turn that corner, get over the top of that mountain. We've got to take care of the ball. You can't win games by turning the ball over, and if we continue to do that, we're never going to get over that hump."

DOG TRACKS

* Sophomore tailback Nehemiah Broughton became the first Bulldog since Antonio Smith in 1997 to have three straight 100-yard rushing games. He carried for a career-high 175 yards on 33 carries, giving him 417 yards in five games this season.

* Receiver Scooter Johnson caught nine passes for 124 yards, his third 100-yard game of the season. With 36 catches through five games, Johnson already ranks No. 10 on the Dogs' all-time single-season list.

* Quarterback Jeff Klein equaled his Citadel best with 335 passing yards, and has 1,235 yards in five games. That already is No. 9 on The Citadel's single-season list.

* Linebacker Travis Hodge led the Dogs with 10 tackles. Freshman safety Shawn Grant had an interception, his second, and two tackles for loss. Linebacker Michael Ballentine had two sacks, and corner Marcus Carter picked off a pass.

* Travis Zobel was perfect on three field goal attempts, and holder Matt Healy did a good job of getting a couple of iffy snaps down.