By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

There aren't many colleges that have facilities named after a coach who's still on duty. The custom is to hold off at least until the coach retires.

Colorado State didn't wait. The regard in Fort Collins for the job done by football coach Sonny Lubick in his first 10 seasons is so high that, when Hughes Stadium and the rest of the football facility underwent a $15.2 million makeover during the offseason, the new artificial playing surface was renamed Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium.

"That's pretty neat," said Miami coach Terry Hoeppner, who leads his RedHawks into Hughes Stadium today. "I've admired him for a long time. He helped us implement our defense. I remember we went down to Miami (Fla.) and saw his 4-3 defense."

Lubick, who's in his 11th season with the Rams after spending five seasons as the Hurricanes' defensive coordinator, is the winningest coach in CSU history with an 86-38 record. He has led the Rams to four consecutive Liberty Bowl appearances.

The first-ever meeting features a matchup of two of the nation's premier quarterbacks in Miami's Ben Roethlisberger and CSU senior Bradlee Van Pelt. Roethlisberger is coming off a 353-yard, three-touchdown performance in the RedHawks' 44-14 victory at Northwestern.

He became Miami's leader in career touchdown passes with 50 and career total offense with 7,090 yards.

Van Pelt is No. 6 in the country in total offense with an average of 319.7 yards a game.

"He's not one-dimensional at all," said Hoeppner, who compared Van Pelt to Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper and Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb. "When he's on, he's on. I hope it's not determined by an arm-wrestling contest with Ben at the end, because (Van Pelt) might win."

Lubick echoed similar concerns.

"I hope it's not a shootout," Lubick said. "We seem to lose those."

Miami at Colorado State

Kickoff: 3 p.m., Hughes Stadium (30,000), Fort Collins, Colo.

Records: Miami (1-1), Colorado State (2-1).

TV: None

Radio: WMOH-AM (1450).

Series: First meeting.

Line: Colorado State by 6 1/2.

What to watch: Can Miami's defense exploit the inexperience of Rams sophomore center Albert Bimper, who is making just his second start in place of injured senior Mark Dreyer?

MU	Team stats	CSU
409.5	Offense avg.	508.0
100.5	Avg. by rush	212.7
309.0	Avg. by pass	296.3
337.5	Defense avg.	338.3
136.5	Avg. by rush	77.3
201.0	Avg. by pass	261.0
23.5	Avg. points for	29.7
17.5	Avg. pts. against	23.3