LARAMIE - The disease is spreading.

Slowly it's making its way north, and all signs point to a full-blown outbreak at Wyoming.

Air Force came down with the first reported case two years ago.

Colorado State caught it last year.

Now it's the Cowboys' turn to address their lack of competitiveness, and they'll likely take the first step to recovery after today's Border War with the Rams.

The good news for UW is apparently it doesn't take long to bounce back from Lack of Altitude Sickness.

"Well, we've still got a long way to go, and I'm not sure we've completely turned it around," first-year Rams coach Steve Fairchild said. "And I'm not sure being in a bowl or not being in a bowl is necessarily the measuring stick.

"I've said this all along, I didn't know when I took this job where we were, but I saw very clearly not only where we wanted to go but how to get there. It's just hard to put a timetable on it."

Whatever it might have been after Sonny Lubick's messy departure last season, Fairchild has no doubt moved the schedule up a bit by winning five games and climbing to the brink of bowl eligibility - something that would accompany a Bronze Boot.

His debut success hasn't been quite as rousing as Troy Calhoun's after taking over for Fisher DeBerry at the Academy, and though the Cowboys won't likely want to compare themselves with Front Range rivals, there's ample evidence the right hire can pay instant dividends.

The Falcons went from 4-8 in DeBerry's last season to 9-4 and a second-place finish in the conference with Calhoun.

Colorado State spread 13 consecutive losses over two seasons and went 3-9 a year ago before Fairchild took over in Fort Collins.

Obviously a first year for somebody next season assumes UW will make a coaching change win or lose today, a move that seems like a foregone conclusion at this point.

If it does, the cupboards aren't bare and Joe Glenn's replacement could inherit a situation both Calhoun and Fairchild might have envied.

Even if Glenn never thought the Rams were in tough shape to begin with.

"Yeah, they're doing a good job," he said. "I never thought they were bad anyway, but they're doing a really good job.

"I think Steve's a really good coach and so is (defensive coordinator) Larry (Kerr). I've known those guys for a long, long time. Greg Peterson is another guy I've known forever, an old Nebraska kid, and Larry Lewis the special teams coordinator has been a long-time friend of mine in the coaching business. I have a lot of friends on that staff, they're all good people, all good coaches, and that will be fun competing against those guys as well."

Beating them would be even sweeter considering the stakes, which are almost carbon-copied from last year - though the Boot is on the other foot.

The Cowboys needed just one win for a .500 season and at least a chance at a bowl game, however slim.

Lubick was on his way out the door and even confirmed it to Glenn.

But the Rams rallied at home, stunned UW and reclaimed the Bronze Boot - all of which could play out in reverse if the Cowboys can slow down a team vastly better than the one that beat them the last time out.

Clearly, a year can make quite a bit of difference.

"Without a bowl game, I still think (the players) realize that what we're doing and the way we've approached this season starting back in January has been the right way to do it," Fairchild said. "I think we've got a little momentum, I think we're pointed in the right direction, we're not anywhere we need to be as a football program, but as long as we keep working hard I think we can get there.

"I've got a good staff and I know we're doing the right things and we've got a little momentum. But it's going to be a process over the next few years."

It just doesn't always take that long to find a cure and see some progress.

Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.