By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

When eight schools deserted the Western Athletic Conference to form the Mountain West Conference after the 1998-99 school year, there seemed one immediate consolation prize:

No more football games up in the clouds, where UH had lost 15 consecutive games at altitudes of 4,400 feet or above over parts of seven previous seasons.

No more trekking up mountains to play at lung-bursting heights in who-knows-what-kinds-of weather.

Or, so it seemed at the time.

But as the Warriors were reminded in Saturday's 24-14 loss at Nevada, that has all changed.

"They (the Warriors) played hard and didn't give up, but we're used to all this and they aren't," Nevada linebacker Carl LaGrone said.

The detour around the mountains lasted two seasons. Then, Nevada (elevation: 4,546 feet) and Boise State (2,850) joined the WAC to once again turn altitude into a factor.

When June Jones took over at UH in 1999, UH hadn't won a road game at 4,400 feet or above since the 1992 Holiday Bowl championship season. Subsequent losses under Jones at Nevada (twice) and Brigham Young have extended the streak of high country frustration to 18 losses at 4,400 feet or higher and served notice that UH has to play a particularly well-rounded game to beat anybody there. What they might get by with at San Jose State or Aloha Stadium doesn't travel well in altitude.

How much of an impact the altitude and weather played in Saturday's loss is anybody's guess. Maybe the same breakdowns and misfires would have occurred at sea level, too.

But as the Nevada game underlined, the ever-changing membership of the WAC has put both the issue and difficulties of altitude back into play. With only so many teams available in the West, the conference is increasingly plucking replacements out of the high country and the newcomers to the WAC are putting the mountains back on UH's schedule.

The WAC adds Utah State (elevation 4,600) in July 2005 and, should Louisiana Tech or somebody else leave in the interim, Idaho (2,660) is in the on-deck circle.

That is still slightly better than in the MWC, where old adversaries Air Force (7,150), Brigham Young (4,553), Colorado State (4,800), New Mexico (5,000), Utah (4,400) and Wyoming (7,200) are dug in around the Rockies.

Now, where ever the Warriors' conference future is to be found — in the WAC or even in the MWC — an attitude about altitude is something UH is going to have to deal with.

When it comes to playing in thin air, the Warriors should know they also have a thinner margin for mistakes if they hope to win a conference championship again.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.