Jim Walden at Iowa State in 1987.

IF SPOKANE WAS 30 miles from Pullman, like Des Moines is 30 miles from Ames, Washington State would have a 60,000-plus seat football stadium like Iowa State and sell it out every Saturday just like the Cyclones, says a guy who knows more about both WSU and ISU football than anyone on the planet.

The fans of the two teams that will square off Friday at 6 p.m. in the Alamo Bowl are remarkably similar, according to Jim Walden, the Cougars’ head coach from 1978-86 and the Cyclones head man from 1987-94.

“Both fan bases love their teams and are patient in letting coaches build up the program,” Walden, my old coach in Cougarville, told me recently. “They both love to tailgate, they travel well, support their school and sell out the stadium. Neither group gets spoiled by success, either.”

The 75 miles Spokane residents must travel to see major-college football — 45 more than Des Moinesians must traverse to get to Ames— is the major difference between the two football programs and accounts for the size disparity between Clarence D. Martin and Jack Trice stadiums.

A look at population statistics suggests he’s on to something. The greater metro areas of Spokane and Des Moines are both around 600,000, and the two states, Washington and Iowa, are roughly the same size.

A discrepancy in fans in the stands also is shaping up for Friday’s game. WSU at last check had sold 5,200 of its allotment of 6,000 Alamo Bowl tickets while ISU had eclipsed its 12,000-ticket allocation and was pushing toward 14,000. For the record, the distance to San Antonio from Ames and Pullman is roughly 1,000 and 2,000 miles respectively. (Of note: It's not too late to donate Alamo tickets to military members; click here.)

WALDEN, WHO TURNED 80 OVER THE SUMMER, said he will watch the Alamo Bowl from the comfort of his home and pull hard for whichever team has the football. “I appreciated both schools and will always have deep feeling for both programs,” he said.

As coach of the Cougars, Walden beat the Huskies three times in four games between 1982-85. Here he gets a shoulder ride following the 1982 nailbiter in Pullman.

Walden took over both programs in cloudy times. At WSU, the head coaching position had become a turnstile — Jim was the fourth head man in four years — and brought much-needed stability (as well as the school’s first bowl game in 50 years) in his nine seasons. When he arrived at ISU in 1987, the Cyclones had just 57 scholarship players on the roster. In his third season the Cyclones won six games and finished fourth in the conference.

His only regret about either coaching stop is that he didn’t produce a championship.

As for an Alamo Bowl prediction, he thinks the defenses will set the tone and he sees the Cougs prevailing 27-24 to post the first 11-win season in school history. He cautions Cougar fans to be ready for a donnybrook given ISU's stellar work this season against other Air Raid attacks.

NOTABLE:

While at WSU, Walden beat every team in the Pac-10 at least once and while at Iowa State he beat every team in the Big Eight (now 12) except Bill McCartney’s Colorado Buffaloes. Jim did have a victory over Colorado on his record, though, as our outstanding 1981 Cougar team downed the Buffs in Boulder on a dramatic blocked punt by Jeff Keller that Yours Truly was fortunate enough to take to the house.

Former WSU wide receivers coach Otto Stowe — the man who turned Mike Levenseller from a backup on the verge of transferring into a WSU receiving (and later assistant coaching) legend — played wideout at Iowa State. His bigger claim to fame is that he was a member of the legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to go undefeated through the regular- and post season.

The Alamo Bowl will mark the first time these two prominent Land Grant schools have met on the gridiron. The 10-2 Cougars (ranked No. 12) are favored by 3 over the 8-4 Cyclones (ranked No. 25). Kickoff is Friday at 6 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN with the broadcast crew of Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy and Tom Luginbill.

This is WSU’s second trip to the Alamo Bowl, after defeating Baylor 10-3 in a Palouse Posse classic in 1994. This is Mike Leach’s third time in the Alamo Bowl following trips in 2001 and 2009 with Texas Tech.

SIZING UP THE CYCLONES:

Head man Matt Campbell is the Big 12 co-Coach of the Year after leading the Cyclones to an 8-4 record. They operate a run-first, physical-at-the-point-of-attack offense that will spread you out and throw it when needed. They strive for a 50/50 run vs. pass split. ISU’s defense is tough and Campell is more than happy to play for field position and let the D make plays to win.

Related: Cougs arrive in San Antonio

The Cyclones played four Air Raid teams this season and went 3-1: losing by 10 to Oklahoma; beating Oklahoma State by 8, Texas Tech by 9 and West Virginia by 16. They will be ready to defend Gardner Minshew & The Gang so think along the lines of WSU’s games with Washington and Cal when it comes to scoring.

WSU AND ISU QUICK FACTS:

Main campus undergraduate enrollment:

ISU — 29,000

WSU — 17,000

Endowment:

ISU — $1.1 billion

WSU — $940 million

Famous alums:

ISU — George Washington Carver (peanut guru and father of crop rotation), Henry Wallace (vice president of the U.S. from 1941-45) Carrie Chapman Catt (suffragist)

WSU — Paul Allen, Steve Gleason, Edward R. Murrow, Keith Jackson, Phillip Abelson, Gary Larson

Prominent football alums:

ISU — Troy Davis, Seneca Wallace, Keith Sims, Mike Stensrud

WSU — Drew Bledsoe, Mark Rypien, Mel Hein, Turk Edwards, Jason Hanson, Rueben Mayes

Number of players on current NFL rosters/practice squads/IR lists:

ISU — 6

WSU — 8

All-time bowl record:

ISU — 4-9

WSU — 7-7

Most famous basketball alums:

ISU — Jeff Hornacek

WSU — Klay Thompson

Number of Olympic medalists:

ISU — 11, including legendary wrestler Dan Gable

WSU — 9, including heavyweight boxing champ Pete Rademacher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Sorensen (pictured here with Jim Walden in 2012) is a member of the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame. He captained Walden's 1981 Holiday Bowl team that took WSU to the post season for the first time in 50 years. Sorensen earned first-team All-America honors that season and was named WSU's defensive player of the year. He spent two seasons in the NFL on the Bengals' and 49ers' practice squads and later played in the USFL. From 1985-98 he was the color commentator alongside Bob Robertson on radio broadcasts of Cougar football, and has been the color analyst for Eastern Washington University broadcasts for many years since then. He also was a long-time assistant coach in the Greater Spokane League, where he mentored such notables as Erik Coleman. Paul has been writing periodically for CF.C since 1999, and he does it the same way he played safety: nothing held back.