They play football in a facility that's generously labeled a stadium, with bleachers in need of paint.

It sits at the edge of the Snow College campus, in a neighborhood where the rising smoke on a fall afternoon is not from tailgaters cooking, but from leaves burning across the street. The Badgers' schedule requires all-night bus rides to Arizona every other week. They live in a town where, past and present players say only half-kiddingly, the major attractions are Wal-Mart and McDonald's.

They have come to this school built in the middle of Utah, in a rural area known for producing 5 million turkeys every year. For some of them, Ephraim is a two-year stop on the way to glamorous schools such as Oklahoma or Nebraska. Others will advance to smaller four-year programs or have to stop playing.

In every case, the Badgers are making the most of this season.

After Saturday's 46-25 victory over Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College, in front of a couple of thousand spectators during the school's fall break, Snow is 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA.

This is a vintage Badger team, built mostly with Utahns. It features a 24-year-old quarterback, a much younger running back who's married with two children and others who just wanted to keep playing anywhere, joining what is now the only junior college football program in Utah.

And they profess to like it here. "There'll be a lot of things I'll miss about Snow," said quarterback Cade Cooper, mentioning the friendly, personalized environment.

The Badgers' football success these days makes Ephraim "feel like a college town," said Roy Crouch, owner of Fat Jack's Pizza.

A very small college town, certainly, with some 5,000 residents - although, as Snow linebacker Jamison Fitt said, "It grows on you."

Bronco Mendenhall and other former Badgers agree, having overcome the initial shock. "It's one of my favorite places," said Mendenhall, Brigham Young's coach. "It's football in its purest form. . . . free of outside influences. It's very easy to focus on why you're there."

Mendenhall remembers buying his own football shoes and scrounging for other equipment in a pile. Things are better now, even if the travel is demanding and players have to help pay for their education and lack other benefits of major programs.

Steve Coburn, Snow's first-year coach, never dwells on the shortcomings. "Our attitude here is this is as big-time as it gets," he said, citing Badger Stadium's artificial surface and the players' top-of-the-line equipment.

There's NFL evidence of Snow's quality of football, with Pittsburgh defensive lineman Brett Keisel, San Francisco linebacker Derek Smith and St. Louis receiver Kevin Curtis among its alumni. In recent years, quarterbacks Josh Heupel (Oklahoma) and Paul Peterson (Boston College) have played immediately in major college programs.

Yet it is a big jump. Among last year's Snow stars, defensive back Tico Pringle is mostly a special teams player for BYU and offensive tackle Victory Haines is struggling to make Nebraska's traveling squad.

"It's definitely a different speed at the next level," Peterson said. "There's a whole team of fast, giant guys."

Peterson still believes his Snow experience prepared him better for playing at BC than if he had stood and watched for two years. It was also true of Heupel, who led Oklahoma to the 2000 national championship.

And now that he's the Sooners' quarterback coach, Heupel is evaluating Cooper, who grew up in Lehi and played as a senior at Timpview High in Provo. Following an LDS Church mission and a long wait for the Badgers' job to become open, the left-hander is the top-ranked passer in the NJCAA (which excludes California schools) and is also being recruited by in-state schools.

Saturday's 333-yard, four-touchdown passing effort was spread among eight receivers and demonstrated Snow's offensive approach. "We take what they give us," Cooper said.

Adam Frandsen made six catches and Alex Richards added five receptions, two for touchdowns. "They did a great job of catching the ball in traffic," Coburn said.

Scottsdale's defense was geared to stop Matt Asiata, who still rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Asiata intended to play for Brigham Young after graduating from Hunter High in 2005, but lacked the qualifying test scores. Now, along with his wife and two children, he's being recruited by Utah and Florida. "It's worked out well," he said.

Snow's offense leads the NJCAA, averaging 425 total yards. The Badger defense is almost as impressive. Led by Junior Tea, a lineman from Anchorage, Alaska, Snow recorded eight sacks and held Scottsdale to 230 yards.

It's all adding up to a potential national championship season, matching the achievement of the 1985 team that Mendenhall co-captained. On and off the field, Snow president Michael Benson is thrilled with Coburn, who was Snow's defensive coordinator for five years under two coaches before taking over.

Wanting to "make a new image for ourselves," in his words, Coburn has emphasized accountability. A player who recently was cited for alcohol consumption apologized to his teammates and wrote a letter to Benson.

Ephraim residents welcome the players' improved behavior and commitment to service projects. "Good bunch of guys," endorsed Crouch.

Good team, too. Much like all those turkeys in Sanpete County, the Badgers are here only briefly. In the meantime, they're thriving.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com