Perhaps it was the identical chant that rained down upon his ears from early in the fourth quarter on Saturday, but Bill Stewart believes oxygen is overrated. Altitude is not an issue. There’s plenty of time to rest between snaps.

Fine. I can accept that. After all, Stewart coached four years (1990-93) at the Air Force Academy, which is 7,250 feet above sea level in Colorado Springs, Colo., and closer to the heavens than Folsom Field, which sits 5,360 feet above the sea in Boulder, Colo. And take Stewart’s word, please, because he’s jogged quite a bit in high altitude.

“I just don’t think that’s a big problem. I think it’s kind of comical,” Stewart said Tuesday. “I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. Now, when we went on our retreat with Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, we went up to almost 10,000 feet. Now that’s a problem. I jogged up there. But [at Air Force] I ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years.”

Quick math: He purportedly ran 5,000 miles a year and 20,000 miles in four years. It breaks down to about 14.3 miles per day … though it’s probably more because I can’t believe a Division I assistant could do it seven days a week. The job couldn’t allow it. So let’s say five days a week and 20 miles per day. Stew’s still in pretty good shape, so I’d imagine he was capable of averaging 12 minutes per mile back then. That’s four hours a day running, 20 hours a week and 1,000 hours a year.