Nov. 14, 2000

By Meri-Jo Borzilleri
The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force's football team has been almost as entertaining as a Presidential election these days.

A huge rally before the overtime loss to Notre Dame. A second-half outburst to pull away from Army. A third-quarter swoon before fending off Colorado State, 44-40, in a near-blizzard Saturday to bring the Falcons to a bowl game and 7-3 record, 4-2 in the Mountain West.

But behind that drama is an ugly truth. What happened to the Falcons' defense?

Coach Fisher DeBerry is the foremost authority on the triple-option offense, but insists scoring defense titles are most important.

In the past three games, Air Force has given up 34, 27 and 40 points. It allowed Wyoming, the league's worst team, 34 points Oct. 14.

Air Force is seventh in the Mountain West in scoring defense, allowing opponents 29 points per game. Only Wyoming is worse, averaging 37.5 points. Utah leads with a 13.3 average.

Air Force's opponent Saturday in the regular-season finale, San Diego State, is third with a 17.2-point average.

Such largesse is atypical for the Falcons, who won the conference scoring defense title twice in the past three years. In 1998, the year the Falcons finished 12-1 and ranked 10th in the nation, they won the scoring defense title by allowing only 13.3 points a game, sixth-best nationally.

This year's team has been successful because its defense has made big plays at the right times. (Case in point: Wes Crawley stuffing CSU's Cecil Sapp on fourth-and-1 at the 3 with a minute left in the half Saturday.) That, and a clock-eating, prolific offense, is why Air Force is going to a bowl game.

Maybe that's why DeBerry isn't having conniptions. He says the Falcons need to work on their open-field tackling, but doesn't sound stressed about the defense overall.

"I have a lot of confidence in our defense," DeBerry said Monday. "I thought we did a heck of a job against the run."

CSU scored 40 points while having the ball just 18 minutes, 21 seconds, compared to Air Force's 44 points in 41:39.

"It wasn't the fact we weren't in position," DeBerry said of touchdown catches by Joey Cuppari and Pete Rebstock, whose one-armed grab with 1:08 left made CNN's Play of the Day. "It wasn't like we were stumbling around."

ROAD WARRIORS: San Diego State (3-6, 3-2) won't be going to a bowl game but could move ahead of Air Force (7-3, 4-2) in the Mountain West standings with a win at Falcon Stadium Saturday.

San Diego State is looking to extend a four-game road winning streak in conference games.

The Aztecs also can play the role of spoiler for UNLV, which plays at San Diego State on Nov. 25. UNLV, with a bye week, must win its next two games, including Dec. 2 at Hawaii, to qualify for a bowl game. UNLV is 0-5 on the road in conference games this year.

If UNLV does not qualify, chances are good Air Force will play in the Dec. 21 Las Vegas Bowl. If the Rebels qualify and stay home for the bowl, Air Force will likely be invited to the Dec. 31 Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.