|
|
|
Falcons Happy To Be Nut Cases
The Colorado Springs Gazette Feature Story
Dec. 3, 2002
By Tim Mimick COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Having waited in vain for the Sega Sports Las Vegas Bowl, Air Force gladly took the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl offer on Monday afternoon for a New Year's Eve date. Air Force (8-4) will play in the new bowl at Pacific Bell Park with kickoff at 8:30 p.m. MST Dec. 31. The Air Force opponent will be determined from the Big East Conference, although Boston College has been projected for the bid. Virginia Tech is another likely candidate, a bowl official said. "There are no bad bowls," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. "Coach Tom O'Brien of Boston College has done a fine job and coach Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech is a close friend of mine. Virginia Tech hit kind of a skid like we did. This bowl will be so good for us to expose our program more on the East Coast." This will be the 17 th bowl in Air Force history. The Falcons have an 8-7-1 postseason mark. Air Force beat Fresno State and quarterback David Carr 37-34 in the academy's last bowl, the Silicon Valley Classic on Dec. 31, 2000, in Fresno, Calif. Tickets ($65, $50 and $40) will be available beginning at 9 a.m. today at the Air Force ticket office in Cadet Field House or by calling 800-666-USAF or 472-1895. Tickets will be available by noon today on the Internet at AirForceSports. com. About 3,000-5,000 Air Force fans are expected to attend the game, athletic director Randy Spetman said. The stadium will seat about 38,000 for football. More than 23,000 tickets already have been sold in the Bay Area. Air Force will get 7,500 tickets at an average price of $50 as part of its agreement with the bowl. San Francisco Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli said that with the recent signing of a $10 million, four-year contract with Diamond Walnut and the quick ticket sales, his bowl will boost its payoff to each team from the NCAA minimum of $750,000 to about $800,000. Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said her selection committee was near unanimous in its pick of New Mexico (7-6) over Air Force on a teleconference Monday afternoon when 17 of the 20 members participated in the vote, "but by the time we finished, it was unanimous." She said a combination of commitment, excitement "and they (Lobos) really want to be here." She declined to comment on Air Force shying away from playing on Christmas. Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said he never heard or read in any newspaper that DeBerry wouldn't want his team to play on Dec. 25. DeBerry, a fervant Fellowship of Christian Athletes member, said he never made that statement. New Mexico needed to win its final game last Saturday at home over Wyoming (2-10) to become bowl-eligible. With the 49-20 win, the Lobos earned second place outright in the Mountain West Conference with a 5-2 mark. Air Force, which beat New Mexico in overtime 38-31 on Sept. 7 in Falcon Stadium, tied for third place in the league with San Diego State at 4-3 each. The Las Vegas Bowl could have selected Air Force a week ago, but the selection committee decided to wait for the outcome of the New Mexico-Wyoming game. Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said he always strives to get his second-place team to the bowl with the second pick from his conference. Las Vegas has the second pick. The Liberty Bowl gets the league champion, which again is Colorado State. "Coach DeBerry told us all this afternoon in the weight room after practice that we're going to the San Francisco Bowl," senior cornerback Wes Crawley said. "I think as a whole, we're glad to go there. I like it because it's 45 minutes from my home (in Sacramento, Calif.). My family will get to go to the game." Crawley, a starter, missed the final game with a separated shoulder. He said he should be able to play Dec. 31. "I'd love it if it's Boston College because they beat Notre Dame, something we couldn't do," he said. Notre Dame ended Air Force's hope for an unbeaten season at 6-0 when the Fighting Irish won 21-14 on Oct. 19 at Falcon Stadium.
CONTACT US: 636-0365 or tmim@gazette.com
|
|
