Air Force Academy – When the Air Force football team plays Thursday night at Colorado State, it will be status quo on two key fronts: Shaun Carney remains the Falcons’ starting quarterback, and their “shield” punting formation also will remain.
After a light practice Saturday, AFA coach Fisher DeBerry emphasized Carney, a sophomore, is his quarterback and playing time for senior Adam Fitch will be determined by the situation. DeBerry maintained his season-long stand even though Fitch came off the bench in the fourth quarter and rallied Air Force (2-2, 1-2 Mountain West Conference) to two late touchdowns at Utah, reducing what had been a rout for the Utes into a 38-35 loss for the Falcons.
“Shaun Carney didn’t play a bad football game,” DeBerry said. “There will not be a change in our quarterback position. Adam understands his role. We talked in the fourth quarter and decided it was time to see what Adam could do. We do not have a controversy at quarterback.
“It’s a situational thing. It’s a feel-type thing that you do as a coach. I’ve been doing this for 40-some years and I think I have a feel for what’s happening in a game.”
DeBerry said he will continue the concept of what has become “Special Teams Follies” on the punting unit, but without the adventure that has plagued the Falcons in MWC losses to Wyoming (29-28) and the Utes.
The primary concerns about the punting concept surround the so-called shield formation and the option that punter Donny Heaton has to attempt a run or do a rugby-style kick if his path to a first down is blocked.
In the shield punting formation, the protection for the punter is supplied by a three-player line well behind the line of scrimmage. Up front, the center and the rest of the down linemen have wide splits, which allow potential blockers a clear path to the shield of blockers in front of the punter as well as a better chance for Air Force’s line to get downfield for punt coverage.
The Utes blocked Heaton’s rugby attempt Thursday in Salt Lake City, setting up a touchdown. Utah followed with another touchdown 17 seconds later after an errant pitch by Carney in a key sequence late in the second quarter. The mistakes led to Utah taking a 28-14 lead.
“If I didn’t feel that way, we wouldn’t do it,” DeBerry said when asked if the Falcons can properly execute their punting strategy. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Fisher DeBerry isn’t dumb, nor is (AFA special teams coach) Tom Miller. We had two individual breakdowns, but there wasn’t anything wrong in what we were doing.
“People might think I’m being a hardheaded son of a gun, but everything we do in this program is sound.”
While the blocked punt was a critical part of Air Force’s third consecutive loss to Utah, the special teams’ performance also was damaging in the loss to Wyoming at Falcon Stadium. A short punt led to a Wyoming field goal right before halftime, and a missed extra-point opportunity on a bad center snap-holder exchange and a short kickoff also hurt the Falcons.
After the Wyoming game, Miller indicated the idea was to simplify the game plan for Heaton.
“The thing I like about our punting concept is that nobody is returning punts on us,” De- Berry said.
Going into the Utah game, opponents had returned only two of Heaton’s eight punts for a combined total of just 3 yards. Utah’s Eric Weddle returned one of five punts for 6 yards.
“We’re having some growing pains with our punt formation, but I guarantee you we’re tweaking it all the time,” DeBerry said.
On the injury front, tight end Robert McMenomy (bruised foot) is the biggest concern.
Irv Moss can be reached
at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
