Air Force Academy – Close encounters haven’t been kind to the Air Force football team of late.
Since the start of the 2003 season, the Falcons are 2-5 in games decided by three points or fewer, including their past two games, losses to Utah (38-35) and Wyoming (29-28). Air Force (2-2) plays Thursday night at Colorado State (1-2) in another Mountain West Conference game expected to go to the wire.
“Good teams are going to find a way to win the close games. That’s why they’re good teams,” AFA coach Fisher DeBerry said. “That’s why they play in bowl games and why they win championships. I think we’ve been competitive; we’ve proven that. I’d rather be 5-2 in those (three- point) games. I haven’t analyzed it as to why it so happens that’s how they turned out.”
Air Force finished 7-5 in 2003 and stumbled to 5-6 a year ago, failing to earn a bowl berth in both seasons. They are 1-2 in MWC games this season.
In their past 27 games, the Falcons have two wins by three points or fewer, a 22-21 decision at Northwestern early in the 2003 season and a 20-17 comeback victory at Washington to open this season. In 2002, the most recent season they went to a bowl, the Falcons were 2-1 in games decided by four points or fewer. The Falcons probably will have to reverse their trend of losing the close games to get back to a bowl.
“We came back to beat Washington and we came back to beat San Diego State this year, so I don’t think we’ve forgotten how to win,” DeBerry said. “Everybody has good players, everybody has a good team; it’s just a lot more competitive than it was 10 years ago. It’s an indication of the parity in college football.”
This year the Falcons have been their own worst enemy in the close losses.
“We have to eliminate our mistakes,” quarterback Shaun Carney said. “Turnovers and mistakes are the reason we’re not winning those games. It’s up to us to be mentally prepared to win close games. We’ve been really focused in practice on eliminating mistakes, but it hasn’t translated over to the field.”
Said strong safety John Taibi: “We give full effort. It has come down to execution. When you execute the little things, mistakes will stop happening.”
Close encounters
A look at how Air Force has done in football games decided by three points or fewer since 2003:
(Date Opponent Score)
Sept. 6, ’03 N’western W, 22-21
Oct. 4, ’03 Navy L, 28-25
*Nov. 1, ’03 Utah L, 45-43
Sept. 30, ’04 Navy L, 24-21
Sept. 3, ’05 Wash. W, 20-17
Sept. 17, ’05 Wyoming L, 29-28
Sept. 22, ’05 Utah L, 38-35
*-three overtimes
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
