Their pedestals may be showing some cracks from wear and tear, but the legacies of veteran football coaches Fisher DeBerry at Air Force and Sonny Lubick at Colorado State will keep them from crashing down.
The graybeards of Colorado coaching renew their Front Range rivalry at 5:30 tonight on Lubick’s home field with an ESPN telecast, hoping to jump- start their teams – and their programs.
The Rams (1-2) are opening Mountain West Conference play while Air Force (2-2, 1-2) is coming off close MWC losses to Wyoming and Utah. Both programs are looking to get back in the bowl picture.
With DeBerry, 67, and Lubick, 68, the game and the challenge never get old. It’s the only matchup in Division I-A football this season with both head coaches 67 or older.
“We’re two old codgers,” DeBerry said. “I enjoy competing against him. He’s had his good moments against us, and we’ve had our good moments against him. It has been a great series.”
Said Lubick: “We’ve each got about 45 years of coaching. Our legs should be getting weary from standing on the sidelines. That’s all right as long as our hearts don’t get weary.”
Both appear to still have the competitive fire to get their programs back among the conference elite.
When DeBerry took over the Air Force program in 1984, the Falcons had had only two winning seasons in 10 years. When Lubick took over at CSU in 1993, the Rams had had only two winning seasons in the previous 10 years. Both launched their respective programs into becoming regular bowl participants.
“CSU wasn’t very highly thought of 13 years ago,” Lubick said. “The way we were playing, I wouldn’t have even shown up for the games. I would have stayed in the bus.”
DeBerry has guided the Falcons to 12 bowl games. Overall, he is 11-10 against CSU, but the Falcons haven’t won in Fort Collins since 1997. Lubick has taken the Rams to eight bowl games and is 8-4 against DeBerry.
No matter how good their teams have been, both coaches are feeling the pressure to get their programs back to where they once were. The Falcons were 12-11 the past two seasons and did not make a bowl game while the Rams were 11-13, including 4-7 a year ago.
“I hope it doesn’t mean we’re getting senile,” DeBerry said. “I don’t think we’re getting senile, but you’d have to ask our wives and people who work in our offices.”
He said winning today is tougher than ever.
“I think it’s an indication of the parity of college football,” he said. “It’s a lot more competitive now than it was 10 years ago.”
Lubick agrees.
“We both know we’re pretty good football teams this year, but there are some other pretty darn good teams, too,” Lubick said. “Nobody listens to me anymore, but you can have a good football team and have a schedule that doesn’t allow it to show. That’s the way this business goes.”
Neither program appears to have fully recovered from devastating losses to Utah in 2003, which helped launch the Utes to prominence.
“When something goes bad, you have to be really tough to recover,” Lubick said. “We had a game won against Utah two years ago and lost 28-21. I bet we probably would have been conference champs again (that year). It seems that one loss like that begets another and another.”
The Falcons also lost to Utah that year, 45-43 in three overtimes, and have struggled since in big games.
While Lubick remains confident in his ability, he said it’s tough to ignore the critics.
“How long do you take that stuff?” he questioned. “People say you’re getting stupid, but I’m still enjoying it. You coach to satisfy yourself, the players and your staff. It’s the outside stuff that will drive a coach out of coaching.”
He’s not about to step aside, though. There’s too many matchups like tonight against DeBerry to look forward to. He said he won’t ponder retirement “until I beat that son of a gun a couple of more times, and I’m sure he’s thinking the same way.”
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
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The matchup
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Colorado State (1-2, 0-0): Senior quarterback Justin Holland has done an excellent job spreading the ball to wide receivers Johnny Walker, David Anderson and Dustin Osborn, so Air Force can’t concentrate only on Anderson, who leads the MWC in receptions per game (7.3), good for seventh nationally. Meanwhile, the biggest boost to the Rams’ passing game has been the sudden appearance of a running game. Kyle Bell, a sophomore from Weld Central, went from third team to third in MWC rushing with his 183-yard outing against Nevada. He will be out to prove it wasn’t a fluke, though yards will be tougher to get against Air Force. But CSU is eager for payback after losing 47-17 at Falcon Stadium a year ago.
Air Force (2-2, 1-2): Few would ever imagine an AFA player among MWC leaders in receiving, but senior wideout Jason Brown is, thanks to nine catches for 184 yards against Utah last week. Brown ranks second in MWC receiving yards with 97.8 a game. The former Arvada West star will command a lot more attention from CSU than he might have two weeks ago. Sophomore quarterback Shaun Carney has played well at times but must reduce his turnovers. Star safety Bobby Giannini, a sophomore, has two interceptions and ranks third in the MWC with 36 tackles.
KEY STAT
31.3 – CSU’s per-game average in points, second in the MWC, just ahead of Air Force (31.0). All signs point to another shootout typical in this hard-fought Front Range series. CSU is last in the MWC and 103rd nationally in total defense, yielding 453.3 yards a game, and the Falcons are next to last in the MWC, allowing 395.0. Only the 5:30 p.m. game time guarantees fans will get home before midnight.
KEY FOR AIR FORCE
Avoiding the big mistakes – turnovers and special-teams errors – that cost the Falcons in close losses to Utah (38-35) and Wyoming (29-28).
KEY FOR COLORADO STATE
The Rams always are more comfortable when they keep the ball away from Air Force. If Bell, a punishing runner, can approach last week’s success on the ground, CSU figures to be in good shape tonight.
