In the disappointment of a 48-10 thrashing Saturday by Texas Christian at Falcon Stadium, Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry opened a page that might explain his team’s downfall in the Mountain West Conference race.
“We called some schemes out there that our players didn’t execute the called defense,” De- Berry said after his team fell to 3-5 overall and 2-4 in the MWC. “I can’t answer the reason why, but our players have to trust the defense that is called and all the time our coaches spend in scouting our opponents. We had several breakdowns when our players didn’t execute the defense that was called.”
DeBerry said he thought his defense’s performance improved as the game went along, but overall it didn’t improve much, as TCU converted 10-of-15 times on third-down plays.
“Early in the game, (TCU) seemed to always be second down-and-2 or second down-and-3,” DeBerry said. “After we got into the rhythm of the game, we got better.”
But the Falcons never caught up to the level of play needed to upset the now 20th-ranked Horned Frogs (7-1, 5-0).
The wear and tear is showing on the AFA players as well. Center Jon Wilson emphasized the damage being caused by a steady string of mistakes, including six interceptions by quarterback Shaun Carney. Carney has five touchdown passes.
“We throw interceptions, we get penalized for illegal blocks, we make stupid mistakes,” Wilson said. “We’re beating ourselves week in and week out. Give TCU credit, but by no means were they that much better than us.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
