Air Force Academy – For a team that prides itself on letting actions speak for words, the Air Force Falcons got it backward Friday night in their final big tuneup for the season opener at Tennessee this week.
After the Blue-Silver scrimmage, Air Force players said the right things. But their actions against a team of freshmen and a handful of sophomores gave little indication they’re ready to face an opponent the caliber of No. 23 Tennessee, which defeated No. 9 California 35-18 on Saturday.
The team of varsity players won 20-0, but coach Fisher DeBerry considered the performance uninspired.
“We came out and played to the JV’s level,” quarterback Shaun Carney said. “We didn’t have the attitude we needed. There’s no excuse for it, but I think everybody’s excited. It wasn’t that damaging to the ego. We’re getting the mentality that we’re ready to go.”
The offense gathered itself by the second half, but Carney said the offensive line had problems early in the scrimmage.
“We have to learn to put adversity behind us and put it together in the next series, and I think we did that when we came out strong in the second half,” Carney said. “Coach (DeBerry) told us the 1998 team almost lost to the freshmen in the preseason and it went 12-1.”
Carney took the varsity on an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive late in the third quarter, capped by a 29-yard touchdown pass to halfback Beau Suder.
The varsity defense created four turnovers, but safety Bobby Giannini said the Falcons’ focus may have shifted from the weeks of practice to the opener Saturday night at Tennessee.
“We didn’t look all that great both ways,” Giannini said. “We’re kind of getting sick of practice, and I think we’re ready to play.”
Senior cornerback Chris Sutton converted one of the turnovers into a 22-yard scoring return of an intercepted pass early in the third quarter.
Maybe the biggest concern coming out of the scrimmage was the kicking game. Chris Carp averaged only 24.7 yards on three punts, although there was a steady wind.
“The whole scrimmage was a lot more lethargic than I would have liked for it to have been,” DeBerry said. “We did some good things, but the turnovers we had were a matter of dropping the ball and not execution. Our kicking game wasn’t anything to write home about.”
DeBerry was disappointed in the team leadership.
“We were missing some players who would give us on- the-field leadership,” DeBerry said.
“Things always aren’t going to go the way you want them to go in a game. Coaches can holler, but it has to come from within the player, the unit, the team.”
DeBerry agreed that it was an overall quiet performance. The question for the Falcons is whether it was the quiet before the storm.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
