Air Force Academy – Air Force opens its season Saturday night in Knoxville, Tenn., against a Tennessee team that is on a mission to erase memories of a 5-6 season in 2005.
The 23rd-ranked Volunteers, who had a losing record for the first time in 17 years, got off to a strong start last weekend with a 35-18 victory over visiting, ninth-ranked California.
Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh knows it’s a big challenge for the Falcons, but also an opportunity for the academy to show it can compete against power teams. The Falcons also have a Nov. 11 home game against national power Notre Dame.
“When (coach) Fisher (DeBerry) and I talked about scheduling, we agreed that we ideally would schedule one of our nonconference openings against a premier program,” Mueh said. “And we’d schedule a game against a good program, but a game we might be favored to win.”
But when the opportunity arose to play Tennessee with Notre Dame already on the schedule, Mueh said, “We jumped at it.”
Air Force was looking for an opening game to fill a void left when it canceled a scheduled game at Northwestern. An incident during a game at Northwestern in the 2003 season prompted Randy Spetman, then the AFA athletic director, to cancel the contract for this year’s game with the Wildcats.
In the 2003 game won by Air Force 22-21, a Northwestern assistant coach went on the field and came in contact with Air Force quarterback Chance Harridge. Harridge retaliated and was ejected from the game.
“We were shopping around for a game,” Mueh said. “It does mean that we have two premier programs on our schedule on top of our Mountain West Conference games and games against Army and Navy, but I look at it as an opportunity.”
Air Force will receive $850,000 for playing the Vols in Knoxville, but many believe there isn’t enough money to offset the risk of the Falcons being hit by a wrecking ball.
“I know our coaches are nervous about the game, but our players are excited about playing them,” Mueh said. “Whether we played Northwestern or Tennessee, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of difference in terms of physical risk. I know Tennessee is going to play hard, but I don’t think they’ll be going out of their way to hurt our players. This is more of an opportunity game than a money game.”
DeBerry wishes the season- opening game could have been played at Falcon Stadium.
“I’d rather be opening at home no matter who the game is against,” DeBerry said. “We’ve been pretty good coming out of the chute and particularly in Falcon Stadium. We’ve got this game and we’re going to play it and give it our best shot. You want to win your first game because it sets the tempo for the rest of the year.”
While his 1-0 team will be a prohibitive favorite Saturday, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer isn’t wild about playing the Falcons, who will bring their triple-option offense as well as a nothing-to-lose attitude.
“I didn’t particularly want to play this game,” Fulmer said during his Sunday news conference. “The problem in our scheduling was going to the 12th game and finding an opponent that would fit.
“If we could have found somebody else to play, we would have. Nobody is anxious to play the flexbone or whatever they call it. And Fisher DeBerry is a great football coach.”
EYE ON … The Volunteers
AIR FORCE AT TENNESSEE: 5 p.m. Saturday
For the record: Tennessee is 1-0 and ranked No. 23 nationally.
Streaking: The Vols snapped six straight losses at Neyland Stadium to a team ranked in the top 10 by defeating No. 9 California 35-18.
Who’s hot: Junior quarterback Erik Ainge, nephew of Danny Ainge, threw four touchdown passes against the Golden Bears.
Who’s not: The Vols’ defense let down after the score became 35-0, allowing 18 points and 68 percent of Cal’s total yards.
Key stat: The Vols didn’t have a negative yardage play from scrimmage and produced seven plays of 20 yards or more.
FYI: Sophomore linebacker Jerod Mayo earned national defensive player of the week honors from the Walter Camp Foundation for his three sacks and seven tackles.
Injury report: Senior defensive tackle Matt McGlothlin, back (probable); senior wide receiver Bret Smith, head (probable).
Coachspeak: “We started talking back in December that we were going back to playing Tennessee football.” – Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
