Air Force Academy – When everything was boiled down Thursday night at Falcon Stadium, the residue said that defense can win games.
Even though Ryan Harrison’s 33-yard field goal in overtime made him the man of the moment for Air Force, the Falcons’ defensive players were the men of the game in a thrilling 20-17 victory over Texas Christian before 31,556 fans.
Harrison’s winning field goal brought down the house and brought a wild throng of supporters out of the stands. The Falcons stunned a team that had thrashed them 38-14 and 48-10 the past two years, and it made them 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference for first-year coach Troy Calhoun. The Horned Frogs slipped to 1-2 and 0-1.
“I visualized the kick going through,” Harrison said of his game-winner. “I don’t think much about it before I kick. I was a little surprised that we kicked on second down, but it didn’t matter.”
Calhoun said he thought about running another play or two, but decided to kick the field goal.
“At that point, I thought our players were poised,” Calhoun said. “I had a gut feeling looking around that these guys were sound and we did a good job on protection. The ball was on the 11. That’s not automatic, it’s one that we had a good percentage to hit.”
Calhoun saluted his team’s defense, which limited the Horned Frogs to 89 yards rushing.
“You think about how much of that game was played on one side of the field, our effort was phenomenal,” Calhoun said of his defense. “We have a bunch of seniors and some good players on that side of the ball. When I got here, I saw some guys with some quickness and who like to play.”
TCU got the first chance to score in overtime when Air Force won the coin toss and elected to start on defense. The Falcons forced a field goal, but Chris Manfredini’s 36-yard try hit the left upright and bounced away.
An interception in the end zone by AFA cornerback Carson Bird late in the fourth quarter led to overtime.
“Give them all the credit. There were mistakes made and the person to blame for that is me,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “When you go to somebody else’s house, you have to take the game. We shouldn’t have went for the end zone late, we should have ran the ball. Why we threw the ball, I don’t know.
“When we missed the field goal in overtime, it obviously put them in command.”
TCU quarterback Andy Dalton appeared to have just enough of a commanding hand to turn back the Falcons. His 11-yard touchdown strike to receiver Walter Bryant had the Horned Frogs ahead 17-3 with 13:10 left in the fourth quarter.
Air Force had only 10 first downs and 166 total yards through 45 minutes, and senior quarterback Shaun Carney was just 9-of-15 with an interception and no touchdowns.
But in the last 13 minutes of the fourth quarter, Carney connected with tight end Travis Dekker on a 50-yard gain that led to a 9-yard pass to tight end Keith Madsen and a touchdown. That left 8:21 left on the clock, and 2:26 later tailback Jim Ollis raced 71 yards on a fourth-down gamble that paid off with a tie at 17-17.
With TCU coming down the field again for possible winning points in regulation, Bird came up with his big interception. Calhoun elected to run out the clock and take his chances in overtime. Bird’s interception was one of two for the Falcons, who also blocked a field-goal attempt and recovered a TCU fumble.
The Falcons made a circus of the first half and the Horned Frogs quickly took advantage to lead 10-0 early in the second quarter.
A blocked punt on Air Force’s first possession put TCU’s Manfredini in position for a 39-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 3:30 played in the first quarter. The Falcons’ rough start continued when Carney’s interception led to a Horned Frogs touchdown and a 10-point margin.
Dalton took advantage in the first half, completing 11-of-16 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown pass to Ervin Dickerson.
Besides the error on the punt and the pass theft at the Air Force 49-yard line, the Falcons had 34 yards on penalties and Carney was sacked twice.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
