Air Force Academy — On the heels of a rousing rally by the offense, the Air Force defense sparked the Falcons to a 20-17 win in overtime Thursday night against visiting Texas Christian.
The overtime was set up by Carson Bird’s interception in the end zone that spoiled TCU quarterback Andy Dalton’s bid for a touchdown with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter. The Falcons trailed 17-3 in the fourth quarter before scoring the game’s final 17 points, a surge Ryan Harrison completed with his 33-yard field goal in overtime.
Air Force won the coin toss and elected to play defense first in overtime. The Falcons forced a field-goal attempt of 36 yards by Chris Manfredini, but it hit an upright and bounced away.
Harrison’s winning field goal improved the Falcons to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference. The Horned Frogs fell to 1-2 and 0-1.
Appearing down and out against a Horned Frogs defense that had allowed only three points through three quarters, the Falcons rallied for 14 points in the fourth quarter.
With quarterback Shaun Carney finally clicking on passes and a 71-yard touchdown run on fourth down by tailback Jim Ollis, the Falcons fought back and tied the score at 17 with 5:55 remaining.
With Dalton doing just enough to torment the Air Force defense, the Horned Frogs (1-2, 0-1) held the upper hand until the fourth quarter. Dalton threw two touchdown passes and mixed in some stout running from halfback Justin Watts.
Carney couldn’t muster any consistent offense early as the Falcons settled for a 57-yard field goal from Ryan Harrison late in the first half to pull within 10-3.
With a defensive effort that wouldn’t wilt, the Falcons stayed in contention throughout. After the Horned Frogs drove to a first-and-goal at the Air Force 6 midway through the third quarter, the defense took TCU to a fourth down. But Air Force’s Chris Thomas blocked the 20-yard field-goal try kick and defensive back Reggie Rembert ran it out to the 25, but again Carney couldn’t get his offense to work as the Falcons went three-and-out.
The Horned Frogs again drove down the field but on second-and-9 at the Falcons 10-yard line linebacker Drew Fowler came to the rescue with an interception at the 5 to stall yet another TCU chance.
The Falcons again could not take advantage of the defensive save and went three-and-out as the third quarter drew to a close.
Dalton took advantage of his speedy receivers and started to spread the defense as the game moved into the fourth quarter. Dalton’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Walter Bryant gave the Horned Frogs a 17-3 lead with 13:10 left in the game.
Finally, Air Force’s defense jarred the offense into production. Carney and tight end Travis Dekker connected on a 50-yard pass to the TCU 9 and the Falcons scored on Carney’s pass to tight end Keith Madsen to pull within 17-10 with 8:21 to go.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached on 303 954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
