Air Force Academy – The result put a lot of focus on Ryan Harrison for his 33-yard field goal Thursday night that lifted Air Force to a 20-17 overtime victory over Texas Christian.
But the behind-the-scenes work by senior Tony Norman and sophomore Brandon Geyer played a major role in the winning field goal at Falcon Stadium. Norman was the Falcons’ snapper and Geyer the holder.
Their names didn’t appear in the scoring column, but their work was instrumental in Air Force ending a four-game losing streak against the Horned Frogs. The Falcons, off to a strong start, improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference.
“I’ve always said to myself that when Tony gets the ball to me, I’ll get the hold down and there’s no doubt that Ryan’s going to get the kick through,” Geyer said Saturday after the Falcons’ practice. “I just like to take a deep breath, relax as much as possible and get it done.”
Norman said he almost feels more pressure during practice.
“If we don’t get it right in practice, Coach Calhoun (Air Force coach Troy Calhoun) is such a perfectionist, he’ll let us know about it,” Norman said. “The last kick against TCU is something I’ll look back on. I can’t live on it because in seven days, we’re going to Provo, Utah, to play BYU.”
Calhoun let his kicking combination know about a mistake earlier in Thursday’s game when Harrison missed a 50- yard try. The junior kicker from Keller, Texas, made a 57-yarder that produced Air Force’s only points through three quarters against TCU.
“There was a little more of a roll than I wanted on the first one,” Calhoun said Saturday. “It’s a total team effort both ways. On the first one, the snap wasn’t as clean as it needs to be, the hold needed to be sharper and Ryan had to hit the ball better.”
Neither Norman nor Geyer was thinking about the missed kick on the field goal that counted most.
“We had erased it from our minds,” Geyer said. “Tony and I probably had about 100 snaps on the sidelines between the first field goal and the last one.”
Calhoun said circumstance has led him to believe it’s best not to have a special-teams coordinator. Instead, the staff spreads the special-teams coaching duties among assistants Brian Knorr, Ben Miller, Ron Burton, Jemal Singleton and Clay Hendrix.
“As long as I’m in college football, that’s the way I’m going,” Calhoun said. “I think mixing the responsibilities keeps every coach involved.
“If you have a special-teams coordinator, is everyone else supposed to keep their hands in their pockets and wear sunglasses? All of our guys are pretty good teachers.”
Injury report
Outside linebacker Julian Madrid suffered a sprained knee against TCU and could be out at least a month. Defensive end Josh Clayton (shoulder) may return for the Brigham Young game this week and guard Caleb Morris (ankle) is probable. But tailbacks Kip McCarthy (knee) and Chad Smith (knee) and offensive tackle Dan Holder (knee) are indefinite.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
