When it comes to memories, the Notre Dame-Air Force ser- ies has some that – on a scale of 10 – would rate a 10.
With Joe Montana, Ben Martin, Marty Louthan, Gerry Faust, A.J. Scott, Terry Maki and many others on the list, Saturday’s matchup in South Bend, Ind., will have to be big to crack the list. But with the Falcons (7-3) a three-point favorite, the pregame hype goes beyond anyone’s memory.
“You look at Notre Dame and they have a ton of players who are going to play in the NFL,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “When you look at them one by one and evaluate them, they have about 14 players who start for them who will play pro football.”
Looking back at the series, a good place to begin is with Montana. Early in his collegiate career, Montana came off the bench in 1975 to bring the Irish from a 30-10 deficit early in the fourth quarter to a 31-30 victory over the Falcons.
But for Air Force, it would be hard to top Louthan’s performance in 1982. The Falcons quarterback fooled the Notre Dame defense with a sneak that went for 50 yards and set up a 30-17 win – Air Force’s first over the Irish and the start of a four-game winning streak over Notre Dame.
“We ran the wishbone in those days and we could hear the Notre Dame players talking about being spread out so far because of our line splits,” Louthan said. “We had talked about a sneak on a quick snap count in a short-yardage situation. It was third-and-2 and I just followed center Ricard Smith.
“I closed my eyes and when I looked up I was in the secondary and there wasn’t a free safety in sight. They caught me at the 3-yard line.”
Air Force defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter played for the Falcons during the winning streak and well remembers the ’82 game.
“Coach (Ken) Hatfield did a great job convincing us we could do it,” DeRuyter said. “We felt like we could beat them that day. … We’re telling our guys this year to not get on the plane if they don’t expect to win.”
Faust was the Notre Dame coach in those four losses.
“Two blocked kicks cost us two of the games,” Faust said from his home in Akron, Ohio. “We played Air Force in its peak as a football team. They were dynamite in those days.”
It was a blocked field goal by Air Force’s Chris Funk that secured a 23-22 victory in 1983, and two years later Maki blocked a field and Scott returned it for a touchdown in a 21-15 victory in Falcon Stadium.
“If I could have beaten Air Force and Purdue, I’d probably still be coaching at Notre Dame,” Faust said.
Irv Moss: 303 954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
