AIR FORCE ACADEMY — There never are pleasant moments for defensive coordinators the week before playing Brigham Young, and Air Force’s Tim DeRuyter hasn’t found this week to be any different.
“Our job is to stop the offense each week no matter who it is, and it’s a tremendous challenge this week,” DeRuyter said. “You have a senior quarterback in (BYU star) Max Hall who has played a ton of games and with a ton of weapons around him.”
Hall isn’t just any senior quarterback. He needs one more victory as a starter to reach 30 and have sole possession of the BYU career record for quarterback victories. Hall is tied with Ty Detmer, BYU’s Heisman Trophy winner, for the career lead.
“It’s going to be quite an accomplishment if I can get that,” Hall said. “I have put it in the back of my mind, though. It is not like I want to win the game for the record, I want to win it for our guys and for the season.”
Also, junior running back Harvey Unga has extra incentive, needing only 21 yards to reach 3,221 and become BYU’s all-time leading career rusher.
The Cougars haven’t needed extra incentive against the Falcons, owning five consecutive victories. The teams meet again Saturday in Provo, Utah.
“I don’t know about other years, but I like how we’re playing defense,” DeRuyter said. “We’re playing fast and fairly athletic, but this is a whole different element than what we’ve played against with their size, talent and experience.”
Led by seniors Chris Thomas, a safety, and Ben Garland, a nose guard, this is one of the Falcons’ best defensive units in years. Air Force ranks high in almost every defensive category listed by the Mountain West Conference, including second to Texas Christian in total defense (265.4 yards allowed per game). Garland leads the Falcons in sacks with 4 1/2. Thomas has two interceptions.
Garland said this is the best defense the Falcons have had in his four years at the academy.
“This is the best teamwork, the most energy, the hardest-working,” Garland said. “We’re going to play (No. 19) BYU as hard and as fast as we can. We like to make any opponent we play realize that when they play the Falcons, they’re in for a fight.”
Said Thomas: “You look on paper, BYU has us dominated as far as size, speed and what not, and they have a great offensive scheme to add to that. They’re tough to defend.”
The Falcons see the challenge of winning their regular-season finale as a team assignment.
“Nobody on our team has any doubts what our potential is,” said AFA sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson. “We’re all going there thinking that if everyone does his job at peak performance, we’ll put ourselves in a great chance to win.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Three questions for AFA
1. Can the Air Force defense corral BYU quarterback Max Hall better than last year? In the Cougars’ 38-24 win in 2008, Hall completed 28-of-37 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns. The senior needs one win to set the BYU record for career quarterback victories at 30.
2. Will the Falcons’ scoring defense of 13.3 points a game hold up against BYU, which averaged 41 points a game in defeating the Falcons each of the last five meetings? The most points allowed this season by Air Force is 23 — in a 23-16 overtime loss at Utah. In their three wins since then, the Falcons have allowed 16 points to Colorado State, seven to Army and 17 to UNLV.
3. Will the Air Force offense continue its surge over the past three games at an opportune time? The Falcons have averaged 38 points and 410 yards over the past three games. In last week’s 45-17 rout of UNLV, the Falcons had 557 yards on 84 plays.
Irv Moss, The Denver Post
