Chalking up winning seasons and playing in bowl games has become somewhat of a routine for the Air Force Academy football team, but former players Shaun Carney and Chad Hall remember when such standards seemed out of reach.
When the Falcons (6-4) beat Army 42-22 last week, they became bowl-eligible for the fourth consecutive season. They need one more victory to ensure a winning record, and it most likely will come Saturday when the Falcons host New Mexico at 4 p.m. at Falcon Stadium.
“My first three seasons, it seemed as if we were always chasing our goals and always falling short,” Carney said from his duty station at Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, La.
Carney carried the brunt of the frustration as the starting quarterback in 2004, 2005 and 2006, when the Falcons went 5-6, 4-7 and 4-8.
As seniors, and with the arrival of coach Troy Calhoun, Carney and Hall led the Falcons to a 9-4 record and an appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I think the seniors had a personal vendetta to get the program back on the mat,” Carney said. “We kept hearing that we wouldn’t win right away with a new coach. Hopefully we started something.”
Hall, who is with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, said the turnaround in 2007 gave team members something to talk about.
“We’re never satisfied with just getting to a bowl game or getting a winning record,” Hall said. “But there are two things you talk about when looking back. You talk about what bowl you went to and how many games you won.”
Hall began his Air Force career with three losing seasons before finally getting something to talk about in 2007.
Staubach weighs in on Heisman.
Former Navy quarterback Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1963 and the last service academy player to win college football’s top individual award, believes it’s possible for a service academy player to win it in today’s college football landscape.
“It’s more difficult because the service academy teams aren’t usually ranked in the top 25 teams in the country,” Staubach said. “We had a really good team at Navy when I won it. I think I could pass then as well as any of the players coming out today.”
Navy ranked second in the nation in 1963.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
