Air Force must navigate tough path to league title

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

At first glance, the standings for the Mountain West Conference seem a little out of whack.

Tied for sixth place, along with UNLV and Colorado State with an 0-1 record, is Air Force.

The Falcons, who just a week ago owned the nation's longest winning streak in Division I football (11 games), now find themselves with a big uphill battle to win their own conference following a hard-fought 10-7 loss to Wyoming last Saturday in Colorado Springs.

"They came right in our backyard and stole pride, and that concerns me as much as anything," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. "We've handled adversity before in this program. I'm disappointed, but I'm not discouraged. If we play as well as I know we can play, we'll win some football games."

The Falcons (2-1, 0-1) have little time to lick their wounds. They travel to San Diego State (2-2) for a Saturday night game on ESPN2.

It will be a matchup of the nation's No. 3 rushing team in Air Force against an Aztec squad that is rated 11th nationally against the run and limited Kansas to zero yards rushing in last week's 41-13 win in Lawrence, Kan.

"No question it's a crucial game for us," DeBerry said. "But we're not going to panic and make it an even bigger deal than the previous game we had. We'll just try and take them one game at a time from here on out."

* EGGS OVER EASY: Wyoming coach Dana Dimel, who said before his team's upset of the Falcons that he wasn't putting all his eggs in one basket by focusing on Air Force since a painful 10-3 loss last November in Laramie, now says Saturday's win was a make-it or break-in win for his squad.

"That could have backfired on us because we put all our eggs in one basket," Dimel said. "That was the chance we had to take in order to beat a quality team like Air Force on the road.

"This was a huge win for our program," Dimel continued. "We picked up a quality win against a quality opponent on the road. Not many teams can go into Air Force and do that."

Dimel dedicated the win to his father John, who died during the summer following a lengthy illness. John Dimel ironically was a lead bombardier in the Air Force in World War II.

* SECOND-GUESSING TIME: Air Force twice got within the Wyoming 5-yard line last week and came away with no points.

DeBerry passed up a field goal chance on 4th-and-goal at the Cowboys' two yard line in the second quarter and Scott McKay was buried for a two-yard loss. That seemed to inspire Wyoming, which then drove 96 yards in five plays to take a 7-0 lead.

In the third quarter, Falcon wide receiver Matt Farmer lost a fumble at the Wyoming five. The Cowboys responded by driving 85 yards in 15 plays before settling for Aaron Elling's 27-yard field goal which made it 10-0 and proved to be the winning points.

"We had so many chances," DeBerry said. "That's what hurts so bad."

DeBerry was second-guessed afterward for not settling for the early field goal.

"I thought about a field goal, but at the same time we're two yards from the goal line and we've moved the ball pretty doggoned good," DeBerry said. "I didn't think there was any question we couldn't get it in."

"I was a little surprised," Dimel said. "I guess he was trying to get the momentum early and take the wind out of our sails."

Added Falcons' quarterback Cale Bonds: "I don't think it was a bad call. Bottom line: He had confidence in us to get the ball in the end zone. He's won his share of games doing that and we've made it a ton of times."

* HAWLEY STARS: It looks like San Diego State coach Ted Tollner finally found the strong-armed quarterback he had been desperately searching for in recent years.

Junior college transfer Jack Hawley, who visited UNLV last winter before enrolling at San Diego State, completed 19 of 24 passes for 343 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Aztecs' 41-13 win at Kansas.

San Diego State led 31-0 at halftime as Hawley led them on scoring drives of 80, 80, 94 and 90 yards.