Falcons relish the role

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Head coach: Fisher DeBerry, 21st year, 156-88-1.

2003 record: 7-5 (3-4, Tied for fourth in Mountain West)

Returning starters: 6.

Top player: LB John Rudzinski

Key game: Sept. 18 at UNLV.

2004 MWC media projection: 7th.

Today -- Air Force

Tuesday -- BYU

Wednesday -- Colo. State

Thursday -- New Mexico

Friday -- San Diego State

Next Monday -- Utah

Next Tuesday -- Wyoming

(First in a series previewing the Mountain West Conference)

To hear Air Force senior fullback Dan Shafer tell it, the Falcons couldn't be happier about the Mountain West Conference's preseason poll that has his team finishing ahead on only Wyoming this fall.

"I want everybody to feel like we're no good," Shafer told the Rocky Mountain News recently. "We're terrible. Coach (Fisher) DeBerry, you know is getting old, he hasn't got it anymore and everyone in the conference is going to pick us to be bad. Yeah, we're all washed up."

Shafer was talking with his tongue firmly planted in cheek. But this 5-foot-11, 235-pound sledgehammer of a fullback more than his made his point.

The Falcons, who return just six starters and most also replace star quarterback Chance Harridge, seem to have thrived on the underdog role over the years. And despite the gloomy preseason projections it would certainly seem to be unwise to ever count out Fisher DeBerry.

Air Force, after all, has averaged a remarkable eight victories over the last decade and hasn't had a losing season since 1993. And the circumstances entering 2004 are similiar to those of 2002 when Air Force returned just five starters but finished a surprising 8-5 and earned a San Francisco Bowl berth.

"I don't think the cupboard is all bare," DeBerry said. "If I was a sports writer, based on what I see on paper, I'd pick us exactly where we were picked."

No doubt part of the reason for such low preseason expectations at The Academy this year is the graduation loss of Harridge, who as a junior both rushed and pass for 1,000 yards in the same season.

The top candidate to replace Harridge, junior Adam Fitch, ruptured his Achilles' tendon in spring practice in April. That left the option-oriented Falcons with only junior Andy Gray, who has played in just two varsity games since graduating from high school in 2000 because of an LDS church mission, and sophomore Lucas Ewing, who played on the junior varsity a year ago, to compete for the vital starting quarterback job.

The good news for the Falcons is that Fitch is ahead of schedule on his rehabilitation and was expected to be cleared for practice as soon as today. Still, he isn't likely to play until mid-September when Air Force starts conference play with back-to-back trips to UNLV and Utah.

Whoever replaces Harridge at quarterback for the Falcons certainly won't have it easy. Air Force plays host to Pac-10 power Cal on Sept. 4 in Colorado Springs to open the season.

If history is an indication, however, look for the Falcons to once again be back in the thick of things by the time conference play rolls around.

"Look at it two years ago," Shafer said. "We had all these unknowns, but then we had five offensive linemen that turned out to be unbelieveable. This season makes me think of two years ago because they picked us to win two games, like Army and Navy, and that was it. So we like the underdog role."