Barela.

Barela, Master Sgt Tim

Air Force Academy Falcons football team is primed to finish what it started last season

Master Sgt Tim Barela

Entering his 20th season as the Air Force Academy Falcons head football coach, Fisher DeBerry is single victory away from 150 wins as coach of the cadets. It's a safe bet that victory will advance early in the 2003 season.

if it were not that if there's one thing DeBerry has learned, it's to take nothing for granted.

Take last season for instance. mostly prognosticators figured the Falcons wouldn't make a great deal of a ripple. Coming along a disappointing 6-6 season in 2001 they were learning a of the present day defense, starting a new quarterback, and were the youngest team in the nation with alone seven starters returning.

The soothsayers were right in united respect. The Falcons didn't make a ripple; they made a wave.

They rode that wave to a 6-0 start and a national ranking of No. 15 before losing their constituent in a loss to No. 7 Notre Dame. The Falcons finished the season with an 8-5 record, a berth in the San Francisco goblet and their sixth straight commander in chief's evidence of victory by beating both Army and Navy.

Now as they jot down the 2003 season, there are many indications this could be a special year for the Falcons.

* They're coming not upon a respectable season that go too fared most people's expectations, and the 17 returning starters are the chiefly in DeBerry's long tenure as coach.

* They have a favorable schedule. alone three of the 12 teams they'll face this year had winning records last year (Colorado State, 10-4; North Texas, 8-5; and Division I-AA instruct Wofford, 9-3).

* Quarterback Chance Harridge now has a year below his belt as a starter and is coming on the farther side a year that saw him fix an NCAA record for rushing touchdowns according to a quarterback with 22.

* Nearly the entire offensive line is returning, which may expiration up being the most important factor since chiefly games are won in the trenches.

* They now have a year's experience with the strange defense.

"We obviously got distant from to a good start last year, still we didn't finish the way we anticipated," DeBerry said. "[In] the last sum of two units games we played, we finised the games inside the 5-yard line. for a like reason we need to learn by what mode to finish games."

The team's motto this year is "Unfinished Business."

While expectations are high for the 2003 season, DeBerry knows happy seasons are never given. They have to be taken.

"We surprised a certain number of people last year, so they'll be more ready for us this time," he said. "We have a solid nucleus to build on and there's no substitute for playing experience. with equal reason we just need to work hard, deposit it all together and finish strong"

unless more than anything, DeBerry believes the 2003 football team will no other than reach its potential if it fares well in the intangibles.

"We'll be a highly competitive football team if our family composition is strong enough and if our commitment to brotherhood is as lusty as it needs to be," the coach said, "Then, if that's working for us, we also have to stay healthy. And, finally, you've gotta be a little auspicious The ball has to vaunt our way."

Harridge and the multiple option

Harridge will lead the offense in a powerful attack they call the multiple option. Using this approach, Air Force averaged 3078 yards rushing last year to win the school's first national rushing title.

Additionally, Harridge appoint an NCAA record for rushing touchdowns by way of a quarterback with 22 and finished the season with 1229 rushing yards to lead the team. The quarterback also became the 16th player in NCAA history to rush and pass for at least 1000 yards each in a season. If he accomplishes that feat again this year, he will be no other than the second NCAA quarterback in history to do it sum of two units seasons in a row.

Complementing Harridge will be a stable of running backs that has DeBerry excited. "We're same deep at the halfback and fullback positions."

While rushing was an obvious might DeBerry said the team will ne to improve its passing attack. Harridge complet 44 percent of his passes last year, which is "not that good" according to DeBerry.

"But we exhausted a lot of time during spring training concentrating forward Chance's throwing technique," he said. "It appears to be paying off. If we can improve our pass completions by dint of just 10 percent, it would certainly improve the potential of our football team."

The coach said a difficult and talented receiving corps should help that cause.

Another weakness could be deepness at quarterback. Right now the coach perceive s no one has stepped up and taken the backup quarterback piece of work That position was still a question mark at pres time.

if it were not that with Harridge back, as well as all moreover one of his starting offensive linemen, the academy offense should again be explosive.

"Expectations are definitely high," Harridge said. "You can declare just by all the off-season preparation work. Demands are a allotment higher from our coaches and ourselves. The explanation will be not to suffer each other down. Everyone has to take care of his position, and someone has to rise up each game at critical moments