1997 Air Force Falcons football team

American college football season

1997 Air Force Falcons football

Las Vegas Bowl, L 13–41 vs Oregon
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 25
Record	10–3 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach	Fisher DeBerry (14th season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone triple option
Co-defensive coordinator	Cal McCombs (8th season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Richard Bell (3rd season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Falcon Stadium
Seasons← 1996 1998 →

1997 Western Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Mountain Division
New Mexico x	6	–	2	9	–	4
Rice	5	–	3	7	–	4
SMU	5	–	3	6	–	5
Utah	5	–	3	6	–	5
BYU	4	–	4	6	–	5
UTEP	3	–	5	4	–	7
Tulsa	2	–	6	2	–	9
TCU	1	–	7	1	–	10
Pacific Division
No. 17 Colorado State x$	7	–	1	11	–	2
Air Force	6	–	2	10	–	3
Fresno State	5	–	3	6	–	6
Wyoming	4	–	4	7	–	6
San Diego State	4	–	4	5	–	7
San Jose State	4	–	4	4	–	7
UNLV	2	–	6	3	–	8
Hawaii	1	–	7	3	–	9
Championship: Colorado State 41, New Mexico 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1997 Air Force Falcons football team competed for the United States Air Force Academy in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was led by 14th-year head coach Fisher DeBerry and played its home games at Falcon Stadium. It finished the regular season with a 10–2 record overall and a 6–2 record in Western Athletic Conference games. The team was selected to play in the Las Vegas Bowl, in which it lost to Oregon.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	2:00 p.m.	Idaho*		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 14–10	41,331
September 6		at Rice		Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 41–12
September 13		UNLV		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 25–24	39,027
September 20		at No. 23 Colorado State		Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, CO (Ram–Falcon Trophy)		W 24–0	34,071
September 27		San Diego State		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	ESPN2	W 24–18	48,399
October 4		The Citadel*	No. 23	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 17–3
October 11		at Navy*	No. 19	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, MD (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)		W 10–7
October 18		Fresno State	No. 18	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		L 17–20	45,597
October 25		at San Jose State		Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA	ESPN2	L 22–25
November 1	11:05 p.m.	at Hawaii		Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (rivalry)		W 34–27	29,850
November 8		Army*		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)		W 24–0
November 15		Wyoming		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 14–3
December 20	4:00 p.m.	vs. Oregon*	No. 23	Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)	ESPN2	L 13–41	21,514
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

1997 Air Force Falcons football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
Sr	`67`	Rob Evert	Sr
OT	`68`	Karl Faulk	Sr
WR	`6`	Matt Farmer	So
FAL	`8`	J. T. Felton	So
QB	`14`	John Flynn	Jr
OL	`74`	Frank Mindrup	Jr
OT	`78`	Troy Monson	So
QB	`11`	Blane Morgan	Jr
WR	`9`	Dylan Newman	Jr
OT	`79`	James Norman	So
QB	`15`	Stephen O'Neill	So
FB	`33`	Ryan Paroda	Jr
C	`52`	Jeff Parr	Sr
C	`50`	Brian Phillips	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OLB	`56`	Steve Fernandez	Sr
OLB	`91`	Sean Finnan	Sr
DT	`78`	Bryce Fisher	Jr
LB	`51`	Chris Gizzi	Sr
LB	`99`	Michael Yanovitch	So
LB	`54`	C. J. Zanotti	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Roster
Last update: 1997-10-25

"Football Schedule/Results: 1997-1998". Air Force Athletics. Archived from the original on October 8, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
"Air Force Yearly Results 1995-1999". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
Page, Steve (August 31, 1997). "Tough loss leaves Idaho hurting". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.

v t e Air Force Falcons football
Venues	DU Stadium (1955–1961) Falcon Stadium (1962–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Army (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy) Colorado State (Ram–Falcon Trophy) Hawaii (Kuter Trophy) Navy (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)
Culture & lore	History The Bird "Falcon Fight Song" "The U.S. Air Force" United States Air Force Academy Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

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