1997 Air Force Falcons football team

1997 Air Force Falcons football
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	10–3 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach	Fisher DeBerry (14th season)
Home stadium	Falcon Stadium

1997 Western Athletic Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
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	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result
August 30	Idaho*		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	W 14–10
September 6	at Rice		Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 41–12
September 13	UNLV		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	W 25–24
September 20	at No. 23 Colorado State		Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, CO (Ram–Falcon Trophy)	W 24–0
September 27	San Diego State		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	W 24–18 OT
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
October 25	at San Jose State		Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA	L 22–25
November 1	at Hawaii		Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (rivalry)	W 34–27
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	vs. Oregon*	No. 23	Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)	L 13–41
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1997 Air Force Falcons football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense 67 Evert, Rob** OT 6-4 260 Sr. Eden Prairie, MN\Eden Prairie 68 Falk, Karl* OT 6-0 260 Sr. Katy, TX\Taylor 08 Felton, J. T.* FAL 5-11 195 So Pos. # Name Class WR 6 Matt Farmer 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 56 Fernandez, Steve*** OLB 6-1 240 Sr. Louisville, KY \St. Xavier 91 Finnan, Sean** OLB 6-3 234 Sr. Belleville, IL\O'Fallon 78 Fisher, Bryce DT 6-2 251 Jr Pos. # Name Class LB 51 Chris Gizzi Sr LB 99 Michael Yanovitch So LB 54 C. J. Zanotti So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Fisher DeBerry Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 1997-10-25

Awards/Honors

Frank Mindrup

• 1st Team All-WAC