Air Force Academy
BYU
Falcons Fly Past BYU 24-10
9/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept 27, 2003
By DOUG ALDEN
AP Sports Writer
PROVO, Utah (AP) - Chance Harridge ran for two touchdowns and passed for another and Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry got his first win at Brigham Young as the Falcons beat the Cougars 24-10 Saturday.
Darnell Stephens ran for 93 yards on 16 carries for the Falcons (5-0, 2-0 Mountain West), who beat the Cougars (2-3, 1-1) for the second straight year and have won five of the last seven meetings.
Air Force hadn't won in Provo since 1982, when DeBerry was an assistant to Ken Hatfield. DeBerry, in his 20th season, was 0-7 at BYU before Saturday when the Falcons took advantage of BYU's sluggish running game and a key turnover to break the streak.
John Beck completed 19 of 35 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown in his second start for the Cougars, but that accounted for nearly two-thirds of their offensive total of 306 yards. Rey Brathwaite carried 14 times for 68 yards, but lost 10 on a late third down, and Marcus Whalen gained just 28 yards on 10 carries and was stripped in Air Force territory as the Cougars were trying to rally.
After Harridge put Air Force up 17-10 with a 30-yard touchdown pass to J.P. Waller, the Cougars started moving the ball with more consistency than they had shown all day. Brathwaite took a pass 18 yards to the Air Force 36, then broke a 21-yard run to get the Cougars into Falcon territory. But Air Force's Nate Allen stripped the ball from Whalen and Ryan Carter recovered for the Falcons at the 39.
The Cougars got the ball back with 4:05 remaining, but on third-and-1 Brathwaite was stopped for a loss of 10. Beck's pass on fourth-and-11 was way off target and the Cougars turned the ball over at their own 19, drawing scattered boos from the home crowd.
Air Force was running out the clock, but went for it on fourth down from inside the 1 with just seconds remaining. Harridge scored on a dive as the clock expired, drawing more boos.
Harridge had given Air Force a 10-3 lead with an 8-yard run midway through the third quarter. The play capped a 14-play, 66-yard drive which featured four third-down conversions.
BYU responded by driving 80 yards and scoring on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Phillip Niu with 3:02 left in the third to tie it, but that was all the scoring for the Cougars as they self-destructed in the fourth quarter.
