Saturday, December 26, 1998
Morgan wings it as Air Force
By Pat Bigold
lives up to its name
for a change
Star-BulletinBryce Fisher got two real good shots at Brock Huard's 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame last night.
Once was when he sacked him for a 6-yard loss in a 45-25 Air Force (12-1) victory over Washington (6-6) in the first Jeep Oahu Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
The other time was when he placed a bear hug on him outside the stadium's hospitality room after the game and told him he's the best quarterback he's faced.
It was Christmas, after all.
If Snoopy and the Red Baron can toast each other, then so can Fisher and the man he spent a whole evening trying to put on his back.
The sportsmanlike gesture by Fisher, the Western Athletic Conference's top defensive player of 1998, served to give Huard, one of the nation's top college quarterbacks, a brief respite from his postgame misery.
After being sacked by Fisher and four of his teammates, Huard needed all the kindness he could get.
He just didn't expect it to come from one of the guys who beat him up.
"You're supposed to let me throw the ball, you jerk," was Huard's good-natured greeting to the 6-2, 275-pound right defensive tackle from Renton, Wash. Fisher spotted Huard down the hallway and went directly for him.
"That guy's one hell of a quarterback and he's going to be someone special in the NFL," said Fisher, referring to the fact that Huard, a junior, will enter the 1999 National Football League draft.
"I met him outside the ESPN press conference Thursday. We talked and he asked why I didn't go to Washington. I said, 'Y'all didn't want me.'
"He said, 'I can't believe that,' and I knew there was a common respect between us. I knew that regardless of the outcome, Brock Huard was a good guy."Fisher is one of three Air Force starters from Washington who were overlooked by Huskies recruiters when they were high school seniors.
A few days before the game, Fisher got away with making the kind of remark that sometimes gets posted on locker room walls.
"Washington is going to see what they missed," he predicted.
The Huskies saw more than they wanted as the Falcons avenged a 1997 Las Vegas Bowl loss to a Pac-10 team (Oregon 41, Air Force 13) and a three-game bowl losing streak that dated back to 1992.
Air Force came with a blitz that was furious and sustained. And even though Huard completed 23 of 32 attempts for 267 yards, he did not throw for a single touchdown and was picked off by three different Falcons.
Air Force led the WAC in scoring defense for the second year in a row.
"I hadn't seen on any of their films as much blitzing as they did," said Huard, who was never at ease in the pocket.
"They created a package of coming after you with the free safety up the middle and strong safety on the outside, both inside backers -- they created a very good game plan that very much put pressure on our offense," said Washington coach Jim Lambright.
"We found from looking at tapes that no one had really put much pressure on him," said Falcons head coach Fisher DeBerry.
"We felt like we could give him some looks and different types of blitzes that he had not seen before."
On the other side of the ball, Air Force quarterback Blane Morgan had a career night as leader of the Falcons' triple option attack.
But Morgan played a dimension beyond the option.
He had exactly the same passing yardage as Huard but got it on 12 of 16 attempts and threw for two touchdowns. He was not intercepted.
"Our rushing game is our main attack, but we came out and passed the ball better than we ever have," said halfback Jemal Singleton, who had two touchdowns.
Morgan, whose brother, Beau, played quarterback for the Falcons before him, chipped into an evenly balanced rushing game (eight players in double-digit yardage) with 50 of his own.
Washington faced only one option team this year, Nebraska, and lost, 55-7. But Lambright said Air Force's option was a much different look.
"Nebraska's approach doesn't involve nearly as many changeups as Air Force's," he said."We knew they (Washington) would be zeroed in on the option, so we ran a midline option, which Blane had a lot of success with," DeBerry said. "We used some motion we hadn't used in previous games. And we used some big pass plays."
DeBerry said the biggest and most decisive Air Force pass play was Morgan's 79-yard connection to Matt Farmer with 12 seconds left in the third quarter to give Air Force a 38-13 lead.
"Blane laid it up and Farmer did a remarkable job of outrunning it into the end zone," said DeBerry.
On the previous play, All-WAC safety Tim Curry, another Washington native not recruited by the Huskies, had held Washington tailback Braxton Cleman to a 1-yard gain on fourth and 2 at the Falcons' 21.
Curry also had a sack and an interception.
Air Force's defense set the tone for the evening as it stopped Washington at the Falcons' 27 after a 48-yard drive on the Huskies' first possession. Joe Jarzynka's attempt at a 44-yard field goal was blocked by Shawn Thomas.
The ensuing Air Force drive went 10 plays and 72 yards, ending in the first of Singleton's touchdowns -- an 11-yard romp.
The second one came 24 seconds into the second quarter on a 2-yard run to give Air Force a two-touchdown lead.
Washington needed to set up a score, so Huard hit Andre DeSaussure with a 44-yard pass and Cleman ran 3 yards on the next play for the score.
Air Force's Scott McKay scored with 3:07 left in the half, completing a 12-play, 74-yard drive that ate up 6:11. The critical play that sustained the drive was a fake punt on fourth-and-8 in which Jon Sanderson ran for 10 yards to the Washington 33.
Cleman scored again for Washington with 1:06 remaining on a 1-yard plunge to cut Air Force's lead to 22-13.
But Air Force proceeded to shut out Washington in the third quarter while scoring 16 points to take a 38-13 lead and firm control of the game.
"We just wanted to go out and gain some respect," said McKay. "My heart's thumpin' and I think this gives us a lot of momentum going into the new conference next year."
See "Notebook"
Box Score
Air Force 45, Washington 25
Air Force 7 15 16 7--45 Washington 0 13 0 12--25
AF--Singleton 12 run (Whiting kick), 6:20.
AF--Singleton 2 run (Whiting kick), 14:36.
Wash--Cleman 3 run (Jarzynka kick), 12:44.
AF--McKay 15 run (Morgan run), 2:21.
Wash--Cleman 2 run (pass failed), 1:15.
AF--FG Whiting 42, 9:02.
AF--Gilliam 4 run (Whiting kick), 14:36.AF--Farmer 79 pass from Morgan (run failed), :07.
Wash--Tuiasosopo 7 run (pass failed), 12:16.
Wash--Austin 11 pass from Tuiasosopo (kick failed), :04.A--34,803.
AF Was First downs 26 21 Rushes-yards 59-232 32-107 Passing 267 310 Comp-Att-Int 12-16-0 28-40-3 Return Yards 39 23 Punts-Avg. 2-46 2-41 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-0 Penalties-Yards 6-45 5-31 Time of Possession 37:47 22:13Rushing-Air Force: Morgan 20-50, Gilliam 8-34, McKay 5-32, Singleton 5-28, Brown 5-27, Paroda 4-17, Becker 4-16, Sanderson 1-10, Farmer 1-9, Hill 2-5, Rillos 1-5, Laster 1-2, Newman 1-(minus 1), Bonds 1-(minus 2). Washington: Hurst 9-66, Jarzunka 1-16, Cleman 9-16, Tuiasosopo 4-11, Conniff 3-9, Huard 6-(minus 11).Passing--Air Force: Morgan 12-16-0-267. Washington: Huard 23-32-3-267, Tuiasosopo 5-7-0-43, Fleming 0-1-0-0.
Receiving--Air Force: Farmer 4-109, McKay 4-77, Brown 2-58, Newman 1-17, Singleton 1-6. Washington: Looker 8-100, Harris 5-38, Jarzynka 4-39, Jurgens 4-23, DeSaussure 3-78, Eistrom 1-13, Austin 1-11, Miniz 1-7, Hurst 1-1.
