Though both BYU and Air Force are riding seven-game winning streaks, coaches LaVell Edwards and Fisher DeBerry readily admit it took a measure of good fortune for their squads to qualify for Saturday's WAC championship game in Las Vegas (11 a.m., ABC, Ch. 4).
The final step, each would no doubt attest, was a doozy.Flashback to Saturday, Nov. 21, when two plays prevented San Diego State and Rice from replacing the Cougars and Falcons in Vegas. Sighs of relief continue to echo throughout the free world. On that day:
Air Force (10-1) claimed the Mountain Division crown when Mike Tyler, who has played most of the season with torn ligaments in his knee, returned a fourth-quarter interception 26 yards for a touchdown. The score lifted the Falcons past Rice 22-16.
BYU (9-3) won the Pacific Division title with a nail-biting 26-24 victory at archrival Utah. The Cougars nearly blew a nine-point lead in the final 2:41 after allowing the Utes to return a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown before a game-ending drive into field-goal range. Ryan Kaneshiro's 32-yard attempt, however, bounced off the right goalpost with nine seconds remaining -- allowing BYU to prevail.
Fate, or so it seems, landed Air Force and BYU in the soon-to-be-divided 16-team WAC's final football championship game. And for obvious reasons, Edwards said the Cougars are excited to participate. DeBerry, meanwhile, notes the Falcons are honored and fortunate to be involved.
Each took separate, but in many ways similar, paths to Las Vegas.
Though BYU and Air Force didn't meet head-to-head this season (they haven't played each other since 1995), the conference finalists did cross paths with two common opponents -- UNLV and New Mexico. Both went 2-0 against the woeful WAC foes, but the Falcons did so in more impressive fashion. Air Force defeated the Rebels and Lobos by a combined score of 108-24. BYU did it by an 84-35 margin.
The routes to Vegas, though, differ greatly thereafter.
Air Force may have played in the more competitive Mountain Division, but the Pacific Division wound up securing two of the WAC's three bowl bids. And BYU enters postseason play having played three bowl-bound teams (Alabama, Washington and San Diego State), while Air Force has played none.
Schedules aren't the only intangibles adding intrigue to Saturday's WAC finale. Others include the health status of Air Force quarterback Blane Morgan (severe ankle sprain), the impact of a pro-BYU crowd at Sam Boyd Stadium (the Cougars sold out their allotment of tickets quickly), and whether either team can truly get up for a game void of bowl implications -- win or lose, BYU is headed to the Liberty Bowl and Air Force to one of the Hawaii Christmas Classics.
Both teams resumed practice Monday after taking most of last week off for Thanksgiving.