1987 Air Force Falcons football team

The 1987 Air Force Falcons football team represented the United States Air Force Academy in the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Falcons offense scored 405 points while the defense allowed 269 points. At season's end, the Falcons appeared in the 1987 Freedom Bowl. In the Ram–Falcon Trophy match, the Falcons beat the Colorado State Rams to win the trophy. Air Force also won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, emblematic of beating both Army and Navy.

1987 Air Force Falcons football
Freedom Bowl, L 28–33 vs. Arizona State
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
1987 record	9–4 (6–2 WAC)
Head coach	Fisher DeBerry
Home stadium	Falcon Stadium

1987 Western Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wyoming $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	3	–	0
BYU	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
Air Force	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
UTEP	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
San Diego State	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
Hawaii	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
Utah	2	–	6	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
Colorado State	1	–	7	–	0			1	–	11	–	0
New Mexico	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	at Wyoming	War Memorial Stadium Laramie, Wyoming		L 13–27	28,071
September 12	TCU*	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 21–10	41,000
September 19	San Diego State	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 49–7	35,035
September 26	at Colorado State	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, Colorado (Battle for the Ram–Falcon Trophy)		W 27–19	23,137
October 3	Utah	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 48–27	35,108
October 10	at Navy*	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, Maryland		W 23–13	35,622
October 17	No. 11 Notre Dame*	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		L 14–35	51,112
October 24	UTEP	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 35–7	36,922
October 31	at BYU	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	ESPN	L 13–24	65,384
November 7	Army*	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 27–10	49,183
November 14	at New Mexico	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico		W 73–26	15,309
November 21	at Hawaii	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (rivalry)	ESPN	W 34–31	43,340
December 30	vs. Arizona State*	Anaheim Stadium Anaheim, California (Freedom Bowl)		L 28–33	33,261
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1987 Air Force Falcons football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Troy Calhoun Jr QB Dee Dowis So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 87 Chad Hennings Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Fisher DeBerry Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1987 team players in the NFL

The following were selected in the 1988 NFL Draft.

Player	Position	Round	Overall	NFL team
Chad Hennings	Defensive tackle	11	290	Dallas Cowboys

[1]

Awards and honors

• Rip Burgwald, Bullard Award[2]
• Chad Hennings, Outland Trophy[3]

References

1. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1988.htm
2. http://www.airforcesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3000&KEY=&ATCLID=157958&SPID=804&SPSID=22383
3. http://football.about.com/cs/history/a/outlandtrophy.htm