1982 Air Force Falcons football team

The 1982 Air Force Falcons football team represented the United States Air Force Academy in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fourth-year head coach Ken Hatfield, Air Force played its home games at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs and finished the regular season at 7–5 (4–3 in WAC, third), for their first winning record in nine years.

1982 Air Force Falcons football
Hall of Fame Classic champion
Hall of Fame Classic, W 36–28 vs. Vanderbilt
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	8–5 (4–3 WAC)
Head coach	Ken Hatfield (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fisher DeBerry (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone triple option[1]
Defensive coordinator	Chan Gailey (2nd season)
Base defense	3–4
Captain	Johnny Jackson
Home stadium	Falcon Stadium
Seasons ← 1981 1983 →

1982 Western Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
BYU $	7	–	1	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
New Mexico	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
Air Force	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	5	–	0
San Diego State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Hawaii	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Colorado State	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Utah	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wyoming	2	–	6	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
UTEP	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion

Following their upset of No. 18 Notre Dame on November 20,^[2][3] Air Force was invited to play in the Hall of Fame Classic in Birmingham on December 31,^[4] where they rallied to upset Vanderbilt and finished at 8–5.^{[1][5][6][7][8]} It was the first bowl appearance for the Falcons in twelve years and their first postseason win.^[5][6]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 4	6:35 p.m.	at Tulsa*	Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK	L 17–35	29,811	[9]
September 11	1:35 p.m.	San Diego State	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	W 44–32	23,000	[10]
September 18	6:31 p.m.	at Texas Tech*	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	L 30–31	38,694	[11]
September 25	1:30 p.m.	at BYU	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	W 39–38	64,253	[12]
October 2	1:48 p.m.	New Mexico	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	L 37–49	25,576	[13]
October 9	1:30 p.m.	Navy*	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)	W 24–21	37,109	[14]
October 16	1:30 p.m.	Colorado State	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (rivalry)	L 11–21	25,326	[15]
October 23	7:36 p.m.	at UTEP	Sun Bowl El Paso, TX	W 35–7	28,678	[16]
October 30	1:30 p.m.	Wyoming	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	W 44–34	22,740	[17]
November 6	11:32 a.m.	at Army*	Michie Stadium West Point, NY (Commander-in-Chief's Trophy)	W 27–9	40,252	[18][19]
November 20	1:00 p.m.	No. 18 Notre Dame*	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (rivalry)	W 30–17	46,712	[20]
November 27	10:31 p.m.	at Hawaii	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI (rivalry)	L 21–45	40,019	[21]
December 31		vs. Vanderbilt*	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Hall of Fame Classic)	W 36–28	75,114	[5][1][6]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[22]

Roster

1982 Air Force Falcons football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class FB John Kreshner Jr QB 11 Marty Louthan Jr OL Dave Schrek Sr HB Jody Simmons So HB Ted Sundquist	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Carl Dieudonne Jr DL Chris Funk So S Scott Thomas Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P Jeff Kubiak Jr K Sean Pavlich	Head coach Ken Hatfield (4th year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Awards and honors

• Dave Schrek, guard, 3rd team All-American (AP), 1st team All-WAC