The Last Meeting: Colorado 28, Air Force 27
July 15, 2015 | Football
USAFA - Colorado raced to a 21-3 lead and led by 28-10 midway through the third quarter, only to see Air Force rally within one with a little over four minutes remaining but managed to hold off the Falcons in winning, 28-27. AFA's Dave Lawson, who had made a 60-yard field goal in the first quarter, came up just a bit short on a 50-yard try with just seconds left on the clock. It was known at the time that it would be the final game in the series, turning out to be the only game of 16 decided by one point.
| COLORADO | 21 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -- | 28 |
| Air Force | 3 | 7 | 7 | 10 | -- | 27 |
| COLORADO - Williams 44 run (Mackenzie kick) | 7- 0 | 11:49 | 1Q |
| Air Force - Lawson 60 FG | 7- 3 | 6:28 | 1Q |
| COLORADO - Waddy 67 run (Mackenzie kick) | 14- 3 | 4:14 | 1Q |
| COLORADO - Williams 22 run (Mackenzie kick) | 21- 3 | 2:16 | 1Q |
| Air Force - Farr 16 pass from Vaughn (Lawson kick) | 21-10 | 4:24 | 2Q |
| COLORADO - Waddy 11 run (Mackenzie kick) | 28-10 | 7:54 | 3Q |
| Air Force - Wood 2 run (Lawson kick) | 28-17 | 1:15 | 3Q |
| Air Force - Wood 2 run (Covington pass from Worden) | 28-25 | 10:34 | 4Q |
| Air Force - Koleski runs out of back of end zone (safety) | 28-27 | 4:11 | 4Q |
Attendance: 38,354 Time: 2:54
Weather (75˚): partly cloudy skies, 17 mph winds from the south
| COLORADO | AIR FORCE | |
| First Downs | 15 | 16 |
| Third Down Efficiency (Fourth) | 10-19 (0-1) | 5-15 (1-1) |
| Rushes—Net Yards | 57-283 | 33-52 |
| Passing Yards | 79 | 270 |
| Passes (Att-Comp-Int) | 16-8-1 | 37-20-3 |
| Total Offense | 362 | 322 |
| Return Yards | 51 | 9 |
| Punts: No-Average | 8-38.5 | 6-37.0 |
| Fumbles: No-Lost | 4-1 | 2-1 |
| Penalties/Yards | 13/95 | 3/15 |
| Quarterback Sacks—Yards | 5-52 | 5-39 |
| Time of Possession | 32:37 | 27:23 |
| Red Zone: Scores-Attempts (Points) | 1-1 (7) | 3-3 (21) |
Rushing—Colorado: Waddy 21-171, Williams 16-79, Perry 11-38, Logan 2-6, Campbell 1-4, Crutchmer 4-minus 3, Koleski 2-minus 12. Air Force: HMilodragovich 6-33,
Reiner 9-18, Wood 5-17, Monahan 1-1, Vaughn 5-minus 2, Worden 7-minus 15.
Passing—Colorado: Williams 14-7-1, 70, 0 td; Crutchmer 2-1-0, 9, 0 td. Air Force: Worden 29-15-3, 205, 0 td; Vaughn 8-5-0, 65, 1 td.
Receiving—Colorado: Ferguson 5-47, Logan 2-21, Hasselbeck 1-11. Air Force: Reiner 4-48, Milodragovich 4-31, Bready 3-73, Adams 2-47, Farr 2-31, Covington 2-14,
Frozena 1-14, Monahan 1-6, Wood 1-6.
Punting—Colorado: Koleski 8-38.5 (70 long). Air Force: Lange 2-58.0 (66 long), Lawson 4-26.5 (38 long).
Punt Returns—Colorado: Logan 1-25. Air Force: Mark 2-9. Kickoff Returns—Colorado: none. Air Force: Adams 1-23, Bready 1-7.
Tackle Leaders—Colorado: Geiser 7,4---11; Tesone 5,6—11; Shoen 5,5—10; Hunt 5,2—7; Westbrooks 5,2—7; Archer 4,2—6; Likovich 4,2—6. Air Force: Kenny 13,6—19;
Young 7,6—13; Mark 7,4—11; Wild 4,6—10; Potter 6,3—9; Buron 4,5—9.
Quarterback Sacks—Colorado: Likovich 2-23, Griffin 1-11, Geiser 1-10, Archer 1-8. Air Force: N/A.
Interceptions—Colorado: Hilton 2-44, Geiser 1-5. Air Force: Wild 1-0. Passes Broken Up—Colorado: Tesone 2, Martinez, Shoen. Air Force: Carney, Young.
Colorado improved to 2-2 with the win in Bill Mallory's first season as head coach, but eventually finished the season with a 5-6 record after posting a 3-4 mark in Big 8 play (fifth place). CU did upend No. 18 Oklahoma State on the road (37-20) in its next to last game of the season ... Seven seniors off that CU team were drafted into the NFL, including DB Rod Perry (fourth round by the Los Angeles Rams), who would go on to enjoy a 10-year pro career (highlighted by 30 interceptions). Sophomore Billy Waddy rushed for 765 yards on the season, giving him 1,316 for his first two seasons, at the time the most by a Buff prior to his junior season, as he played as a true freshman in 1973, just one year after the NCAA allowed freshmen to again play ... David Williams led the team in passing with 899 yards, while Dave Logan was the leading receiver (21 catches for 273 yards) and Ed Shoen the top tackler (77).
Air Force dropped to 1-3 on the season, suffered the third of what would be four straight losses by a touchdown or less on its way to a 2-9 record; the Falcons, coached by the legendary Ben Martin, were an independent that season, and had seven of those losses by a combined 22 points.
