My favorite story about prayer in sport concerns a boxing match. A young parishioner invited his priest to go with him to the fights and was impressed when one of the boxers knelt, prayed, and made the sign of the cross prior to the match. "Will that help him Father?" asked the young fan.

"Yes, my son, it will help him a great deal…if he is a good fighter." The wise old priest had been in the ring before.

Ask any real student of college football to name the 10 most respected active coaches and Tyrone Willingham and Fisher DeBerry will appear on every list. Fisher prays a lot. I have not asked Tyrone about the subject, but I assure you the Notre Dame faithful do their share. Whose pleas will the Almighty honor this week? The better fighter will win this slugfest, and it will be a humdinger.

Game Plan: No. 7 Notre Dame

Offense: Drives must be sustained by blocking the "edge" players consistently. Blitz-pickup discipline is paramount. AFA relies on creating confusion. Each possession is precious. You may get only 10 or 11. Defense: Adjust to the speed of the game immediately or the score will be 14-0 before you know it. Use your hands to take on the cut blocks, and stay on your feet! Courtney Watson and Gerome Sapp, your leadership will be paramount. Special Teams: The kick protection will be severely tested. Discipline! You have an advantage in net punt. Field position football will be required. Kicker Nick Setta, you need a return to your accuracy of a year ago. Players: Scout teams, you have your most important job this week! Find a way to win. That is the hallmark of this team. This is an intimidating environment. Keep your focus. Coaches: Rest your units early where possible. Altitude will make a difference, and it will vary from player to player. If you get up early, remind your players that these guys will never quit and never let up. The "Tyrone Willingham Magic" will be required again!

When I think of Willingham's teams, I recall Stanford linebacker Coy Wire's comments prior to the 2001 season. "We have the best coach in the country," said Wire. This from a young man who had been Stanford's leading rusher in 1998 and became the team's top tackler in 2000. Most of those guys spend their time grousing about what it was like back when they scored touchdowns. Wire had more important things on his mind.

I interviewed Coy prior to the Seattle Bowl last year, and asked him about his remark. "Yes, I said that and it is the truth," stated the emphatic linebacker. "(Willingham) is a great coach, but he is more concerned about us as men than he is winning football games. He personally takes us through preparation for life after football and keeps us on track by constantly reminding us. We want to win for him."

In case you have wondered how this quiet, balanced man has gotten the Notre Dame players to respond to him with such fervor, now you know one of the reasons. Modern athletes at institutions like Stanford and Notre Dame understand honor and perspective, and respond with passion to people who have the ability and inclination to teach them.

Fisher DeBerry has become a future Hall of Fame coach in his 19 years at Air Force. He is currently third among active coaches in years of service at one institution, trailing only Joe Paterno's 37 years at Penn State and Bobby Bowden's 27 years at Florida State.

DeBerry has demonstrated that one can win consistently (146-78-1) at a service academy in the modern era. He does it with gritty, relentless players who attack with abandon. They come at you every play, all day, like their lives depend on it. They make you play the same way or they will bowl you over with their intensity and shoulder pads. If Air Force has an off year, the Falcons follow it with an excellent year. If you embarrass them, they get even. Ask BYU, which routed AFA 63-33 last season but got beat 52-9 last week in Colorado Springs. The Falcons are formidable opponents in every sense of the word.

This game could be one for the ages. It will feature two confident, determined teams that have taken entirely different paths to identical 6-0 records. They are "tournament tough" from close calls, comebacks, and serious scrutiny.

Notre Dame's incredible store of communal energy has been revived by Willingham and his band of opportunistic players. The Irish play field position offense, and while the numbers are poor at 293 yards per game (113th nationally), the plan is intact and the complicated West Coast offense is being continually taught by offensive coordinator Bill Dietrick. "We are close to becoming a complete offense," says Dietrick, "but we must eliminate the little errors that kill drives."

When studying the statistical fine print, one number jumps out: a zero percent conversion rate on fourth down for the Notre Dame offense. The reason is that the team has not attempted a fourth down conversion. That is smart. Take no chances, punt the ball, and send that great defense back on the field. Meanwhile, Dietrick patiently teaches, knowing the execution will kick in at some point.

Game Plan: No. 15 Air Force

Offense: Drive through your blocks. These are better athletes than you have seen. Chance Harridge, make these linebackers miss. You won't run over them in your usual style! Be bold in play-calling. Go for big plays early. Defense: This offense is very disciplined. Stay in your gap. Keep the pads down. The ND linemen are big and experienced. Arnaz Battle can dominate. Double, combo, and bracket him in possession situations. Special Teams: Net punt must improve in this game. Keep them bottled up. Make two big plays. Find an onside kick or block a kick. Vontez Duff must be contained. Keep lane integrity! Players: You are a "leadership" team. Captains maintain discipline on and off the field. Play to your atmosphere. It is a big advantage if you can do so while staying poised. This is Notre Dame and both teams are undefeated. Opportunity of a lifetime! Coaches: The "Fisher DeBerry Magic" will be required! Their offense is careful and patient. Force turnovers with the second man in. When considering trickery, err toward field position unless you are sure you can make it work.

Air Force defensive coordinator Richard Bell has been coaching so long that he was my linebacker coach at Georgia Tech in 1964. He is a marvelous man and a wizard at altering schemes to fit offensive trends. This defense has drastically improved over last year with a blitzing, stunting package that confuses blocking schemes and compensates for the obvious lack of size, and it ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense at 16.2 points per game.

The Falcons hope to confuse Notre Dame's blocking schemes, get in the gaps, and cause lost yardage plays. Notre Dame cannot afford to be in many third and long situations Saturday night.

The Notre Dame defense has also been dominant. It is 17th in the nation in total defense at 295 yards per game and third in scoring defense at 11.7 points per game, but the key to stopping the Falcons will depend on two extremely difficult variables.

First, the triple option is so complex, so fast and so well executed by Air Force quarterback Chance Harridge that the Notre Dame scout team will not be able to approximate the speed of the game nor the quality of execution. Imagine being a scout teamer trying to execute a sophisticated system at warp speed with only a few minutes to rehearse. It is not possible.

The early part of the game will be telling, as the talented Irish defenders try to grow accustomed to a new definition of speed and deception from the triple option ball handling of Harridge. Defensive coordinator Kent Baer must find a decent unit that can approximate the skill of the Air Force players and force them to go all out all week in team period. Local product Matt Krueger has done a good job of simulating Harridge, and he will have played a crucial role in the preparation process.

The second demand on the defense will be to deal with an abundance of "cut" blocking, meaning blocking directed at the knees and intended to knock people down. It is almost impossible to practice defending against it without risking injury. Air Force offensive coordinator Chuck Petersen and his staff do a fine job of teaching the technique, and it is a fundamental equalizer in the size differential between the two teams.

Hidden yardage would favor Notre Dame except kicker Nick Setta has only made three of his last 10 kicks. Net punting favors the Irish, who are almost five yards per kick better, and kickoff returns are better executed by Notre Dame as well. Each team is plus-10 in the all important turnover margin. What must be remembered is that Air Force is one of the top two kick-blocking teams of the last decade. Only Virginia Tech has blocked more kicks (80) than Air Force (78) since 1990.

Third-down conversions will hinge on the battle between the excellent Notre Dame defense, which is holding opponents to a 26 percent conversion rate, and an Air Force offense that converts at 54 percent. Pay close attention to which team keeps its offense on the field and you will have a good indication of who might take the game over in the fourth quarter. Because of the altitude, it will be crucial to both teams to get their defenses off the field.

The game within the game is going to involve oxygen debt. I played several games in Denver as an NFL player and could hardly breathe at times. Resting the Notre Dame players, especially early, will enable them to have their legs in the fourth quarter. Willingham's personal philosophy took a clever turn on this one. "Since we cannot do anything about the altitude, I told the men that since we have been working at sea level, we will run faster in the thin air."

Typical Tyrone and a positive response to get into their heads.

ESPN college football analyst Bill Curry coached for 17 years in the college ranks. His Game Plans for marquee matchups appear each week during the college football season.