Was this the worst performance of the Troy Calhoun era?
(I’d say yes.)
Army played a superb game, but Falcons looked confused.
57 comments on “What was wrong with the Falcons today?”
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I have been with the The Gazette since 2006 and began covering Air Force athletics in the fall of 2012. While with The Gazette I've jumped from layout & design to covering the Sky Sox to spending several years overseeing our high school sports coverage. I've written for newspapers at the University of Kansas, St. Joseph, Mo., and Maui. (By the way, one of those things is not like the other) At home, my wife, Jennifer, and I have three young daughters, ranging in age from 3 1/2 to 8 months. As you might imagine, sleep is scarce, so please forgive a typo or two. Follow me on twitter @BrentBriggeman
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Nothing is wrong, we’ve been saying all along that the Mountain West is weak. This is just more proof.
Totally unacceptable performance against Army, period. Very disappointing.
Crazy year.
Army is AWFUL, but Air Force is down this season. The Navy-Army game will actually mean something this year. I see a changing of the guard, Air Force is now #3. Luckily Mtn West Conference is awful as well.
The Hawaii game is going to make the Nevada crowd look big. It will just be the cadets…because they are required to attend. I myself will be at the CC-DU hockey game…yeah, same night.
blue fan
good for you
that is where you need to be
Joe C
good place for you too
maybe you will catch a puck!
Let’s be honest, this is not a “today problem”, it’s a season-long problem. While the offense didn’t show up today, the defense generally hasn’t shown up all year long. I’m not convinced that Charlton Warren is the right solution at Defensive Coordinator. While service academy games are always tough, our defense has simply not gotten the job done this season. Injuries haven’t helped, but that’s a problem every team faces, year in and year out. Obviously only my opinion, but I’m thinking consideration should be given to moving in a different direction at the DC position after the season ends. Congrats to Army for playing a great game. Now go beat Navy!
Are Colorado College vs. Denver tickets still available? I’m there!
shows just how bad the mountain west is. Disappointing. No fun to watch.
And by the way – I’ll be at the CC vs DU game as well – Go Tigers!
Who wouldn’t want to be at the CC-DU game at the World Arena on Friday, Nov. 16 over the AF-Hawaii game?
Go CC Beat DU and Go Army Beat Navy!
We can still win the Mountain West! Unbelievable, but true.
And if you live in Colorado Springs, the CC-DU hockey games are as big as AF-Navy and AF-Army. I hope the Tigers have better luck.
I don’t blame folks for going to the CC vs DU game over the AF vs Hawaii game
At least we’re not CU Buff fans – ouch
Bad bad loss today, we should never ever lose to Army.
Bad loss. Our defense is awful.
I was at the game and in a great position to see Dietz score on the second drive. From my vantage point the ball was in the end zone on a good second effort with a pile of bodies blocking the goal line judge’s view. I really couldn’t understand the no touchdown call. I don’t know if this had an effect on Falcon momentum and spirit, but all went downhill from there. They never recovered from that call while Army was playing like gangbusters. Army did play a great game on both sides of the ball, but I would also question how the defensive signal caller couldn’t see Steelman carrying on almost all critical downs. It was so obvious that Steelman would get the call and I couldn’t understand why the defensive linemen were never in position to attack him straight on as they did Fajardo in the Nevada game. Steelman had no problem picking up yardage downhill or over tackle where a defensive lineman should have been positioned. In fairness to Army I was impressed at their new level of play. They did an outstanding job and I congratulate them on their performance. Navy will have their hands full if they come as well prepared as they were today. There was much joy at Michie only it wasn’t the kind I was expecting.
Army looked good against Air Force…that tells you something
It tells you they are a lot better than their record.
Air Force lost the battle up front on BOTH sides of the line today. Army was just plain tougher as a team than the Falcons. We got “out toughed” by BOTH Army and Navy this year. That’s what is most disturbing to me about today’s loss.
The inconsistency of this battered team from week to week is troublesome.
Congrats to Army on this day. They were the better team on the field. But Air Force also got out coached today as well.
Keep telling yourself that Viper. I’m glad hockey season has started.
Army lost to Stony Brook and 5 MAC teams
CC just swept the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend!
And did you know CC beat AF 6-2 a couple weeks ago
Tigers rule Colorado Springs!
Probably not the worse loss during the past five years – and who knows, maybe not the worse loss of the season; but Air force was uncharacteristically not ready for this one today.
Total team loss…again calling out one side or the other is dumb….no team in the country wins games when u turn the ball over 5 times and we only rush for 100 yards…our lack of talent shows up in games like this….how many times did we see guys in position to make a block or a tackle and we physical cld not do it…the coaches put them in position but they can’t play for them….lets hope we can rebound and get to a bowl game…..injuries, suspended players and not much talent…what does everyone expect from this team? Our team plays awful not bc the coaches are bad but because we have zero to no talent at most of our positions….we are seriously playing with third team players as starters, especially on defense….lets hope for a bowl game!
Forget it. Shit happens. CIC was gone anyway. Army was going to win at some point over AFA. D and O lines seemed to be beaten. Missed tackles, missed tackles, missed tackles!
Reality:
Win 2 of next 3 and same record as 2011!
Must win at home over poor Hawaii, who has coaches who never have seen AFA O.
Same problem as Nevada staff. AFA 2-1 in time of p over Nevada and the opposite at West Point. Our D plays best on the bench. Our O needs to keep them there.
We must pray to spilt road games vs.experienced staffs against our O, namely
Rocky Long and ex AFA DC. Both teams are winning- SDSU beat Boise State-and at home.
AFA needs to practice tackling all the next three weeks. Wrap, wrap, wrap.
With a little good fortune, AFA win be 6-6 and Bowl bound to N.M.Bowl, allowing staff to jump start practice for 2013 squad.
Burn Army tape!
Another point. We were out coached. We were not prepared or focused just like the Navy game. 7 turnovers in those 2. And how can our defense possibly get worse? Since DeRuyter left, it has been downhill and yesterday, it hit bottom. Calhoun needs to step up and make changes. One season like this and we start losing the academy recruiting battle. This program has shown too much potential to start tanking now.
Pathetic showing yesterday…IMO, an absolutely inexcusable performance against a bad team.
BTW, college coaching includes recruiting. Thus players, after 7 years, are coaches’ players! Good point on Academy football recruiting. All seek same players, as do Ivies, Stanford( former HC said only 170 kids in nation could play/get into and stay at Stanford), Vandy, and a few others. Navy and Ga. Tech compete for some same players.
All hail to Army players!
Win may have saved Army staff. Navy win(again, Army must win sometime) will likely save current Army staff. Another Army – Navy loss by Army seemingly will close out 2012 staff.
Army senior QB, who did not play last year, was very good. Give him much credit.
Army O line is very quick.
Great win for the Black Knights. Don’t waste it. Beat Navy.
Sun came up this morning.
Time to move on.
Every week is going to be a tough week for AF.
Nothing easy.
The defensive line play has to be better –have to have more athletic play there- more sure tacklers and players that can fight off blocks and get to ball carrier
Army and Navy play “tougher” than Air Force. AFA has too much “flash”. The wrist bands, post play dances, black uniforms, superficial nonsense.
Get back to no nonsense smash mouth foortball Falcons. If you do,the trophy will follow.
Calhoun has to emphasize Navy and Army more. Right now he downplays these games as “just another game on the schedule”. Wrong!!!!!! Army played with emotion yesterday. Air Force did not.
Final score from last night in a game played at Boise State:
San Diego State–21
Boise State –19
San Diego State and Fresno State are each 5-1 in MWC play, but Fresno beat the Aztecs, 52-40, earlier this season.
Falcons go to San Diego next week. In Troy Calhoun’s tenure as head coach AFA is 3-2 versus the Aztecs, however, San Diego State has won the past two games against Air Force.
I agree with The Bird.
The good news, beat SDSU and we can actually win/tie for Mountain West title. Now I don’t believe we can beat both SDSU and Fresno, especially the way we played against Army and UNLV, many remember we were lucky to even beat New Mexico. The Mountain West is down this season, but I guess so are we.
And Go CC Tigers beat DU! I’ll be there! Those 2 wins over the Wisconsin Badgers were sweet
AF D lineman look glued to O linemen they’ve played. Good technique gets’em off blocks even when over matched physically. Better blitz packages help, but what really helps is experience, physicality, and toughness. Even 2 out of three ain’t bad.
Early in TC’s tenure there was a mental toughness to the teams that seems to be lacking the past two years. Yes, injuries to the D contributed significantly to our problems last year, but mental lapses and attention to detail (holding onto the ball, tackling) seem to be getting worse. We showed some mental toughness vs Wyo and UNM, and had an awesome game against Nevada. I just can’t understand what happened between Michigan (which we should have won, leaving 13 pts on the field) and Army.
Army had one last chance to salvage their season, and their coaches Careers. They were HUNGRY. AFA? The CiC is already gone, and whats the difference between going to a Bowl as a 6-6 team, or a 7-5 team? Also, I found West Point a very tough place to play at when the Corps is fired up.
Falons didn’t adjust to Army’s gameplan or physical presence. Didn’t look ready to play, and certainly not flexible enough to win against a better prepared Army team.
Going to a bowl is a big thing. It had never been done by a service academy for 5 years in a row, this would make 6.
didnt Navy go to bowl games for 8 years in a row?
Not sure, you may be right. Either way going to a bowl is big for our kids.
I was at the game. While my son attends West Point I graduated from AFA. The loss does not bother me as much in the way it happend. AF simply was outdone in every area. The players were beaten physically and mentally. The coaching staff did not have any answers. It was as if AF did not prepare all week assuming they would win or could adjust to anything they encountered at Army. Frankly Army played like the team with the winning record and AF played like a one win team. Army simply wanted to win more than AF. While I think Calhoun is a good coach his overall record in service academy games (7-5) is not stellar. I am hopeful it will get better.
AF played this game the way it has played almost every other critical game in the last several years–flat, with poor execution/concentration. Without a total Army collapse, AF wouldn’t have won last year, either. Trends.
Anything can happen (we lost to San Jose State at home!), but SDSU beat Army early in the season (42-7), and are getting better as the year progresses (five straight wins, including road games @ Nevada and Boise)…you’ll need to come prepared to play hard! See you next week.
Although Coach Calhoun claims to downplay the interservice rivalry games, he is a Grad and as such, knows that isn’t true. Cadets are already counting down the days until we next beat Army and Navy. Losing 10 games while capturing the CinC Trophy is a good year. Winning 11 games including a bowl game is meaningless if we lose to Army and Navy. In war, there is no second place. Third place is inexcusable.
Losing 10 games but beating Army and Navy is NOT a good year, except maybe to a very small number of fans. The good news is that 9-4 is still possible. A bowl game is possible, and I’ll be there. A bowl is very important because it brings another month of practice and extends the season for Academy seniors. Otherwise, the uniforms come off for the last time in November. For the players who have given up their precious free time for four years to represent the Academy on the gridiron, a bowl game is a wonderful reward. With five impact players suspended before the season, down to our third starting center, etc., this team has actually played well, overall. Win the next three, Falcons, and I’ll see you at the bowl!
Right on RickB. That is the way I see the season so far and situation going forward as well.
Just to add on to what RickB says, bowl games are also critically important to recruiting at a service academy. It may not be the biggest bowl in the country, but getting to one garners more TV exposure and the attention of potential recruits. Don’t underestimate the importance of even a minor bowl game.
I agree wrt a bowl game being important from the standpoint of a program being able to say they qual’d for a bowl game, a team is able to ‘practice’ more in being able to get some young guys add’l snaps, and a nice reward for the kids. However, as we all know – bowl games, other than the ‘big games’ – don’t really mean a lot anymore. Teams (UCLA last year) are even getting in with a losing record. I’m not sure you can measure ‘success’ anymore by stating you went to a bowl game. Of course, would rather go to a bowl game than not any year.
RickB: you made the most intelligent comment in this entire blog. As much as I admire Connor Dietz, Alex Means, Wes Cobb, et al, the plain truth is there is not as much talent on this team as in year’s past. Graduation, injuries, and the oft-discussed dismissal, before the season even started, of 5 returning players, perhaps all potential starters, has decimated this team’s depth…but I disagree with all who question their heart. Face it: this is not Alabama, or Notre Dame, where when a player goes down there is ANOTHER blue-chip athlete standing by to fill in. Depth will always be an issue at any service academy.
I said before the season started that this would be Troy Calhoun’s biggest challenge in his AFA tenure, and I was right, but TC is still an outstanding coach and I hope he stays a long time. If the Falcons make a bowl game, I’ll be there, as I have for 4 of the past 5 (missed last year’s game).
Congrats to Army for playing their best game of the year…now, beat Navy!
One question: why are we, once again, being subjected to CC hockey fans invading a blog about AF football? Is it, once again, to point out they have BEER at their games? Of course, I forget you have to get a buzz on to watch CC hockey.
And just for the record, yes, I’ll be there vs. Hawaii even if I’m the only one in the stands….I’ll take cadets playing their last game for AF any day over watching one group of Canadian mercenaries playing another group of Canadian mercenaries.
As a longtime AFA football fan I place some credence in the idea that on a yearly basis AFA’s defense is helped in large measure by an offense which stays on the field for large periods of time thereby keeping the team’s defense off the field.
Here are a few statistical data excerpted from the boxscore of the game between UNLV and New Mexico. Since Air Force has played both teams this season I’m confident AFA fans are familiar with the quality of athletes populating the rosters of the Lobos and Rebels.
These data show that sometimes the defense must help the offense and not vice versa. This season AFA’s defense has provided the team’s offense precious little assistance.
New Mexico ran the ball 65 times for 307 yards.UNLV ran the ball 24 times for 241 yards.
New Mexico passed for 43 yards. UNLV passed for 289 yards.
New Mexico completed 3 of 6 passes with 1 interception. UNLV completed 17 of 27 passes with 1 interception.
New Mexico initiated 71 offensive plays. UNLV initiated 51 offensive plays.
New Mexico gained 350 yards on offense. UNKV gained 530 on offense.
New Mexico did not lose a fumble. UNLV lost 1 fumble.
And now the AMAZING stat: New Mexico had the ball for 41:02. UNLV had the ball for 18:53.
UNLV won the game 35-7.
New Mexico ran more plays, enjoyed more than a 2 to 1 advantage in time of possession and LOST by 28 points. Make no mistake about it this game was won by UNLV’s defense which spent over 41 minutes on the field. I’d like to see AFA’s defense play in such a manner that the Falcons’ offense didn’t feel it was carrying the pressure of having to win every game by itself. The athletes on UNLV’s defense aren’t markedly better than those playing for AFA, and yet, UNLV shut down a team against which Air Force struggled mightily. To a far greater extent AFA’s offense has done its job this season while the defense has not. That’s my $.02.
Fred Hastrom sez
that USAFA competes with the Ivy League for the 170 or so who can play at that level and still qualify for the school academically.
Nooz flash:
Academy football players don’t actually have to qualify academically. Does Stanford have a Prep School to teach Algebra to football players ?
to ennybuddy who has tickets but is skipping the Hawai’i game for CC hockey,
I’d luv to go.
Plz gimme UR tix.
Rick B
Nice post and agreed, I will be there as well.
I guess there is no other venue to post whoever cc hockey is but on this blog.
We lost a lot of starters from last year, 28 seniors graduated.
You don’t hear TC talking excuses either. Time to move on and do something unexpected.
If we had won the CIC again this year and lost some other games, all the naysayers would be saying that the CIC did not mean anything anyway.
GO AF!
Hats off to Army, but this is embarrassing for AF. There is a bigger variance in the willingness/ability to compete on any given Saturday with this AF than any other that I remember; if you’re good enough to nearly beat Michigan in The Big House and convincingly beat Nevada at home, then there’s no way you should lose to UNLV and Army: BE AS GOOD AS YOU ARE EVERY WEEK! The long season takes a larger toll on academy teams than any other (wear-and-tear from the complete – military, academic & athletic – challenge that is the AFA experience), but you can’t help but wonder how strong the leadership (players, not coaches) of this year’s team really is, given the inconsistencies that have occurred thus far. There’s still a lot to play for this year: they will share the MWC title if they win out, although no small order to win @ Fresno and @ San Diego St this week (although timing may be good – SD St huge win last week @ Boise, AF should come out whizzing fire after the debacle at Michie Stadium last week). Hopefully the puking’s done and all that’s left is a rally!
ACADEMY ON ACADEMY GAMES ARE ALWAYS EMOTIONAL AND YOU CAN NEVER LOOK AT RECORDS BECAUSE OF THIS . I WAS AT THE GAME AND DIETZ SCORED ON OUR SECOND O DRIVE, REFS MISSED AN EASY CALL. THAT WAS A 10 POINT SWING IN THE GAME AFTER ARMY GOT THEIR FG OFF THAT CALL. AFTER THAT 5 TURNOVERS SEALED OUR FATE. READING THE COMMENTS YOU WOULD THINK MICHIGAN LOST TO APPALACHIAN STATE ! TAKE JUST HALF OF OUR SEASONS TURNOVERS AWAY AND AF IS 8-1, NOT BAD FOR RETURNING THE FEWEST PREVIOUS YEAR STARTERS IN DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL!! GO AIR FORCE!!!
hey maybe if you take away all the turnovers and double the touchdowns then AF would be ranked ahead of Alabama in the polls! what a great plan!!
I will never give up on AF and if your a true fan, anyone else should not either.GO FALCONS………………
Brownshoe,
You ought to be on sportscenter.