AFA Sports   Air Force Academy sports

Here’s a link to the online chat, which goes live at noon Mountain.

This week, Frank Schwab will talk AFA football, notably upcoming opponent TCU, and CC hockey writer Joe Paisley will talk college hockey, including the future CC captains practices. AFA hockey and other topics are welcome, of course.

Thanks for such a good response last week with the first of the weekly noon Wednesday chats for Gazette sports. Another is planned for this Wednesday at noon Mountain and we hope you’ll join us.

We’ll post a link to the online chat when it becomes available.

This week, Frank Schwab will talk AFA football, notably upcoming opponent TCU, and CC hockey writer Joe Paisley will talk college hockey, including the future CC captains practices. Other topics are welcome, of course.

Air Force football has added Michigan to its schedule.

Air Force hockey readies for a home series against Canisius. Here are 3 Things to Watch tonight.

Former Air Force men’s basketball coach Joe Scott, now at Denver, is familiar with jump-starting a program at a school where another sport is king, according to cbssports.com.

This is the 12th and final installment of my offseason “First Look” series, in which I take a quick peek at each of the Air Force football team’s 2010 opponents. Today, we’ll take a look at the team the Falcons meet in their regular season finale – UNLV.

But if you missed any of the first 11 installments, here are links to them: Northwestern State, BYU, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Navy, Colorado State, San Diego State, TCU, Utah, Army and New Mexico.

UNLV
Coach: Bobby Hauck
2009 Record: 5-7 (3-5, 6th place in the Mountain West Conference)
2009 vs. AF: Air Force 45, UNLV 17
2009 in a Sentence: The Rebels started out 2-1, with the loss coming by two points to Oregon State, but they dropped six of their next eight to fall out of contention for a bowl, which led to the firing of head coach Mike Sanford.
Off/Def Starters Back: 8/7
Roster Report: UNLV should have some firepower on offense with the return of several key skill position players and a solid offensive line.

But offense hasn’t been the Rebels’ problem in recent seasons.

In 2009, the Rebels ranked 115th out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision squads in total defense, allowing 456.2 yards per game, including 220.6 rushing yards per game (tied for 112th in the country). They also gave up 32.4 points per game (103rd nationally).

First-year coach Hauck said at the MWC media days that the Rebels’ defense needs to become more technically sound and eliminate errors.

“We need to have our defensive plays where people are making mistakes decrease,” he said. “If you have guys in the wrong gaps or guys blowing coverages, it doesn’t take many plays before the game gets away from you.”

Offensively, the Rebels return a pair of experienced quarterbacks.

Senior Omar Clayton has started 23 games for the Rebels and ranks sixth in school history with 4,742 passing yards. Also back is junior Mike Clausen, who played in every game last season. They’ll have one of the league’s best receivers in junior Phillip Payne, who was a preseason All-MWC selection after catching 58 passes for 661 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns in 2009.

Up front, the Rebels return four starters, including center John Gianninoto and tackles Matt Murphy and Evan Marchal.

Hauck wants to get away from the wide-open spread attack employed by Sanford and go with one built around a physical running game. But that’s a change that will happen over time.

“It would be crazy for us to not have some spread concepts in our offense because we’ve got spread personnel,” Hauck said.

Fast Fact: Hauck went 80-17 in seven seasons at Montana.

But he has a huge challenge in front of him in Vegas.

Since going 8-5 in 2000, UNLV has not had a winning record.

The records the Rebels have posted since then, starting in 2001: 4-7, 5-7, 6-6, 2-9, 2-9, 2-10, 2-10, 5-7, 5-7.

What Caught My Eye: The Rebels’ schedule. In addition to their MWC slate, they play Idaho, West Virginia and Hawai’i on the road and open at home against Wisconsin. In all, the Rebels face nine teams that appeared in bowl games last season.

No wonder MWC commissioner Craig Thompson believes UNLV “over-scheduled.”

Jake’s Way Too Early Line vs. Air Force: Air Force, minus-13.5. The regular season finale is Air Force’s lone game that won’t be played on a Saturday. So after 11 straight games, the Falcons will have to adjust to a short week of practice and a quick turnaround. But while crazy things tend to happen in Las Vegas, the Falcons still appear to be a safe bet here.

Final Thought: Yes, the Mike Sanford Era has ended. But we’ll always have this moment.

Some more news from the Mountain West Conference Media Days in Las Vegas …

I wrote about commissioner Craig Thompson’s State of the Conference address, which touched on Utah leaving and Boise State joining the league, the quest for automatic-qualifying BCS status and television.

Frank wrote about how senior cornerback Reggie Rembert’s goal for the Falcons is a league title.

And David Ramsey wrote a great column about former Falcon great Chad Hall, who is trying to earn a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Finally, make sure you start following Frank on Twitter (twitter.com/gazetteairforce). He talked to the representatives of bowls with MWC ties out here in Vegas and recently did some tweets about possible destinations for Air Force and how the Independence Bowl likes the Falcons.

Good morning from Las Vegas. New day, new hope. Not that we need hope because we took a beating in craps last night or anything.

Wait, was that out loud?

Anyway, we’ll be providing more coverage from the Mountain West Conference Media Days in Las Vegas. Frank will be tweeting (@GazetteAirForce) and we’ll both be blogging. MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson will be giving his annual State of the Conference address shortly. And student-athletes from all nine league schools will be available for interviews.

I wrote yesterday about how Air Force coach Troy Calhoun believes the league will be better than ever, in part because of all the talented, experienced quarterbacks returning.

Frank wrote a notebook about several subjects, including some news about the Falcons’ linebackers, Air Force’s spot in the media poll and the three players who made the preseason all-conference squad.

Representatives of the Utah football program are making what will be their last appearance at the Mountain West Conference football media days.

Next year, Utah will leave the league and join the Pac-10. It was an obvious topic of discussion Tuesday at the league’s media days at Red Rock Resort. Coach Kyle Whittingham said the Utes couldn’t dwell on the conference switch but couldn’t ignore it either.

“Our focus right now is right here,” he said. “But it’s looming and you’ve got to prepare for it, starting with recruiting. This class we’re signing right now, we’re getting commitments from right now, is the class that’s going to be competing in that league. So you’ve got to address it. You can’t just completely shut it out.”

San Diego State coach Brady Hoke mentioned the July 1 death of legendary coach Don Coryell during his remarks on Tuesday.

The man whose “Air Coryell” offenses were instrumental in the development of the modern passing game coached at San Diego State from 1961 to 1972, going 104-19-2 in that time.

“The legacy that coach Coryell had at San Diego State – and still has, obviously – is something that as a football program we’re going to be very, very accountable to,” Hoke said. “It was a big loss for the Aztec community.”

TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, the 2009 Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, was selected by the media as the 2010 Preseason MWC Offensive Player of the Year.

To which some Air Force fans might say, “That guy’s still at TCU?”

Yep. When Air Force plays TCU this fall, the Falcons will face Dalton for the fourth time.

And he’s a far different player than he was in his first clash with Air Force in 2007 – when he threw a critical interception late. Dalton said all his experience has made him better and more mature.

“I’ve played in a lot of games – I’ve seen it all, basically,” Dalton said. “I’ve played in big games, I’ve played in front of big crowds.

Dalton said he’s taken on more of a leadership role as he’s gotten older.

“It’s hard to come in as a freshman and play early and be in the huddle with guys that have played for three or four years and get their respect,” Dalton said. “I definitely tried at that point, but now that I’ll be a four-year starter, I’m more demanding things than telling them.”

San Diego State senior receiver Vincent Brown said Tuesday he has no lingering effects from the thumb injury that sidelined him for the second half of last season.

“I’m back, 100 percent, ready to go,” Brown said.

Brown, who was named to the preseason All-Mountain West Conference team, grabbed 45 passes for 778 yards and six touchdowns in the first half of last season.

A healthy Brown should be part of one of the league’s top passing units. He’ll be joined by receiver DeMarco Sampson (who caught 62 passes for 851 yards and eight touchdowns last season), tight end Alston Umuolo (also a preseason All-MWC selection) and quarterback Ryan Lindley (3,054 passing yards, 23 touchdown passes last season).

Brown had to sit and watch the Aztecs collapse late last season. They split their first eight games and, at 4-4, were in position to reach a bowl game. Instead, they lost their last four games of the season.

“The way we finished last year was unacceptable,” San Diego State coach Brady Hoke said.