Air Force

THE BLOG HAS MOVED!

2008-05-19T13:09:00.003-06:00

Hi,

The Gazette's Air Force Sports Blog has moved. It now can be found at http://gazetteafasports.freedomblogging.com/.

The new address is attached to the Gazette's web site, which is better because now the Powers That Be can keep track of how much traffic it gets.

Every post I've made to the blog - along with all the corresponding comments from readers - has been moved over to the new address. And, don't worry, the BlogDog will move along with the site.

So, once again, please bookmark this site: http://gazetteafasports.freedomblogging.com/. And visit often, as it is updated frequently (and, come August and the start of football, it will be updated almost daily).

Thanks,

Jake Schaller

First Look: Wyoming

2008-05-16T18:06:00.003-06:00

I started my blog’s “First Look” series last week with a quick peek at New Mexico (scroll down to take a look at the Lobos).

I’m going to do these periodically throughout the offseason because there never should be a time when we’re not talking football. (Note: If my father is reading this, I know that’s a double-negative, but I thought it was more fun to write than “we always should be talking football”).

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a look at the Cowboys:

2007 Record: 5-7, 2-6
Off/Def Starters Back: 8/7
Last Year vs. AF: Air Force 20, Wyoming 12
This Year vs. AF: Sept. 6 at Wyoming

Roster Report: The Cowboys bring back eight offensive starters from their 2007 squad, including running back Devin Moore (965 yards, five TDs). Backup running back Wynel Seldon (554 yards, eight TDs) also is back along with – get this – all five starting offensive linemen from 2007: Center Tim Bond (6-foot-4, 300 pounds), guards Russ Arnold (6-4, 290) and Sam Sterner (6-4, 297) and tackles Kyle Howard (6-7, 312) and Ryan Otterson (6-5, 289). Expect Wyoming to make more of a commitment to the run.

The defense will be tough up front as well with three starters back – tackle John Fletcher (6-6, 280), nose guard Fred Givens (6-0, 301) and end Mitch Unrein (6-4, 270). Also back is senior inside linebacker Ward Dobbs, who led Wyoming and ranked seventh in the Mountain West Conference in 2007 with 8.2 tackles per game.

The big question for the Cowboys is who will play quarterback. Last year’s starter, Karsten Sween, is back, but he struggled at times in 2007 and he did not lock down the starting role in spring practices. The Cowboys also are struggling to find a replacement for kicker/punter Billy Vinnedge.

Fast Fact: Wyoming, which lost 12 fumbles and threw 19 interceptions in 2007, ranked last in the MWC and 112th in the NCAA in turnover margin (minus-1.0 per game). The Cowboys committed five turnovers in last season’s loss to Air Force including a fumble that Bobby Giannini returned 85 yards for a game-changing touchdown. Wyoming has to improve in this area if it wants to compete for the MWC crown.

What Caught My Eye: This is Year Six of the Joe Glenn Era. And I think that ol’ Cowboy Joe officially has to be considered on the hot seat.

Since the 2004 season when Wyoming beat UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Cowboys have struggled, going 15-20, including 9-15 in the MWC. And two of the last three seasons have been marked by disastrous collapses. In 2005 the Cowboys started 4-1 before losing six straight. Wyoming started 4-1 last season as well, but then lost six of its final seven, including a 50-0 loss to Utah (which was accompanied by Middle-Finger-Gate – Glenn giving Kyle Whittingham a one-fingered salute after the Utes kicked an onsides kick with the game well in hand).

So, you combine all the returning talent with recent disappointment and I think it equals this: Glenn has to win now.

Final Thought: If Wyoming can sort out its quarterback situation, it could be a surprise team in the conference. But the Cowboys will be tested with games on the road against BYU, New Mexico, TCU and Tennessee.

Way Early Line vs. AF: Wyoming -6. The Cowboys get Air Force in Laramie in the second week of the season when Air Force’s neophyte team still will be getting its collective feet wet. This game will be a big-time tone-setter for both teams.

More on the Pro Policies

2008-05-16T08:31:00.003-06:00

I’ll be a talking about the service academies' pro policies, and specifically Army's Alternative Service Option, on TV tonight. I'll be a guest on College Sports Tonight, a program on CBS College Sports (formerly CSTV). The show will air at 5 (MT) and again at 9.

Tune in and watch why I write for a living instead of working for a TV network.

DeBerry Foundation 5K Run & Walk Saturday

2008-05-15T23:04:00.000-06:00

Don’t forget about a great event for a great cause this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon at 3, the Fisher DeBerry 5K Run and Walk will be held – rain or shine – at America the Beautiful Park. Coach DeBerry will be there along with special guest Rudy Ruettiger – the famous Notre Dame walk-on who inspired the movie Rudy. Coach DeBerry and Rudy will present medals to the top three finishers in each race and age category.

The registration fee for adults is $20 before 6 p.m. Friday and $25 the day of the race. The fee for children and students is $15 before 6 p.m. Friday and $20 the day of the race. Each participant will receive a t-shirt, and all registrants will be eligible to win raffle prizes and get free tickets to a Colorado Springs Sky Sox game. Food from Chick-fil-A will be provided.

The event benefits the Colorado Springs FCA, Santa’s Workshop and Young Lives.

Rabold Update/Pro Policy Update

2008-05-12T21:57:00.003-06:00

According to Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, outside linebacker John Rabold will try out with the Denver Broncos on Thursday.

Rabold won’t be participating in a mini-camp, like inside linebacker Drew Fowler did with the Detroit Lions and running back/receiver/returner Chad Hall did with the Atlanta Falcons. But it’s at least a chance to show what he can do. Calhoun said if Rabold impresses the Broncos, he could get invited to a camp.

Here’s a big problem for all Air Force players trying to catch on with NFL teams: With NFL Europe folding, the NFL now allows teams to have only 80 players on their rosters at the start of training camp. There are no additional exemptions. That cut out about eight players on each of the 30 teams and undoubtedly has made teams less likely to invite kids who will have to serve on active duty in the military for two years before getting a chance to play.

Speaking of that two-year policy …

David Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, has sent a letter to the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to clarify the Department of Defense policy regarding officers playing professional sports, Air Force Academy sports information director Troy Garnhart said.

The policy, issued last August and implemented on Jan. 1, 2008, states officers must serve two years of active duty before applying for excess leave or early release from active duty to pursue a professional sports career.

But while Air Force and Navy both are following that policy closely, Army players are able to go straight to the NFL as long as they earn a roster spot. Why? In 2005 the Army instituted what it calls its Alternative Service Option Program. It allows graduates who remain on rosters to play professionally and serve as part-time Army recruiters.

Army basically is saying that program overrules the DoD policy.

While I don’t know this for sure, I’m guessing Chu’s letter was sent to try to rein in Army – to encourage strongly that Army follow the DoD policy to the letter like Air Force and Navy.

Army’s policy came under scrutiny after Caleb Campbell, an Army defensive back, was selected in the seventh round of the recent NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. The selection brought tons of publicity to Campbell and Army. And not all of it was positive.

Folks at both Air Force and Navy think the rules should be the same for all three service academies. They think Army’s policy gives it a recruiting advantage over its service academy rivals. And many question how Army could justify it. The DoD policy, after all, is extremely clear: You must serve two years of active duty before you play pro ball. As Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk told The Annapolis Capital, “Army has redefined active duty to include playing professional sports.”

Whether Chu’s letter will cause the Army to alter its policy is uncertain. When I inquired about Army’s policy shortly after the draft, Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, a press officer for the department of defense, wrote me an e-mail that stated, in part, “it is up to the Military Departments to interpret and apply that policy.”

I guess Army could stick by its interpretation and contend playing professional sports while serving as a part-time recruiter constitutes active duty service.

But even if it does, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of the discussion on this policy.

AJC Hall Article

2008-05-12T21:02:00.003-06:00

Nice story on Chad Hall’s tryout with the Atlanta Falcons in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today.

Here’s the link.

First Look: New Mexico

2008-05-07T12:49:00.003-06:00

With spring football in the rearview mirror and the preseason still a few months away, I’m going to throw out some initial observations about Air Force’s 2008 opponents from time to time.

I’m going to go in no particular order and there won’t be a set schedule. I’ll just pass on some thoughts from talking to colleagues and reading stories from other media outlets.

I was a guest on The Mtn.’s Around The Mountain show this week, and one of the teams we discussed was New Mexico. So I’m starting with the Lobos.

NEW MEXICO
2007 Record: 9-4
Off/Def Starters Back: 6/6
Last Year vs. AF: New Mexico 34, Air Force 31
This Year vs. AF: Oct. 23 (Thursday) at Air Force

Roster Report: The Lobos lost a pair of first-team All-Mountain West Conference receivers to graduation – Marcus Smith and Travis Brown. They combined to catch 167 passes for 2,156 yards and 10 touchdowns. But the Lobos, while inexperienced overall, have starters back at key positions. Junior-to-be Donavan Porterie returns at quarterback after passing for 3,006 yards and 15 touchdowns last year; Senior-to-be Rodney Ferguson, coming off back-to-back first-team all-league and 1,000-yard campaigns, returns as running back; And the Lobos have both starting corners back from their 2007 squad.

Fast Fact: New Mexico has won at least six games in each of the last seven seasons and gone to five bowl games in that stretch. But it hasn’t finished better than second in conference play during that time, and last season’s nine victories were its most in one season since Rocky Long took over as head coach before the 1998 campaign.

What Caught My Eye: The Lobos’ schedule. Yikes. New Mexico has arguably the toughest slate of any Mountain West Conference team this season, especially early.

The Lobos are the only team in the conference without a bye week (Air Force had that distinction last season) and the only team other than UNLV that will not play a Division I-AA squad.

(Note: in this blog, I heretofore am refusing to use the term “Football Championship Subdivision” – the new moniker for Division I-AA. Every time I write “Football Championship Subdivision” in the paper I have to write “Football Championship Subdivision – formerly Division I-AA,” because most people don’t know what the heck the “Football Championship Subdivision” is. So consider this my protest to this stupid name change. Back to the Lobos’ schedule.)

The Lobos open with conference heavyweight TCU on Aug. 30, then check out their September: Home games against Texas A&M and Arizona, followed by road games at Tulsa (which went 10-4 and beat BYU last season) and at in-state rival New Mexico State.

Greg Archuleta, the Albuquerque Journal’s excellent New Mexico football beat writer called the Lobos’ nonconference slate “one of the toughest” in Long’s 11 seasons.

Final Thought: New Mexico probably can extend its streak of seasons with at least six wins, but it will be tough, considering the schedule.

Jake's Way Early Line vs. AF: New Mexico -2.5.

Broekhuis Picks AFA Prep

2008-05-05T10:28:00.003-06:00

Colorado Springs Christian School senior center Taylor Broekhuis, The Gazette’s 2007-08 Small Schools Boys Basketball Player of the Year, has committed to play at Air Force Academy’s prep school.

The 6-foot-9 Broekhuis averaged 17.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 4.9 blocks per game in leading the Lions to the 2008 3A state championship game. He chose the academy prep school over Colorado State, Denver and Northern Colorado.

“For me it was pretty much the fact that they had recruited me for a long time, almost a year and a half, and I felt really comfortable with the coaching staff,” said Broekhuis, who added that assistant Rob Pryor played a major role in his recruitment. “The facilities there are phenomenal, and it was kind of a gut feeling that I wanted to go there.”

Broekhuis said coaches projected him as a forward or post in the Air Force offense. He fits well in the offense because he is mobile and can handle the ball.

Broekhuis said the only reason he did not commit earlier was because he was wary of the military commitment at the academy.

“That’s what held up the decision for so long,” he said. “But I think I can handle it.”

Broekhuis said his grandfather was in the Air Force and “he was kind of pushing for Air Force the whole time.”

Fowler, Hall Invited to Camps

2008-05-02T14:17:00.002-06:00

Senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler and senior running back/receiver/returner Chad Hall have been invited to try out with NFL teams, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said Friday.

Fowler is in Detroit for a tryout with the Lions this weekend, while Hall will participate in a tryout with his hometown Atlanta Falcons next weekend. Neither player has signed a free agent contract. Both simply are trying out with those teams.

Fowler will take part in the Lions’ rookie camp. According to a story that appeared in The Grand Rapids Press earlier this week, the camp will include Detroit’s nine drafted rookies – including Army defensive back Caleb Campbell – along with “about 10 undrafted free agents and about 15 or 20 tryout players.”

The article went on to say that the the Lions' draft picks and their undrafted free agents “likely” would be back for training camp, but that the tryout players, like Fowler, “will have to show enough to earn an invitation back.”

More Congressional Bowl Thoughts

2008-05-01T10:44:00.002-06:00

On Wednesday, the NCAA licensed the Congressional Bowl, which, according to officials, wants to invite a service academy team every year – a rotation of Navy, Army and Air Force.

Navy is locked in for ’08 (if it wins six games and, thus, becomes bowl eligible), and Army has signed on for ’09.

Bowl officials want Air Force in ’10. Can it happen?

It will be complicated, as Air Force is affiliated with the Mountain West Conference, while Navy and Army are independent. But it's not out of the realm of possibility as long as the league athletic directors approve a plan.

As explained in the above linked article, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun likes the idea of securing direct tie-ins with bowl games like Navy has had in recent years (for instance with the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl and the 2008 Congressional Bowl).

Calhoun wants the academy to be aggressive in its pursuit of such partnerships because he thinks the opportunity to play in the postseason is an enormous benefit to the program. It provides additional practice days and creates publicity for and excitement within the program.

A bowl in D.C. is especially intriguing because of the amount of graduates living in the area, not to mention the proximity of several Air Force bases and the Pentagon.

Moreover, he worries that Air Force could be left out of the postseason even if it becomes bowl eligible. Remember, even as late as early November in 2007, when the Falcons were 6-3 and technically bowl eligible, there were worries that they wouldn’t make it to a postseason game.

BYU seemed all but locked into the Las Vegas Bowl (even if Air Force had tied the Cougars for the league title – still a possibility at that point – the widespread belief was that the LV Bowl would select BYU). The Poinsettia Bowl was out because Navy was well on its way to securing the aforementioned automatic bid and the bowl wouldn’t host a re-match (Navy and Air Force played earlier in the year). That left the New Mexico Bowl and the Armed Forces Bowl for what looked to be three bowl eligible teams – Air Force, New Mexico and TCU.

Well, everything worked out, as Air Force accepted a bid to the Armed Forces Bowl and TCU snuck into the Texas Bowl because the Big 12, with which the Texas Bowl had an affiliation, sent two teams to the BCS and thus did not have a bowl eligible team for the Texas Bowl.

But what if the Big 12 did have a team? Then one of the bowl eligible MWC teams would have been left out, as happened to Wyoming in 2006 – the Cowboys were bowl eligible at 6-6 and did not go bowling. In 2007 there were 32 bowl games for 71 bowl eligible teams.

Calhoun believes at least five of the MWC’s nine teams typically will become bowl eligible each year. And the MWC has just four bowl tie-ins. (They might have had five, but on Wednesday the proposed Rocky Mountain Bowl, which would have been held in Salt Lake City and pitted a MWC team against a team from the Western Athletic Conference, was denied a license). That makes a direct tie-in with the Congressional Bowl a good solution, he said.

“First and foremost, it’s another bowl opportunity,” Calhoun said. “We’re always going to have five (teams) eligible, some years six. So what (a partnership with the Congressional Bowl) does now is maybe it frees up a year where if a team is 6-6, they go to a bowl.”

Calhoun knows why the conference is hesitant: Let’s say Air Force makes a deal with the Congressional Bowl in 2010 that says if the Falcons are bowl eligible, they get an automatic bid to the bowl. What happens if the Falcons go 10-2 that year and win or tie for the conference title? The league would want them in one of its own bowl games.

But Calhoun is quick to remind folks that last year, though Air Force finished second in the league, it could not be chosen by the Poinsettia Bowl, which has second pick of MWC teams, because of the deal with Navy.

So what’s the solution? According to Javan Hedlund, the associate commissioner for communications at the MWC, a potential Air Force tie-in with the Congressional Bowl would have to be approved by all the conference ADs and the league’s bowl partners.

Here’s my plan: Let Air Force arrange its own tie-in with the Congressional Bowl every three years. It will stipulate that Air Force will go to the Congressional Bowl if it becomes bowl eligible unless A) the Falcons win the league title, in which case the Las Vegas Bowl can take them, or B) the Falcons are one of only four bowl-eligible MWC teams and they need to fill a spot in one of the MWC’s four bowls.

How does that not make sense for everyone? It gives the league a chance to keep the Falcons if they win the MWC championship and guarantees the league will fill its four bowl slots. But it also gives the Falcons a chance to play a game that embraces service academies (like the Armed Forces Bowl) in an area that has plenty of built-in graduates and fans.

Air Force was approached by the bowl game but referred the game to the MWC, as its first obligation is the league. But Calhoun’s right. This is a no-brainer.

The academy and the league need to make it happen.

Congressional Bowl Licensed

2008-04-30T15:47:00.002-06:00

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun wants the academy to pursue direct tie-ins with bowl games similar to what Navy had with the Poinsettia Bowl last year.

You become bowl eligible (by winning six or more games), you get an automatic invite to the bowl with which you have a direct tie-in.

There appears to be a perfect scenario for such a partnership in the Congressional Bowl, which was sanctioned by the NCAA on Wednesday along with the St. Petersburg Bowl. Those two bowl games will join the 32 existing bowl games that were played last season and were licensed again by the NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee on Wednesday. The proposed Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City was not licensed.

The 2008 Congressional Bowl will feature Navy (if it reaches six victories and thus becomes “bowl eligible”) against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The bowl has a deal in place with Army for the 2009 game and would like to arrange a future tie-in with Air Force.

Injury/NFL Updates

2008-04-29T16:09:00.002-06:00

Spoke with Air Force coach Troy Calhoun today and got some updates on some of the Falcons’ injured players:

-Outside linebacker Hunter Altman, who had an arthroscopic procedure on his right ankle on April 11 (the day before the final spring scrimmage), is “doing pretty much everything right now,” Calhoun said. Altman is “a little limited,” pushing off his right foot, Calhoun said, but he should be back to full strength by May 15.

-Tailback Savier Stephens is recovering from hernia surgery and is in rehab, Calhoun said. “He’s able to do some of the core work, and he ought to be able to do everything in early June,” Cahoun said.

-Nose guard Jared Marvin continues to rehab his surgically repaired right knee. Calhoun said Marvin is looking at a mid-September return. …

Calhoun also said that senior linebackers Drew Fowler and John Rabold are drawing interest from some NFL teams – Fowler with the Lions, Rabold with the Chiefs, specifically. Both are looking to sign with teams as undrafted free agents, participate in camps during the next two years and then join the teams (while continuing to serve in the reserves) after completing two years of active duty.

Cover Boys

2008-04-28T09:13:00.003-06:00

Air Force’s 2008 football team will be one of the youngest in academy history, according to coach Troy Calhoun.

The media guide – which has not yet been released – will suggest as much.

Last year the media guide featured all seniors on the front and back covers. Linebacker Drew Fowler, quarterback Shaun Carney and fullback Ryan Williams were on the front, while running back/receiver Chad Hall, linebacker John Rabold and safety Bobby Giannini were on the back.

This year’s media guide, according to sports information director Troy Garnhart, will feature seven players in some combination on the front and back. There will be four seniors (defensive end Ryan Kemp, linebacker Hunter Altman, tight end Travis Dekker and kicker/punter Ryan Harrison), two juniors (safety Chris Thomas and guard Nick Charles) and a sophomore (Reggie Rembert).

Garnhart said he can't remember a sophomore appearing on the cover of the media guide in his approximately 20 years at the academy and that it traditionally has been reserved for upperclassmen. However, he said a sophomore appearing might just suggest a change in philosophy under Calhoun - the best players are featured, regardless of class. ...

Air Force seniors have received their post-graduate assignments, and four football players from the Class of 2008 will stay around the academy next year. Fowler and Carney will serve as graduate assistants for the Air Force football team, while Blaine Guenther and Hall will serve as graduate assistants for the academy prep school's football team.

Why the Price Increases?

2008-04-24T20:38:00.004-06:00

As noted in this article that appeared in Tuesday’s edition of The Gazette, Air Force has raised prices for football season tickets.

There were across-the-board price increases, and most ticket prices went up about five percent. Such increases are immediately understandable. The academy had not raised prices in three years, and many sections had not seen an increase in five years. Plus, Air Force is coming off a surprisingly successful 9-4 campaign and wants to capitalize on that momentum.

But the premium seats at Falcon Stadium – four sections near the 50-yard line – were raised about 56 percent. And that increase shocked – if not angered – some season-ticket holders, some of whom expressed their displeasure to The Gazette.

The academy, however, had reasons for the increase, said Chris Peludat, Air Force’s assistant athletic director for tickets and marketing. And it was not given the opportunity to explain those reasons in the aforementioned article. It is given that opportunity here.

Peludat said that while the prices for 50-yard line seats increased by $100 ($175 to $275), there is $65 in value added to those seats. The academy is installing cushioned seat backs in those sections (a $35 value, Peludat said) and each individual game ticket for those seats will include $5 of stored value that can be used at concessions stands like a debit card for that particular game.

“So it wasn’t just a $100 increase and they’re getting nothing for it,” Peludat said.

And while the increase was dramatic, Air Force’s tickets still are among the lowest in the Mountain West Conference and are roughly commensurate to those at Army and Navy.

If Air Force season ticket holders are members of the Blue and Silver Club, they receive a 15 percent discount on tickets (up to four). Factoring in that discount makes Air Force’s season tickets (around the 50-yard line) the lowest in the league.

(Note: The base prices for season tickets in premium areas are lower at some other schools, but those schools require minimum donations as well. For instance, according to academy research, Wyoming season tickets near the 50 are $168 but require a $500 per-seat donation.)

“We think our prices are very fair and in line with what other schools are charging, what Army and Navy are charging, plus ours include benefits,” Peludat said. “Nobody’s giving you $5 per game to spend. The seat-back is nice, not every school has that. We’re bringing things in to try to make those sections nicer, and there’s cost associated with that. We did raise the price, but we’re giving 65 percent of that increase back to our fans. Some like that and some don’t.”

While Air Force premium tickets still are affordable in relation to other conference schools, it was the dramatic increase that might have caught fans off guard. Peludat understood that sentiment.

“It probably would have gone over easier, especially in the center section, if we had increased prices incrementally each year,” he said. “It might have been easier to swallow.”

So what’s the increase’s bottom-line effect on season ticket sales? While Peludat acknowledged they’ve received some upset phone calls, he said it’s far too early in the renewal process to tell.

“We don’t keep a tote board, but if we did, it’s been pretty equal as far as complaints versus people buying in,” he said.

Coaching Clinics

2008-04-18T09:22:00.001-06:00

Air Force football coaches are on the road this week, taking some time to learn from their peers.

Offensive coaches visited West Virginia spring practices and now are at the University of Arizona. Defensive coaches are visiting Clemson and UCLA.

The Falcons’ coaches are making these visits to watch how other programs work and to see if there’s anything they are doing schematically that might work well at the academy. “Professional development,” is how Calhoun explained it.

Air Force’s coaches were unable to make such trips last year because Calhoun had just been hired and was scrambling to get settled. But he wants to make visiting other schools an annual activity, along with watching plenty of film of other schools.

“I just think it’s really healthy to do, and sometimes you pick up things where you think, ‘Hey, maybe in two, three years when so-and-so and so-and-so are juniors at the academy, that’s something that could work pretty well for us,’” Calhoun said via phone from Arizona Thursday afternoon. “I just think you’ve got to do it.”

Calhoun said “a couple” teams visited Air Force this spring, “and that’s something we try to encourage – let them know they’re welcome.”

But something tells me Navy and BYU coaches wouldn’t exactly be greeted with open arms.

AF-Houston Time, TV Set

2008-04-17T17:44:00.002-06:00

Kickoff for the Air Force football team’s third game of the 2008 season – at Houston on Sept. 13 – has been set for 1:30 p.m. (MT), according to an academy release.

That means the Falcons likely will have to deal with hot and humid conditions. The game will begin at 2:30 local time, about the hottest part of the day, and – according to a National Weather Service site I visited – the typical high for Sept. 13 in Houston is 90 degrees. Air Force players' conditioning will be tested.

Air Force also announced the Houston game will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports Network, formerly known as College Sports Television (CSTV).

That gives Air Force seven nationally televised regular season contests in 2008. The Falcons’ games at Wyoming (Sept. 6) and at home against New Mexico (Oct. 23) and BYU (Nov. 15) also will be televised by CBS College Sports Network. In addition, Air Force’s home games against Utah (Sept. 20) and Navy (Oct. 4) and its regular season finale at TCU (Nov. 22) will be televised on Versus.

Air Force’s game at Army (Nov. 1) is expected to be televised by one of the ESPN family of networks.

Basketball Banquet Review

2008-04-16T22:41:00.002-06:00

Thought I’d pass along some highlights from Wednesday night’s men’s basketball banquet for those of you unable to attend.

-As one would expect, senior guard Tim Anderson was given the program’s top honor – the Bob Spear Award. Named after a former coach (known as the father of Air Force basketball), the award is given to “the student-athlete that is outstanding in all areas of the academy – academics, athletics and military performance.”

Anderson was a no-brainer pick.

Though he was a second-team All-Mountain West Conference selection and the league’s defensive player of the year, Anderson never was fully appreciated during his career by those outside academy grounds. It had something to do with his quiet demeanor, and it was in part because he played his junior season in the shadows of the academy’s outstanding Class of 2007. Mostly, though, it was because some of his most valuable contributions were little things that casual fans don’t notice – deflecting passes, picking up charges, helping out on defense.

He led the 2007-08 Falcons in scoring, assists and steals, and he’ll graduate ranked No. 2 at the academy in career games played and career steals – behind Jacob Burtschi in both candidates.

Anderson won’t be leaving the program totally, however. He’ll be back next year to serve as an assistant coach for the prep school’s team.

-Junior Andrew Henke was given the Falcon Award, “given to the player that gives 100 percent regardless of the situation and his place on the team.”

Henke won the award in large part because he willingly accepted the role of “sixth man” even though he played the minutes of a starter, led the team in rebounding and ranked second on the team in scoring.

Coaches often like to say that who starts is insignificant. Back when I covered the Nuggets, George Karl would scoff when I asked him about his starting lineup. He said that was something that wasn’t a big deal and that “you guys” (the media) blew out of proportion.

But players care. They’re lying if they say they don’t. And Henke, though he deserved to start (as it said several times in this blog and multiple times in columns in The Gazette), never complained.

“He put himself behind the team,” Reynolds said.

-Anderson and senior Eric Kenzik shared the Captain’s Award, and senior Keith Maren was given the Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year award.

-Athletic director Hans Mueh praised the coaches and the team, calling it one “that will forever leave its mark on the academy.” Mueh said he is “as proud of this program now as I’ve ever been.”

-Head trainer Larry Willock, who is retiring after 14 seasons at the academy, was given a framed No. 14 Air Force jersey.

“I’ve been in coaching for 27 years, and he’s the best,” said Reynolds, who fought back tears as he introduced Willock. “There’s no one close.”

-Reynolds said Air Force is trying to kick off the 2008-09 campaign with the second Air Force Classic. The tournament debuted last season. He also said there are preliminary plans to hold a second tournament at World Arena.

The schedule, however, is coming together quite slowly as teams are shopping for the best deals for their programs.

“It’s extremely difficult,” Reynolds said. “What we’re finding is more and more teams are paying a lot more money to get home games. Anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000 is what the big-time boys are paying to get home games. So consequently, it’s tougher. We’ve had some dialogue with teams. It’s just a work in progress.”

Rabold Hopeful for NFL Chance

2008-04-14T22:04:00.003-06:00

Ran into John Rabold outside the Air Force football locker room the other day.

Rabold, who will graduate in May, is one of several Air Force seniors hoping to continue his football career in the pros.

I think it’s safe to say Rabold has been working hard to make that happen.

The outside linebacker, who earned first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors last fall, looks much bigger after a few months of hitting the weights. Rabold, who was listed at 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds last season, said he’s up to about 250. And it looks like all muscle.

According to Rabold, his agent has been getting calls from NFL teams. Most are wary of his military commitment, however, and that likely means he will go undrafted.

(Air Force grads are required to spend five years on active duty, though those who have the opportunity to land a job that will have public relations benefits for the Air Force – like playing in the NFL – can get an early release from active duty. Instead of their final three years of active duty, they’d serve six in the reserves.)

Rabold hopes if he does not get drafted a team will sign him as a free agent. He’d then use his 60 days of leave following graduation to participate in that team’s preseason camps. He’d then stay in shape while on active duty, use subsequent leave time to take part in other team camps and then hopefully make the team after two years of active duty service.

Sounds like a tall order, but Rabold seems like he is serious about making it happen. And from what I’ve heard, Rabold is the most intriguing of the Air Force seniors with pro aspirations (including inside linebacker Drew Fowler and receiver/running back/returner Chad Hall, among others) to NFL scouts.

Scrimmage Review

2008-04-12T18:29:00.003-06:00

As I wrote in my article for Sunday’s Gazette, I thought the defense controlled most of Saturday’s controlled scrimmage.

The defense had trouble stopping the quarterback draw and there were some missed tackles, but for the most part I thought it had the better of the offense. Anyway, here are some quick-hit thoughts from the final day of spring practice:

-Liked the way freshman tailback Kyle Lumpkin ran with the ball on one possession late in the day. He had six carries for 40 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown, on the 60-yard drive.

“He had the one fumble today, which I think is unacceptable, but he’s got a little shake to him, and I just love the kid,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “Attitude-wise, you’re around him as a kid, it’s contagious with the kind of determination he has and how much he loves football.”

-The defensive line played extremely well, led by Ben Garland, who forced and recovered a fumble, and Jake Paulson. Also thought sophomore linebacker Myles Morales stood out. He had a sack and a couple tackles for losses and always seemed to be around the ball.

-Thought freshman receiver Kevin Fogler played well. He made a bunch of grabs and in the situational part of the scrimmage (when the first-team offense would run three straight third-and-2 or third-and-6 plays) he hauled in a 46-yard strike from junior quarterback Shea Smith.

-That was Smith’s finest moment of the practice. He stood in the pocket and launched the ball just before absorbing a big hit. It was impressive enough that he put a deep ball on the money. More impressive that he did it knowing he was about to get stung.

-While quarterback Eric Herbort was really hard on himself after practice, I thought he had a few good moments, specifically the 60-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Hemphill.

-Hemphill again flashed his potential with that grab but it was balanced out by a pair of drops.

-This just in: Ryan Harrison is good.

-Junior tight end Keith Madsen made a great catch in traffic for a 14-yard gain. But the tight ends were relatively quiet otherwise.

-Spoke to senior-to-be nose guard Jared Marvin in the tunnel prior to the scrimmage. Marvin, one of five returning defensive starters, tore both the ACL and MCL in his right knee early in spring practice and had surgery on March 17.

Calhoun had told me that Marvin would need five to seven months of rehabilitation, and I’ve been told that’s pretty much standard for the type of injury he suffered. But coaches rave about Marvin’s toughness and work ethic, and Calhoun said Marvin likely would be back “sooner than it’s supposed to be.”

Marvin thinks so too.

He was doing some exercises when I saw him, and he said his rehab was going well, and he is getting his range of motion back in his leg. According to my math, five months from March 17 is August 17. So I asked if he would be back in late August.

“What?” he said. “Early August.”

It was impossible not to believe him.

-As I’ve written before, defensive line coach Ron Burton is one of my favorite coaches to watch during practices because of his intensity, energy and attention to detail. He’s also one of the more entertaining guys on the field.

Saturday he stopped freshman defensive end William Dallas as Dallas ran onto the field with the third-team defense. Dallas, you see, was wearing around his waist one of those hand-warmer pouches that you’ll often see quarterbacks, receivers and kickers using. Burton obviously didn’t approve.

“What are you doin’ with that mess on?” Burton asked. “Makes you look soft.”

Dallas shed the hand-warmer and tossed it to a manager before lining up with his teammates.

Spring Game, er, Controlled Scrimmage Preview

2008-04-11T18:12:00.002-06:00

Air Force will wrap up spring practice tomorrow at Falcon Stadium, but it won’t be with a Blue-Silver Game of years past.

Like last spring, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun will finish spring drills with a practice that includes a controlled scrimmage. Instead of dividing players into two teams (Blue and Silver) and playing an actual game with a final score, Calhoun will keep units together and pit them against each other in a series of situations. So the No. 1 offense will drive against the No. 2 defense, the No. 2 offense will face the No. 1 defense, etc.

Calhoun admits that it “probably takes a hair bit away from the entertainment aspect of it because you don’t have two teams.” But he believes this type of format is necessary – especially with such a young and inexperienced squad.

“We just haven’t had that many guys that have spent time together playing together,” he said. “And I think to develop that kind of chemistry in an 11-on-11 environment where the coaches are off the field, we’ve got to get as much of that as we possibly can. And I think as soon as you start splitting teams up, then that Mike (LB) and that Will (LB) are on a different team and their communication – they don’t quite get a chance to get to play together quite as frequently. That center and the right guard are split up. That quarterback and a couple receivers. I just think it will work better this way.”

“The other thing is I think you’re able to isolate many more situations. Now you can truly focus on playing 11 on 11 and executing situations rather than thinking you’re going to be on two different teams. We’re going to compete, I just think we’ll get so much more done production-wise. “

And you can still glean plenty from this type of scrimmage. Here’s what I’ll be watching:

1) The quarterbacks, of course. Junior-to-be Eric Herbort has played well and moved into the starting spot on the Falcons’ two-deep chart, but senior-to-be Shea Smith has been rock solid as ever. The starting role for the 2008 opener won’t be won tomorrow, but it’s the last chance to see both signal-callers in action.

2) Reggie Rembert. As discussed in the post below, Rembert – a starting corner – has spent a few practices with the offense this spring because he gives an attack with few playmakers an explosive threat. I’ll be interested to see what kind of impact he makes with the ball in his hands.

3) The inside linebackers and cornerbacks. Air Force’s defensive line is arguably the deepest and most talented unit on the team. The outside linebackers and safeties are talented and relatively experienced. But save for Rembert, the corners are brand new. And so are the inside linebackers. Will any step up tomorrow?

4) The tailbacks. Air Force is paper thin at this position right now with Savier Stephens injured and Brenton Byrd playing corner. How will Kyle Lumpkin (who already has one of my favorite nicknames of 2008 – the obvious but perfect-for-a-back “Lump"), D.J. Ford and Chase Wilke look at full speed?

5) Who are the leaders? Air Force lost 26 seniors from last year’s team. It will be interesting to see who takes on a leadership role.

Rembert Looks Good in Blue

2008-04-10T23:11:00.003-06:00

Went to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in San Jose on Saturday night. Amazing show.

To kick off the encore, Bruce played his “Detroit Medley,” which begins and ends with him covering “Devil with a Blue Dress On.”

So what does that have to do with Falcon football? Well, nothing really. Except that I started to hear the song in my head this afternoon at practice after I saw Reggie with a blue shirt on.

That’d be freshman Reggie Rembert – who will start at one cornerback spot next season – donning the color worn at practice by Air Force offensive players.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said before the start of spring practice that he’d like to try using Rembert – the most explosive player on his roster – on offense in addition to defense. And Thursday, for the third time in 14 spring practices, Rembert practiced with the offense, lining up at the Falcons’ Z receiver spot – a hybrid running back/receiver position.

“He said after the end of the (2007 season) that we were going to try it out, and if I can’t handle it, then we’ll try it next year," Rembert said, referring to the following spring. “But hopefully he thinks I’m handling it alright.”

So, is he?

It was tough to get a really good read Thursday because, thanks to the weather, the team practiced indoors in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts. But I’ll say this: Of the players on the Air Force roster right now – not counting incoming freshmen – Rembert has the most burst of anyone that touches the ball.

Last year, when he first stepped on the field in August, Rembert immediately stood out because of his speed, agility and play-making ability. It was the same Thursday. He just seemed to have that extra little zip when he got the ball in his hands.

Granted, Air Force doesn’t have a lot of dynamic playmakers on this team, so Rembert looks that much faster. But look for him to become one of the Falcons’ top weapons.

Calhoun said in a perfect world Rembert would play 12 to 15 snaps per game, but “that might be a bit much this year,” he said. “But maybe this year is at a half dozen every other game or something like that. We’ll just have to see.”

Rembert also is handling punt and kickoff returns. But Calhoun has said defense – where he played last season and even started one game in place of an ill Carson Bird – will be his first priority.

“If there’s ever a moment where I think it’s too much,” Calhoun said of playing both ways, “then we will not do it.”

But both Calhoun and Rembert seem confident that Rembert can handle it. Rembert said after three practices with the offense he feels comfortable at Z and knows all the plays. However, he said he doesn’t have the signals for the plays down perfectly. And he’ll need to because Air Force runs a no-huddle offense and gets its plays via signals from the sideline.

“He’s still learning his way a little bit, but that’s not a real difficult spot to learn,” Calhoun said of the Z receiver position. “So I think he can do it. During August he’s going to have to play both sides a little bit for us to make it feasible once we get into the season.”

Rembert said he likes playing both corner and Z, but “I like having the ball,” he said.

Fans will like watching him with it.

Who's Gonna Catch it?

2008-04-09T00:27:00.002-06:00

With former four-year starting quarterback Shaun Carney out of eligibility, Air Force is looking for a new signal-caller (a subject that will be explored in detail in my story that is scheduled to appear inThursday's Gazette).

But whoever the quarterback is in 2008, he’ll be inexperienced. And I think that makes the performance of the Falcons’ receivers incredibly important to the success of the Air Force offense.

So I thought I’d pass along some thoughts on the Falcons’ potential 2008 pass catchers.

X Receiver
Who’s Graduating: Mark Root. The reliable 6-foot-2 receiver started the majority of the Falcons’ games last year. Root ranked second on the team in both receptions and receiving yards with 28 and 385, respectively. He also caught a pair of touchdown passes.

Who’s Back: Spencer Armstrong and Sean Quintana. Those two give the Falcons a deep threat and a dependable possession receiver, respectively.

Armstrong, who will be a senior next year, was listed as the Falcons’ backup at X when spring practice started. He was not on the second two-deep chart released early last week, but since then, Armstrong has had several quality practices, in particular last Saturday when he made an impressive leaping catch in the end zone on the last play of the day. Those performances earned him the starting spot on the depth chart released Tuesday by Air Force coach Troy Calhoun (scroll down to the post below to see the full depth chart).

Armstrong was a non-factor early last year as he struggled to get on the field. But he came on late and made several big plays down the stretch – including a touchdown on a reverse against Notre Dame and a 48-yard touchdown reception against Army.

“He did some really good things at the end of the year,” Calhoun said. “But I think now he’s really ready to emerge and be an Air Force football player that’s a senior.”

Quintana, who will be a junior next fall, was listed as the starter at X on the Falcons’ first two two-deep charts before slipping to backup on the chart released Tuesday. Quintana emerged from obscurity in practices last August by catching whatever was thrown in his general direction. He made eight catches for 67 yards and a score in 2007.

Who Else: Freshman Kevin Fogler played on the Falcons’ junior varsity in 2007 but was impressive enough early in spring practice to earn the backup spot on Air Force’s second two-deep chart. The 6-6 Fogler “had some problems,” last week, Thiessen said, with some drops and a busted assignment and dropped off the chart released Tuesday. But he has shown plenty of potential this spring. Like Quintana, he is more of a possession receiver.

“He’s got a little bigger body, and he’s more physical,” Thiessen said. “He plays long, extends really well to fight for the football.”

Thiessen said the Falcons’ top three X receivers right now are Armstrong, Quintana and Fogler, but that Anthony Hemphill and Josh Cousins will push for playing time.

Z Receiver
Who’s Graduating: Chad Hall. You might have heard of him. Only player in the nation to lead his team in rushing yards (1,478), receiving yards (524) and all-purpose yards (2,683).

Who’s Back: Ty Paffett. Calhoun has said all positions on his team are open, but Paffett is pretty well entrenched as the Falcons’ starter at Z. Paffett got good experience last year, playing the position when Hall lined up at tailback, and he has breakaway speed. Much more on Paffett in The Gazette later this week.

Who Else: Kyle Halderman and Brett Skene. Both players will be sophomores next year, though Halderman has a bit of an advantage as he played and traveled with the varsity the second half of last season.

“He got coached a lot last year, and we really came into spring expecting him to be the next guy,” behind Paffett, Air Force receivers coach Mike Thiessen said. “He’s got some growing up to do, he’s young, but that’s alright.”

Tight End
Who’s Graduating: Chris Evans, who played sparingly last year.

Who’s Back: Travis Dekker, Keith Madsen, Steve Shaffer. After years when the tight end seemed borderline extinct at Air Force, it was brought back by Calhoun. Last season Travis Dekker caught 25 passes for 382 yards and two scores. The previous four seasons Air Force tight ends caught 19 combined passes.

The renewed emphasis on getting the tight end the ball is a good thing for the Falcons in 2008. Other than a dominant ground game that can relieve pressure from the passing game, nothing is better for an inexperienced quarterback than a big, reliable tight end. The Falcons have three.

Dekker, who will be a senior in 2008, clearly is the starter after ranking third in receptions in 2007 for Air Force. “I thought Travis played well for us last year,” Calhoun said. “He’s going to have to play even better this year. I think we’ve got to keep finding ways to be really resourceful to get him the ball.”

Madsen, who also will be a senior in 2008, caught five passes for 49 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 2007.

“I thought early in (2007), clearly, I thought Madsen was a pretty good football player for us,” Calhoun said. “I thought in the first half against Notre Dame, when he started, he was not very good. I thought in the second half of the game against Notre Dame, I thought he was a pretty solid football player. But it can’t be that temperature one time is at 30 degrees and all of a sudden it goes to 210 degrees – Madsen’s got to find some consistency.”

Madsen started spring as the Falcons’ backup at tight end, but Shaffer has supplanted him. Shaffer, who will be a sophomore in the fall, is big and athletic and talented. Calhoun said he “may have played better than Madsen at the end of (2007), but he wasn’t ready because he was a freshman.”

New Depth Chart

2008-04-08T17:42:00.004-06:00

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun released a new two-deep chart on Tuesday. It is the third depth chart of spring practices and contains just two changes:

-At X Receiver, Spencer Armstrong now is listed as the starter, bumping Sean Quintana to backup and Kevin Fogler off the chart

-At TB, junior-to-be Devon Ford now is listed as the backup to Kyle Lumpkin.

The full chart is below. Again, the years listed for each player are what they’ll be in the fall. For example, Spencer Armstrong is a junior, but he’ll be a senior in the fall.

OFFENSE
WR- X 26 Spencer Armstrong, Sr.
81 Sean Quintana, Jr.

TE 88 Travis Dekker, Sr.
84 Steve Shaffer, So.

LT 79 Keith Williams, Sr.
70 Matt Markling, So.

LG 57 Nick Charles, Jr.
64 Jake Morrow, So.

C 63 Andrew Pipes, Sr.
65 Michael Hampton, Jr.

RG 62 Peter Lusk, Jr.
67 Tyler Shonsheck, So.

RT 60 Chris Campbell, Jr.
78 Ben Marshall, So.

QB 7 Eric Herbort, Jr.
14 Shea Smith, Sr.

FB 25 Todd Newell, Sr.
42 Jared Tew, So.

TB 28 Kyle Lumpkin, So.
20 Devon Ford, Jr.

WR-Z 19 Ty Paffett, Sr.
4 Kyle Halderman, So.

DEFENSE
LE 95 Jake Paulson, Sr.
49 Ryan Gonzales, Jr.

NG 93 Ben Garland, Jr.
76 Stephen Larson, Jr.

RE 91 Ryan Kemp, Sr.
90 Rick Ricketts, So.

OLB 36 Andre Morris, Jr., So.
92 Myles Morales, Jr.

ILB 45 John Falgout, Jr.
55 Clay Bryant, Jr.

ILB 47 Ken Lamendola, So.
43 Justin Moore, Jr.

OLB 32 Hunter Altman, Sr.
37 William Keuchler, So.

CB 22 Brenton Byrd, Jr.
22 Ryan Curry, So.

CB 8 Reggie Rembert, So.
18 Elliot Battle, So.

SS 34 Chris Thomas, Jr.
30 Luke Yeager, Sr.

FS 23 Aaron Kirchoff, Sr.
29 Luke Hyder, Jr.

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
94 Zachary Bell, So.

P 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
98 Brandon Geyer, Jr.

Fisher Foundation Events

2008-04-07T15:15:00.008-06:00

Hello all.

With former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry set to be inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame tomorrow night, I thought I’d pass along some information about some events that will be taking place next month to raise money for his foundation:

The 3rd Annual Fisher DeBerry Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic (May 16)
-Will be held at the Eisenhower Blue Course at the academy
-Special guest and honorary chairman will be former Notre Dame walk-on football player Rudy Ruettiger, who provided the inspiration for the movie “Rudy.”

The 5th Annual Fisher DeBerry Foundation Chick-fil-A 5K Run and Walk (May 17)
-Will be held at America the Beautiful Park in Colorado Springs at 3 p.m.
-Cost: $15 for students and children;$20 for adults
-Register here

The Inaugural Colorado Coaches for Charity silent auction and dinner (May 19)
-Will be held at the Denver Marriott City Center.
-DeBerry will be on hand along with former Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing and Colorado coach Dan Hawkins.
-Visit this site for more information.

Practice Report - 4/2

2008-04-03T00:51:00.002-06:00

Late in Air Force's Wednesday practice, freshman defensive end Rick Ricketts and freshman fullback Ryan Southworth got into a brief scuffle after a play.

In preseason – and to some degree, in spring sessions – coaches sometimes like to see fights. Some won’t admit it, others will come right out and say that it shows players are getting after it and playing hard and with emotion.

So after Wednesday’s practice, I asked Troy Calhoun what he thought about the dust-up.

“We’ve got competitive guys,” he said. “And they’re physical, and they’re going to be active, so every once in a while that’s going to happen. I think the key is this – you play extremely aggressively, and yet you’ve got to have poise too. You ever cross the line, that’s 15 (yards) against us. Our guys are pretty good about that. You don’t see it very often, but you certainly see them flying around.”

Calhoun sent Ricketts, who appeared to be the aggressor, off on a disciplinary run around a far goalpost following the scuffle.

But I think the coaches liked that their players were fired up during a spring session.

Other Thoughts:
-While quarterbacks Eric Herbort and Shea Smith were extremely sharp and receivers made great catches in traffic during Tuesday’s practice at Falcon Stadium, there were some errant throws and drops on Wednesday. Ty Paffett, in particular, dropped a high yet catchable ball on a deep post.

-It will be interesting to see what Brenton Byrd does at cornerback during the last few practices of spring, specifically scrimmage situations. Wednesday he showed the speed and athleticism to stay with receivers, but he’s still learning the coverages. He's had just four practices at the position.

-Freshman tailback Chase Wilke seemed to run hard and show some burst.

-The hit of the day belonged to sophomore inside linebacker Justin Moore, who laid a shoulder into Z receiver Kyle Halderman and elicited cheers from his defensive teammates on the sideline.

Note: I’ll be out of town this weekend but will file practice reports to the blog after each of the Falcons’ last three spring sessions – next Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (the controlled scrimmage).

Schedule Thoughts

2008-04-02T00:14:00.000-06:00

So Air Force’s 2008 schedule was finalized on Tuesday (scroll down two posts to see the full slate).

First impression upon looking at it?

It sets up pretty well for the Falcons.

First of all, and most importantly, Air Force has a bye week at an opportune time for the first time since the 2004 season when it had a break between its sixth and seventh games.

In 2005, Air Force’s bye came before the last game of the season when a losing season already was assured. In 2006, the Falcons had two bye weeks, but they were sandwiched around their first game. And last season, of course, Air Force had no bye weeks, playing 12 games in 12 weeks.

In the upcoming season, the Falcons will get a break between their fourth game (a tough one against Utah, which should be one of the favorites in the Mountain West Conference) and their fifth (against archrival Navy).

Other impressions on the schedule:

-It’s not as difficult early as it was last season when the Falcons played the teams predicted to be the top three in the conference (Utah, TCU and BYU) and then Navy in consecutive weeks in September. That’s important, as the 2008 team will be young

-Not a terribly difficult start, but how about the finish? Back-to-back games against defending league champ BYU and then at TCU for the regular season finale. Think the Horned Frogs will be hungry for some revenge?

-A couple not-so-fortunate notes for the Falcons: UNLV has a bye week prior to playing host to Air Force on Oct. 18. The Falcons, meanwhile, play at San Diego State the week before facing the Rebels. Plus, TCU has a bye week before playing host to Air Force on Nov. 22. Air Force plays at home against BYU the week before. And finally, Air Force plays at UNLV (at night) on Saturday, Oct. 18. It then has to travel home and prepare to play New Mexico on Thursday, Oct. 23 after a short week.

Depth Chart Moves

2008-04-01T21:19:00.002-06:00

There were plenty of changes on the updated two-deep chart released by Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun on Tuesday (scroll down to see the full chart).

But that’s to be expected with so many positions considered to be wide open at this point. Calhoun said if coaches released a new depth chart after each practice “we’d probably have five changes every day.”

So how does Calhoun decide who belongs on the two-deep?

“You just want guys that are completely reliable,” Calhoun said. “And I think guys that are dependable and guys that are productive are the ones that get a chance to move to the surface and work with the primary units.”

Here are the changes from the initial spring two-deep chart:

Quarterback: Eric Herbort, listed as a backup on the first depth chart, moved in front of Shea Smith. But Herbort by no means has a stranglehold on the position.

“They’ve been pretty balanced,” Calhoun said of Herbort and Smith. “And that could continue to flip back and forth.”

Much more on the quarterback battle in an upcoming edition of The Gazette – likely this Sunday’s or Monday’s.

Tailback: Sophomore-to-be Savier Stephens and junior-to-be Brenton Byrd were listed as the starter and backup, respectively, at the start of spring practice.

But Stephens, the leading returning rusher from the 2007 squad, has been held out of practice because of a hernia that will require surgery. And Byrd (see below) is getting a look at cornerback.

So two players who were on the Falcons’ junior varsity as freshmen in 2007 – Kyle Lumpkin and Chase Wilke – now are listed as the starter and backup, respectively.

“They’re the two best tailbacks,” Calhoun said. “I think it’s the fairest way to operate is the guys that play the best are the guys that are in the two-deep. … Lumpkin, the kid loves football. He’s spunky, he’s a tough little nut. He’s got to learn how to run a little bit more downhill. But we’ll see how he does.”

Wide Receiver-X: Kevin Fogler, who will be a sophomore next year, moved in front of senior-to-be Spencer Armstrong as the backup to Sean Quintana.

Fogler impressed coaches in the first half of spring by making plenty of plays – specifically coming up with tough catches. “That’s a guy that every day did something in practice,” Calhoun said.

Fogler has an impressive 6-foot-6, 200-pound frame. And Calhoun said Fogler “plays with length.”

“There are times when guys are 6-4 and they play like they’re 5-6,” he said. “This guy’s 6-6 and he plays like he’s 6-6. He’s a great target. … You talk about the old term ‘upside,’ this guy has some.”

Tight End: Another sophomore-to-be, Steve Shaffer, moved in front of senior-to-be Keith Madsen as the backup to starter Travis Dekker. Shaffer is 6-4 and 230 pounds and began to emerge toward the end of last season. He, like Fogler, has plenty of upside.

Fullback: Jared Tew, who will be a sophomore next year, now is listed as the backup to Todd Newell, replacing junior-to-be Justin Moore.

Right Guard: Tyler Shonsheck, who will be a sophomore next year, now is listed as the backup to Peter Lusk, replacing senior-to-be Tyler Weeks.

Defensive Line: A few changes because of a knee injury suffered by nose guard Jared Marvin, who will be a senior next year.

Marvin tore both the ACL and MCL in his knee prior to spring break. He had surgery on March 17 and is expected to be out five to seven months.

With Marvin out, Ben Garland – listed as the starting left end at the beginning of spring – has moved inside to starting nose guard. Jake Paulson, who began spring as Garland’s backup, now is listed as the starting left end. Ryan Gonzales, a nose guard last year, now is listed as Paulson’s backup.

Inside linebacker: At one inside spot, Ken Lamendola, who will be a sophomore next year, now is listed as the starter, bumping Brandon Reeves. Justin Moore, who will be a junior next year, is listed as Lamendola’s backup.

Cornerback: Byrd, who began spring as the Falcons’ backup tailback, is trying his hand at corner. Calhoun said Byrd will finish spring there. Kevin Rivers, originally listed as a starter, has not practiced due to injury and now is not on the depth chart. Ryan Curry, who will be a sophomore next year, is listed as Byrd’s backup, replacing Devon Ford.

Football Schedule, Depth Chart Released

2008-04-01T15:25:00.004-06:00

There hadn't been much to talk about in a while when it came to Air Force football, but now there’s a whole bunch.

The Mountain West Conference released its 2008 football schedule today, which finalized the Falcons’ slate. And, prior to Air Force’s practice today – the first in the second half of spring practices – coach Troy Calhoun released an updated depth chart with a whole bunch of changes.

I’ll be weighing in on both the schedule and the changes to the depth chart in this blog later tonight. Until then, here’s the Falcons’ 2008 schedule and the new depth chart.

2008 Air Force Football Schedule

Day Date Time Opponent (TV)
Saturday Aug. 30 12 p.m. Southern Utah
Saturday Sept. 6 1:30 p.m. at Wyoming* (CBS C)
Saturday Sept. 13 TBA at Houston (TBA)
Saturday Sept. 20 2 p.m. Utah* (VERSUS)
Saturday Sept. 27 OPEN
Saturday Oct. 4 2 p.m. Navy (VERSUS)
Saturday Oct. 11 6:30 p.m. at San Diego State* (The Mtn.)
Saturday Oct. 18 7 p.m. at UNLV* (The Mtn.)
Thursday Oct. 23 6 p.m. New Mexico* (CBS C)
Saturday Nov. 1 TBA at Army (TBA)
Saturday Nov. 8 4 p.m. Colorado State* (The Mtn.)
Saturday Nov. 15 1:30 p.m. BYU* (CBS C)
Saturday Nov. 22 2:30 p.m. at TCU* (VERSUS)
* - Mountain West Conference game
All times local to site

(The Mtn.) – MountainWest Sports Network;
(CBS C) – CBS College Sports Network, formerly known as College Sports Television (CSTV).

Updated Air Force Depth Chart

Note: Each player’s class in the depth chart refers to what he will be in 2008, e.g. quarterback Shea Smith currently is a junior, but he is listed as a senior.

OFFENSE
WR- X 81 Sean Quintana, Jr.
93 Kevin Fogler, So.

TE 88 Travis Dekker, Sr.
84 Steve Shaffer, So.

LT 79 Keith Williams, Sr.
70 Matt Markling, So.

LG 57 Nick Charles, Jr.
64 Jake Morrow, So.

C 63 Andrew Pipes, Sr.
65 Michael Hampton, Jr.

RG 62 Peter Lusk, Jr.
67 Tyler Shonsheck, So.

RT 60 Chris Campbell, Jr.
78 Ben Marshall, So.

QB 7 Eric Herbort, Jr.
14 Shea Smith, Sr.

FB 25 Todd Newell, Sr.
42 Jared Tew, So.

TB 28 Kyle Lumpkin, So.
20 Chase Wilke, So.

WR-Z 19 Ty Paffett, Sr.
4 Kyle Halderman, So.

DEFENSE
LE 95 Jake Paulson, Sr.
49 Ryan Gonzales, Jr.

NG 93 Ben Garland, Jr.
76 Stephen Larson, Jr.

RE 91 Ryan Kemp, Sr.
90 Rick Ricketts, So.

OLB 36 Andre Morris, Jr., So.
92 Myles Morales, Jr.

ILB 45 John Falgout, Jr.
55 Clay Bryant, Jr.

ILB 47 Ken Lamendola, So.
43 Justin Moore, Jr.

OLB 32 Hunter Altman, Sr.
37 William Keuchler, So.

CB 22 Brenton Byrd, Jr.
22 Ryan Curry, So.

CB 8 Reggie Rembert, So.
18 Elliot Battle, So.

SS 34 Chris Thomas, Jr.
30 Luke Yeager, Sr.

FS 23 Aaron Kirchoff, Sr.
29 Luke Hyder, Jr.

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
94 Zachary Bell, So.

P 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
98 Brandon Geyer, Jr.

BlogDog Bracketology

2008-03-11T20:56:00.008-06:00

Basketball isn’t the BlogDog’s game.

He’s a football prognosticator – as evidenced by his sterling 8-4 mark picking Air Force games during the 2007 regular season. (Note: I’m not counting his pick of Air Force over Cal in the Armed Forces Bowl on his official record because his pick was made in suburban Maryland during the holidays under the supervision of the BlogWife. BlogDog was out of his element and confused).

But there’s a simple reason why the BlogDog is qualified to fill out a Mountain West Conference men’s basketball tournament bracket:

The tournament’s being held in Las Vegas.

BlogDog knows when playing blackjack that he always should split aces, never split face cards and double down when he has 11 (or when he has 10 or 9 and the dealer has a bust card). And when playing poker, he’ll go all-in pre-flop, then make the rest of the table fold with an intimidating growl.

He’s pure Vegas.

(Note two: For those of you just finding this blog, the BlogDog is my dog, Norm. Because I enjoy reading prognostication columns – and because The Gazette does not permit me, as a beat writer, to make picks on games – I pressed Norm into service. He correctly picked three of Air Force’s first four games, and a star was born.)

In football, Norm’s picks were determined by a “best three-out-of-five” system. I’d put a mini-replica Air Force helmet and the mini-replica helmet of the opponent the Falcons were facing that week in front of Norm, and whichever one Norm went to first – best three out of five times – was the team he thought would win.

But this is March Madness. One and done. So Norm picked just once on each game.

And, yes, he picked the football helmets, even though this is basketball.

His picks are below. He likes the Falcons to win their first-ever MWC Tournament game, Utah to upset New Mexico and BYU and UNLV to meet in a rematch of last year’s final.

BlogDog’s Picks:

Play-in Game

Wyoming over Colorado State

Quarterfinals

BYU over Wyoming

Air Force over San Diego State

Utah over New Mexico

UNLV over TCU

Semifinals
BYU over Air Force
UNLV over Utah

Final
BYU over UNLV

All-MWC Teams Announced

2008-03-10T15:09:00.002-06:00

The Mountain West Conference announced its all-league teams today. Air Force senior guard Tim Anderson was named to the second team. He also won Defensive Player of the Year honors.

A list of the teams and individual honors is below.

2007-08 All-Mountain West Conference
First Team
G J.R. Giddens (New Mexico, Sr.)
G/F Lee Cummard (BYU, Jr.)
G Wink Adams (UNLV Jr.)
F Lorrenzo Wade (San Diego State, Jr.)
F/C Trent Plaisted (BYU, Jr.)

Second Team
G Tim Anderson (Air Force, Sr.)
G Marcus Walker (Colorado State, Jr.)
G Johnnie Bryant (Utah, Sr.)
G Brandon Ewing (Wyoming, Jr.)
C Luke Nevill (Utah, Jr.)

Third Team
G/F Curtis Terry (UNLV, Sr.)
F Jonathan Tavernari (BYU, Soph.)
F Ryan Amoroso (San Diego State, Jr.)
F Billy White (San Diego State, Fr.)
F Kevin Langford (TCU, Jr.)

Honorable Mention: G Chad Toppert (New Mexico, Jr.), F Joe Darger (UNLV, Jr.), G Rene Rougeau (UNLV, Jr.), G Brent Hackett (TCU, Sr.), C Daniel Faris (New Mexico, Jr.)

Individual Awards
Co-Players of the Year
Lee Cummard (BYU, Jr.)
J.R. Giddens (New Mexico, Sr.)

Defensive Player of the Year
Tim Anderson (Air Force, Sr.)

Newcomer of the Year
Marcus Walker (Colorado State, Jr.)

Freshman of the Year
Billy White (San Diego State)

Coach of the Year
Lon Kruger (UNLV)

San Diego State review

2008-03-09T23:25:00.005-06:00

With its 46-43 victory over San Diego State on Saturday, Air Force guaranteed a fifth straight winning season, completed a .500 campaign in the Mountain West Conference and secured fifth place in the league.

Not a bad way to send out the seniors.

To the untrained eye, a fifth-place finish in a nine-team league doesn’t seem like much to celebrate. But to those who know what Air Force lost from its record-setting 2006-07 team, it was significant accomplishment.

The Falcons had just one starter back from last season’s squad and were picked to finish eighth in the league. And after getting blown out by Utah in their league opener, even four victories seemed like a stretch.

But Air Force, while seemingly overmatched and undermanned against almost every team in the league, found a way overachieve and win eight games.

A sign in the Falcons’ locker room reads, “Shock the League.”

Mission accomplished.

Other Thoughts:
- The MWC’s postseason awards will be handed out tomorrow afternoon. Will anyone from Air Force earn recognition?

The top candidate is Tim Anderson, who I think is probably a borderline first-team All-MWC selection. If the awards came out at the half-way point of league play, I think Anderson would have been a lock and even had an argument for Player of the Year. But his numbers dropped off significantly in the second half of the season, and that definitely will hurt him.

However, if voters look beyond points per game, he has a good shot. Anderson, who also is a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, has been the Falcons’ top defender and one of the best defensive players in the league the last two years.

Andrew Henke’s late-season explosion makes him a candidate for possible third-team honors. And Evan Washington is a candidate for Freshman of the Year, but San Diego State’s Billy White – who twice has been named the league’s Player of the Week – likely will run away with that honor.

So how about Jeff Reynolds? He’s definitely in the discussion for Coach of the Year. He took over a team that lost four starters and close to 75 percent of its scoring from the previous year and guided it to a .500 record and a fifth-place finish – three spots better than where it was picked to finish.

I think it will probably come down to Reynolds, UNLV’s Lon Kruger and New Mexico’s Steve Alford.

Kruger, like Reynolds, had to replace four starters. And Kruger also had to deal with losing all his big men for various reasons and converting his team to a small-ball squad.

Alford, meantime, got through to J.R. Giddens and got the talented but previously disappointing player to fulfill his potential. And he guided a team that finished in the MWC cellar a year ago to a third-place finish.

- With Saturday’s victory (and Utah’s loss to UNLV Saturday), Air Force managed to avoid streaking New Mexico in the first round of the MWC tournament. That’s a good thing, but the Falcons still have a pretty difficult task in front of them. As will be discussed in an article in Tuesday’s edition of The Gazette, the Falcons have to beat the same team twice in six days. It will not be easy.

- Toughness award from Saturday’s game goes to Washington. In the first half, he had his legs taken out when he went up for a rebound, and he landed hard on his side. It looked like it could have resulted in a bad injury, but Washington popped right up and on the very next possession completed a three-point play. Then, with just seconds remaining in the game, he was pulled to the floor by San Diego State center Ryan Amoroso after grabbing a rebound. But he settled himself and made one of two free throws to push the Falcons’ advantage to three with 1.1 seconds left.

- What a physical game. Reynolds said he thought the Falcons’ game at UNLV was more physical than Saturday’s game, and I guess that’s true. But Saturday was pretty rough. In addition to his jersey grab on Washington, Amoroso also ran over Anderson earlier in the game. I thought a flagrant foul could have been assessed for either play.

Practice Update

2008-03-08T13:25:00.003-07:00

Air Force held its fourth spring football practice on Saturday.

It looked like it.

The Falcons lined up in incorrect formations, put the ball on the ground, rolled shotgun snaps to quarterbacks, overthrew passes and jumped offside.

But, as coaches and players know, that’s to be expected early in spring. Especially with such an inexperienced team.

“I think what you’re going to find, especially in the first half of spring, you’re going to take these first seven practices and you’ve got so much teaching that your execution and the speed at which you operate is not where you want it,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “And yet if it was, you wouldn’t need to practice. We need to practice.”

“That’s obviously going to happen,” Air Force sophomore strong safety Chris Thomas said of the mistakes. “It’s the beginning of the year, we've got a lot of young guys and we're doing a lot of things we haven’t done before.”

Other Notes:
- Sophomore Eric Herbort, who entered spring listed as the backup quarterback behind junior Shea Smith, worked with the first-team offense on Saturday.

“He practiced better than Shea did on Friday,” Calhoun said. “That’s something that we evaluate daily, and it’s not just at that position. I think that position probably gains the most attention, but that’s across the board, and it’ll be that way probably until the middle of August – we’re going to have a depth chart that bumps around a good bit.”

- Sophomore tailback Brenton Byrd also entered spring practices listed as a backup, but with Savier Stephens being held out of practice because of a possible hernia, Byrd has gotten a chance to play with the starters.

Byrd has been “much better than he was in the fall,” Calhoun said. “He carries the ball better. I think he just plays more physical than he did in the fall. And part of that is he’s going into his fourth year at the academy. He’ll be a junior, plus he had a year at the prep school.”

Both Calhoun and Thomas said freshman Kyle Lumpkin has had some good moments at tailback.
- Starting Z receiver Ty Paffett did not practice on Saturday. Calhoun did not reveal his injury but said Paffett should be back next week. Starting cornerback Kevin Rivers also didn’t practice. He pulled a hamstring in a track meet last week, Calhoun said.

- Play of the day: A reception of about 20 yards by tight end Steve Shaffer. The freshman was running to his right but reached across his body to snag a pass thrown behind him. Also impressive were a pair of hits, one by Thomas on freshman receiver Brett Skene and one by freshman outside linebacker Mark Mosby on freshman Kyle Halderman.

- Two new coaches on the field Saturday: Chad Hall and Drew Fowler.

Carney Update

2008-03-06T21:32:00.003-07:00

By the time I got done speaking with men’s basketball coach Jeff Reynolds on Thursday, the Air Force football team already had wrapped up its second spring practice.

So no practice report today. But I did get to catch up with former Falcons QB Shaun Carney.

Carney, as those who check this blog remember all too vividly, suffered a gruesome career-ending injury in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31. Near the end of the third quarter, Carney ran right, then planted his right leg with designs on running over the one Cal player between him and the end zone. But as Carney took on that player, he was hit from behind and his leg was hit from the side.

The result was a dislocated knee cap, damage to ligaments in the knee cap and ACL, MCL and PCL tears.

Carney finally had surgery last Thursday after waiting a couple of months for swelling to subside. The surgery included “about five hours of actual cutting time,” Carney said, with about two or three more for “prepping and cleaning up.”

Carney’s PCL and ACL were removed. An Achilles from a cadaver was used for his PCL, and a tendon from the back of Carney’s right hamstring was sliced off and used for his ACL. He also had a microfracture procedure done on his femur – tiny holes were drilled into his femur, allowing blood and bone marrow to seep out and help build up cartilage.

Carney, who said he watched the replay of his injury on YouTube, stayed awake for about two hours of the surgery and watched the procedure on the monitor that doctors were using.

The pain in his leg, Carney said, now is “way worse” than it was in the weeks before surgery.

“They put four screws in there too, that’s how they have to get the ACL and PCL in there,” he said. “You can feel them moving around a little bit. So it’s a lot more painful than I expected.”

Carney will be in a wheelchair or on crutches for the next seven or so weeks. Then he will start rehabilitation and “eventually start jogging around July or August,” he said. “I could probably play basketball on that thing by November, but it won’t be real strong until next February.”

He will, however, be able to walk down the aisle at his wedding June 28.

And despite his limited mobility, Carney will be on the field next week helping with the Falcons’ spring practices (he will serve as a graduate assistant coach next year).

“I’m really excited,” he said. “Looking forward to getting out there any way I can and getting in the quarterbacks' ears a little bit.”

TCU Review

2008-03-06T09:02:00.003-07:00

It wasn’t always pretty (I’ll get to what I found ugly in a minute), but Air Force kept the potential of finishing .500 in the Mountain West Conference alive with a 57-36 victory over TCU on Wednesday night.

If Air Force can beat San Diego State on Saturday at Clune Arena – a difficult task, especially considering the Aztecs will have had a week off to prepare – the Falcons will finish 8-8 in league play. And if UNLV beats Utah, Air Force will claim fifth place in the Mountain West. That would be pretty impressive for a team with just one starter back and hardly any others with any significant experience.

And consider this, strange as it may seem: An 8-8 league record would be only a two-game drop off from last season, when Air Force won a school-record 26 games overall and had arguably its best team in history.

So here’s what was to like against TCU: It starts with Andrew Henke. The 6-foot-6 junior guard/forward poured in a career-high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

Henke has expanded his game, matured and blossomed in the second half of conference play. Consider:

In the first half of conference play, Henke averaged 7.4 points per game on 40.9 percent shooting, including 33.3 percent from 3-point range. In the seven games since, he’s averaged 14.9 points on 49.3 percent shooting, including 54.5 from 3-point range.

He’s become the Falcons’ top offensive threat, as Tim Anderson’s production has dropped off in the second half of league play. Perhaps feeling fatigued from his hefty minutes, Anderson has averaged just 9.2 points the past seven games on 31.3 percent shooting (22.2 from 3-point range). He averaged 17.0 points on 47.2 percent shooting (46.3 from 3-point range) in the first half of conference play.

The Falcons’ defense also gets some credit for helping force TCU into an absolutely atrocious shooting performance. Air Force carried out its plan to perfection, denying Kevin Langford (the Horned Frogs’ leading scorer) touches inside and keeping Brent Hackett from driving – though allowing Hackett to fire bricks from 3-point range.

So what wasn’t to like? Too many first-half turnovers. Missing 11 of 21 free throws. And, most troublesome, the Falcons’ apparent lack of a killer instinct.

Air Force went up 13-0 as the Horned Frogs clanked their first eight shots from the floor.

And that’s when an elite team, playing on its home court, buries its opponent. It stretches its lead to a demoralizing 20 and puts the game away by halftime.

But the Falcons, once ahead, seemed to put it on cruise control. Sloppy play ensued, and before you knew it, they’d let TCU back in the game. To Air Force’s credit, it protected its double-digit lead in the second half. The Horned Frogs had something to do with that, however, as they could not make a shot.

Other Thoughts
-A victory over San Diego State on Saturday not only would give the Falcons a .500 record in league play and – depending on what happens with the Utah-UNLV game – a potential fifth-place finish. It also would give the Falcons just their second victory over one of the league’s top-tier teams.

So far, Air Force’s home victory over UNLV stands as its most impressive victory in league play – and overall, for that matter. The Falcons’ other six conference triumphs came over the Mountain West’s bottom-feeders – two each over winless CSU, Wyoming and TCU.

-Would’ve liked to have seen Phillip Brown play Wednesday night, at least for 3-4 minutes, after how well he played against BYU. I know Keith Maren has had a great season and he played well Wednesday and you want to go with your experienced senior. But I thought Brown could have benefited from a second straight game with some playing time.

-We didn't fit this in the paper: Junior guard Anwar Johnson handed out a career-high six assists.

-TCU looked like the most improved team in the league early this season. Now? Yikes. The Horned Frogs clearly missed suspended guard Henry Salter on Wednesday night, but 26.2 percent from the floor? The people they pull down from the stands for the shooting contests during timeouts look better than TCU does right now.

Are You Ready for Some (Spring) Football?

2008-03-04T22:13:00.004-07:00

After a reserve defensive player picked off a pass in the flat late in Air Force’s first spring practice on Tuesday evening, one defensive coach looked at another.

“Who is that?”

For much of the day, that was a good question.

There have been the usual assortment of number changes – quarterback Eric Herbort went from 8 to 7, Savier Stephens from 42 to 2, Kyle Halderman from 83 to 4, Ken Lamendola from 54 to 47, to name a few. But there were a whole bunch of new faces on the field with the standout Class of 2008 gone and the freshmen who played on the JV last year now playing with the varsity.

How quickly those new faces develop will tell a lot about this year.

With that said, here are some initial impressions from Day One:

- Heard running backs coach Jemal Singleton scream “Finish the play!” a few times. The players were in helmets and shorts, but even when a back is touched down or corralled for a stop, Singleton wants him to keep going and sprint another 20 or so yards.

- Best play of the day: A deep pass down the right sideline from Herbort to receiver Spencer Armstrong. It covered about 45 to 50 yards, and the ball was right on the money.

- Shortly after that play, Will McAngus, a freshman quarterback, hit receiver Dal Shealy on a similar pattern.

- I think the Falcons should be in pretty good shape at the X and Z receivers. At X there’s Sean Quintana, who will be a junior and started some games last year, and Armstrong. And when Air Force uses them together, they make a good pair. Quintana is sure-handed and the perfect possession receiver, while Armstrong is a legitimate deep threat. Also on Tuesday, sophomore Chaz Demerath, a 6-foot-2 freshman, made a nice play when a deep pass was thrown to the wrong shoulder. Demerath adjusted and made the grab.

At Z, Ty Paffett likely will start. He came on strong at the end of last season and played Z when Chad Hall was taking snaps at tailback. Also, look for his backup, Kyle Halderman, to make some plays too.

- Still waaaaay too early to talk too much about the QBs. But both Herbort and Shea Smith looked solid. And freshman Ben Cockran can sling it. Lots of heat on his throws.

- The first-team defense showed great enthusiasm, screaming each time it came on the field during team drills. It will be interesting to see what the defense is like this year. The Falcons are stacked up front with six experienced guys back on the defensive line, and Air Force should be set at safety with sophomore Chris Thomas (I think poised for a run at first-team All-MWC honors) and free safety Aaron Kirchoff (who started several games last season).

But the success of the defense will depend on the LBs and CBs. Air Force has a returning starter at one OLB spot (senior-to-be Hunter Altman) and Andre Morris, Jr. (who started one game last year as a freshman) likely will man the other OLB spot. But Air Force will have two brand new inside linebackers, and two new corners. Reggie Rembert, who started one game last year, will man one side of the field. Kevin Rivers, a senior next year, is penciled in at the other corner spot. Rivers was in a red jersey (injured) on Tuesday and did not practice.

- The Mountain West Conference should release its football schedule soon. Air Force should hope its 2008 conference slate doesn’t look like last season’s. In 2007 the Falcons faced the top three teams in the conference plus Navy in the first month of the season. For as young and inexperienced as the 2008 squad will be, it would benefit greatly by playing a couple of the league’s lesser teams early.

Football Spring Depth Chart Released

2008-03-03T12:04:00.005-07:00

Air Force head football coach Troy Calhoun released his initial depth chart heading into spring practice.

It appears below (Starters in bold).

Note: Each player’s class is what he will be in 2008 - e.g. quarterback Shea Smith currently is a junior, but he is listed on the chart as a senior.

OFFENSE
WR- X 81 Sean Quintana, Jr.
26 Spencer Armstrong, Sr.

TE 88 Travis Dekker, Sr.
85 Keith Madsen, Sr.

LT 79 Keith Williams, Sr.
70 Matt Markling, So.

LG 57 Nick Charles, Jr.
64 Jake Morrow, So.

C 63 Andrew Pipes, Sr.
65 Michael Hampton, Jr.

RG 62 Peter Lusk, Jr.
67 Tyler Weeks, Sr.

RT 60 Chris Campbell, Jr.
78 Ben Marshall, So.

QB 14 Shea Smith, Sr.
7 Eric Herbort, Jr.

FB 25 Todd Newell, Sr.
43 Justin Moore, Jr.

TB 2 Savier Stephens, So.
22 Brenton Byrd, Jr.

WR-Z 19 Ty Paffett, Sr.
4 Kyle Halderman, So.

DEFENSE
LE 93 Ben Garland, Jr.
95 Jake Paulson, Sr.

NG 56 Jared Marvin, Sr.
76 Stephen Larson, Jr.

RE 91 Ryan Kemp, Sr.
90 Rick Ricketts, So.

OLB 36 Andre Morris, Jr., So.
92 Myles Morales, Jr.

ILB 45 John Falgout, Jr.
55 Clay Bryant, Jr.

ILB 48 Brandon Reeves, Sr.
47 Ken Lamendola, So.

OLB 32 Hunter Altman, Sr.
37 William Kuechler, So.

CB 6 Kevin Rivers, Sr.
20 Devon Ford, Jr.

CB 8 Reggie Rembert, So.
18 Elliott Battle, So.

SS 34 Chris Thomas, Jr.
30 Luke Yeager, Sr.

FS 23 Aaron Kirchoff, Sr.
29 Luke Hyder, Jr.

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
94 Zachary Bell, So.

P 13 Ryan Harrison, Sr.
98 Brandon Geyer, Jr.

Hoops player Summerfield leaves academy

2008-03-02T19:35:00.002-07:00

Air Force freshman men’s basketball player Mark Summerfield has left the team and the academy “for good,” he said Sunday.

“Things didn’t work out,” Summerfield said from his home in West Virginia. “More or less it was overall the military-type stuff and other personal reasons.”

Summerfield, a 6-foot-3 guard, is the third member of the original eight-player freshman class to leave the academy. Tom Parks left in early September and Tyler Burke left in mid-December.
In addition, three players on the Air Force Academy Preparatory School’s basketball team were expelled recently, and three others were placed on probation.

Air Force spokesman Brett Ashworth said because of the Federal Privacy Act and the fact that Summerfield has not yet withdrawn officially, academy personnel could not comment on his departure. Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds, who said on Feb. 21 that Summerfield was not practicing because of “personal issues,” could not be reached for comment.

Summerfield played six minutes in four games this season and scored three points.

“It was a typical freshman year, not getting too much playing time and stuff,” Summerfield said. “I think it might have helped if I had played more, might have given me a little more incentive to stay, but that’s not really the main reason. Basketball was some of it but not nearly all of it.”

BYU Review

2008-03-01T23:01:00.004-07:00

Midway through the first half, things looked pretty good for the Falcons.

After falling behind 9-1 in one of the most hostile environments in the Mountain West Conference, Air Force put together a 13-5 run to tie the game at 14 with 9:31 left in the half. The Falcons then played right with the league’s best team for about the next six minutes.

But 12- to 13-minute stretches of good basketball aren’t enough. Especially against the best team in the league. Especially on that team’s home floor.

And especially when those stretches are followed with stretches that resemble the Falcons' last three-and-a-half minutes of the first half and first 10-and-a-half of the second.

During that time, the Falcons were outscored 37-7, they made just two field goals and they got points on just five of 26 possessions. BYU, meanwhile, got points from six players, made 3-pointers on four straight possessions and built a 32-point lead.

Yikes.

“We lost them in transition a bunch of times, and we were scrambling on defense and they did a great job of finding the open man, making extra passes,” Air Force junior guard/forward Andrew Henke said. “They did everything. And then we didn’t come down and execute on the offensive end.”

Air Force plays well enough to keep up with the best teams in the league for stretches. But – right now – the Falcons not good enough to do it for entire games.

Other Thoughts
-Talk about a glimpse of the future. Midway through the first half, Air Force had three freshmen on the floor – guard Evan Washington, who has started every game this year; forward Derek Brooks, who has played in four of the Falcons’ last five games; and center Phillip Brown, who played for the first time this year.

-What a debut by Brown. The 6-foot-7 center from Georgia was a heralded recruit, but his development was slowed because he missed a good chunk of practices early in the year (the coaching staff held him out so he could concentrate on academics). But Brown has earned playing time in practice, Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said, and was rewarded Saturday night.

And despite playing in one of the league’s toughest venues and against one of its best post players (Trent Plaisted) for much of the time he was on the floor, Brown was effective. Six points, four boards and three blocks. Pretty good.

-Not surprised by the technical foul called on Reynolds. Actually surprised he hadn’t gotten one earlier this season, the way he gets after the refs. Saturday he was maybe one more complaint away from getting a second “T” and getting tossed.

The Battle for Fifth

2008-02-28T22:46:00.004-07:00

Heading into Saturday’s Mountain West Conference men’s basketball games, Air Force is tied for fifth place in the league with Utah and TCU (all three teams are 6-7 in conference play).

Moving into fourth place is unlikely for Air Force as San Diego State resides there with an 8-6 record and a game in hand. The Falcons face the Aztecs in both teams’ regular season finale, but San Diego State plays host to Colorado State (winless in league play) on Saturday. The Aztecs should wrap up at least fourth place with a victory over the Rams.

A slide all the way into eighth is impossible. Even if Air Force loses its final three games and Wyoming (in eighth at 4-10) wins both of its last two games, including a tilt at BYU, the teams would be tied and the Falcons hold the tiebreaker.

So it seems like Air Force will finish between fifth and seventh. Can the Falcons take fifth?

I figure it will take them winning two of three down the stretch and Wyoming upsetting Utah. Here’s how:

The remaining schedules for the teams vying for the fifth spot are as follows:

-Utah: at Wyoming, vs. Colorado State, at UNLV
-Air Force: at BYU, vs. TCU, vs. San Diego State
-TCU: at UNLV, at Air Force, vs. BYU

If we assume that each team will lose games to BYU and UNLV, the top two teams in the league, then here’s how the race looks:
-Utah (6-8) with games at Wyoming and against Colorado State
-Air Force (6-8) with games against TCU and San Diego State
-TCU (6-9) with a game at Air Force

If we further assume Utah will beat Colorado State, then the race comes down to three games:
-Utah at Wyoming (this Saturday)
-TCU at Air Force (next Wednesday)
-San Diego State at Air Force (a week from Saturday)

So if Wyoming upsets Utah, the Utes will finish 7-9. And if Air Force holds serve at home, it will finish 8-8.

Here’s the not-so-funny part for Air Force fans. The Nos. 2-4 seeds (which will face the Nos. 5-7 seeds in the first round of the conference tournament) still are up for grabs. So finishing sixth or seventh could arguably get the Falcons a better first-round match-up.

Confused yet? Me too. I’m starting to think “taking it one game at a time” is not so bad a cliché. We can worry about this a week from now.

Colorado State Review

2008-02-24T17:00:00.004-07:00

Yes, Air Force was facing the worst team in the Mountain West Conference – one that had lost 12 straight.

And, OK, the Rams are using some players who probably are better suited for intramurals than Division I basketball.

And, sure, Moby Arena with less than 4,000 fans – and more than a few supporting the Falcons – isn't The Pit or Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But don’t underestimate the importance of Air Force’s 61-59 victory over the Rams on Saturday, especially the way the Falcons won.

Without their best stuff.

Air Force missed 14 of its first 17 3-pointers, including some wide open looks that the Rams almost dared them to take. “I haven’t seen the tape,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said a few minutes after the game, “but I would have to say that every shot we took that was a 3 was wide open, they just didn’t go in.”

In addition, Tim Anderson struggled again, going 3-for-8 from the field, and the Rams shot the lights out early, building confidence and momentum with every 3.

But, like a fighter who finds himself a step slow in a bout, Air Force hung on and did its best to minimize the Rams’ punishment. The Falcons saved their energy and, when given openings, unleashed flurries of points to steal momentum.

Yes, it was Colorado State. But good teams don’t lose to cellar-dwelling squads, and they find ways to win even when things aren’t going exactly right. Air Force is trying to become a good team, and Saturday was a big step in the right direction.

Other Thoughts:
-After Saturday’s games, the Falcons are 6-7 in the Mountain West Conference and in sixth place, a half-game in front of TCU (5-7) and a half-game behind Utah (6-6).

The top of the conference is tight too, as BYU (10-2) leads second-place UNLV (9-3) by a game. The Runnin’ Rebels have a half-game lead on surging New Mexico (9-4), which leads San Diego State (8-5) by a game.

So Air Force’s first-round opponent in the conference tourney is still up in the air. I think the best match-up for the Falcons might be the Aztecs and after that – crazy as it sounds – UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels will play on their home floor in the tourney, but they are the one team Air Force matches up with size-wise. And the Falcons have given UNLV fits of late, winning at home and pushing UNLV to the brink on the road.

Utah is a pretty good possibility as an opponent, and I think Air Force might like another shot at the Utes. The one team I think the Falcons do not want to see is New Mexico.

-Eric Kenzik played his second straight solid game for the Falcons Saturday. He scored just six points in 10 minutes, but his pair of 3-pointers helped keep Air Force afloat in the first half when Colorado State couldn’t seem to miss from the perimeter.

-The game’s top highlight, in my opinion? Andrew Henke trying to throw down a dunk over 7-foot Stuart Creason. Henke didn’t quite jam it, but he picked up the foul and somehow banked the ball in anyway.

-Just eight turnovers for Air Force on Saturday. That means in three of the past five games, the Falcons have made eight or less.

Football Banquet Highlights

2008-02-23T00:42:00.003-07:00

Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun had high praise for his 2007 squad at the team’s banquet, held Friday night at The Broadmoor.

Calhoun noted that he played for a baseball team that reached the Little League World Series and an academy team that was ranked No. 5 in the country and that he was on the coaching staff of a Denver Broncos team that went 14-2 in the regular season and played in the AFC Championship game.

But, he said, “I’ve never been part of a group that came as close to maxing out their physical ability than this team.”

Calhoun had praise for each senior who was introduced (see below), including Drew Fowler and Garrett Rybak, who shared the prestigious Brian Bullard Memorial Award (Given to the player who displays the qualities that typified the late Bullard – unselfishness, 110 percent effort, total team commitment and pride in his role on the team whether he’s a starter or not).

Players vote on the Bullard Award. Calhoun said there were about seven players who received six or more votes.

“It’s one of those years you almost could have given it to the whole class,” Calhoun said. “But the two that were chosen were absolutely tremendous selections.”

But while Friday night was all about celebrating the Falcons’ remarkable 2007 season and the standout senior class that helped make it possible, Calhoun also had some thoughts on what many expect to be a down year in 2008.

“Initially, you may have some concerns about this year,” Calhoun told the crowd at the banquet. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to be fine in 2008. ... We’re going to be tough, we’re going to be talented and we’re going to win because we have academy kids.”

Senior Superlatives
Here are some excerpts of what Calhoun said about the players who made up the Class of 2008:

-CB Carson Bird: “Just a remarkable season.”

-QB Shaun Carney: “If there’s one word that sticks out about this kid, it’s ‘leader.’’ ... A guy that’s a winner and a guy that you absolutely want to be the quarterback of your football team.”

-DE Josh Clayton: Provided “great, great leadership” for a defensive front that excelled.

-TE Chris Evans: “’Tremendous attitude and a strong contributor on special teams.”’

-LB Drew Fowler: “You’re around Drew Fowler for a while and right away you find out he’s genuine right until he hits the football field and you find out he wants to put a dent in your nose.”
-S Bobby Giannini: “The last six games of this season, he played as well as any defensive back in the conference. ... A class act and a great young man.”

-C Blaine Guenther: “This guy’s a football player. ... He’s every bit deserving of first-team all-conference.”

-RB/WR Chad Hall: “He always makes sure that if any praise comes his way, he deflects it to the Air Force Academy and his teammates.” Calhoun also described his effort in making two blocks on Jim Ollis’ 71-yard run against TCU: “To me, that’s Chad Hall.”

-WR Devin Hart: “We always talk about complete people, this is a quality leader within the cadet wing.”

-T Dan Holder: “He’s one of those guys you just naturally gravitate towards.”

-LB Julian Madrid: “This is a guy that right away you can tell these guys love having him as a teammate.” He said Madrid “defied any kind of logic” by coming back from his knee injury.

-TB Kip McCarthy: “He’s a guy that his teammates knew was totally dependable.”

-WR Mike Moffett: “He played both Z and X receiver, and he was smart enough and tough enough and dedicated enough that there was no problem at all.”

-T Chris Monson: “He probably made as much improvement as anyone on our football team.”

-T Caleb Morris: “What comes to mind right away is the kind of heart Caleb has.”

-LS Tony Norman: “Not only was he an excellent long-snapper, but any time he was involved in coverage he excelled.”

-TB Jim Ollis: “Perseverance. That’s all there is to it when you talk about Jimmy Ollis. ... The last three games he played as well as any tailback in the country.”

-FB Scott Peeples: “He’s got a quick wit, and he makes you laugh. ... Scott filled a variety of roles.”

-LB John Rabold: “Outside of the bow tie (which Rabold wore to the banquet), I love this guy. Just had a phenomenal season.” When it comes to statistics, Rabold had “hands down the biggest impact on the defensive side of the ball in the conference.”

-LB Austin Randle: “He’s one of those guys that always has a smile on his face until he gets on the football field, which you love.”

-WR Mark Root: “Excellent blocker, caught the ball well, ran excellent routes, smart, tough and another classy kid.”

-CB Garrett Rybak: “He’s a guy you’re exceptionally proud of.”

-LB Aaron Shanor: “One of those guys that really found his stride the last eight games of the season.”

-TB Chad Smith: “Just a tough kid, I don’t know any other way to put it.”

-CB Nathan Smith: “A guy who played a bunch on special teams and always was ready to step in” at cornerback.

-FB Ryan Williams: “No way I could brag about this guy’s toughness too much. ... A great, great football player, and an even tougher kid.”

Other Notes

-Seniors Carney and Fowler will coach at the academy next year. Guenther and Hall – and perhaps Bird – will coach at the prep school.

-During his remarks, academy superintendent Lt Gen John F. Regni noted the deal signed earlier that day by The mtn. and DirecTV. It elicited cheers and applause from the audience. “This is huge for us,” Regni said. “From a recruiting standpoint, it’s big.”

-Calhoun on new assistant head coach/inside linebackers coach Matt Wallerstedt, who Calhoun hired to replace the departed Brian Knorr. “He was raised in an Air Force family. His dad was a fighter pilot. His dad flew F-4s. ... A guy that was a tremendous football player. ... He’ll do a great job. We were lucky as can be to get him.”

New Mexico Review

2008-02-21T13:00:00.004-07:00

Air Force needed to play close to perfect – and with unmatched enthusiasm – to beat New Mexico on Thursday night.

It did neither.

So the result, predictably, was a 17-point home loss to arguably the hottest team in the Mountain West Conference.

Air Force showed some heart to come back from a double-digit first half deficit, but was sloppy and flat after halftime. Once the Falcons fell behind by double digits again, they became a bit impatient, coach Jeff Reynolds said. They took some shots too early in the shot clock, not allowing the offense to produce better looks.

Other thoughts:
- It’s time to start Andrew Henke in place of Matt Holland.

More for Holland than for Henke.

Let me explain.

Holland has started all 25 of the Falcons’ games this year and has been one of their more pleasant surprises.

But he has played just 9, 5, 10 and 9 minutes in the past four games, respectively. The past three games he’s started the second half on the bench.

Now, I know Reynolds likes the “energy” that Henke provides off the bench. And I know he and Henke recently discussed Henke starting and they decided against it. And I know that Utah’s Johnnie Bryant has had lots of success playing a sixth-man role for the Utes.

But …

On Wednesday night against New Mexico, Holland was replaced by Henke just 1 minute, 13 seconds into the game. Does it do Holland any good to play 73 seconds before getting yanked? I say no.

He’s played just 33 minutes the past four games combined. Two of the Falcons’ other starters played that many or more on Wednesday night. So he’s got to know he’s a starter in name only. And I would imagine that's hurting his confidence.

So wouldn’t bringing him off the bench be the perfect solution? Instead of playing a couple minutes to start the game and then going to the bench for the remainder of the half, why not allow him to provide the energy and spark off the bench? I’ve got to believe that he would feel a whole lot more comfortable with his place on the team if he was playing 5-10 minutes as a bench player instead of a starter. I think it would just change his whole mindset.

And how about playing Holland and Henke at the same time? Henke for one of the starting guards and Holland at the three-spot?

- I remember last year, when the Clune Arena win streak was nearing 30 games, doing a piece on the building and Air Force’s recent success there. Several coaches – including Jeff Bzdelik – noted that home-court advantages start with the players. In other words, no matter how loud or big or quirky or intimidating an arena is, it doesn’t guarantee victories without a good team playing on its floor.

I think that’s part of what’s happened this year. Air Force enjoyed a remarkable home-court advantage when it had its most impressive collection of talent at the academy. Most of those players now are gone. The team is rebuilding, and the players must help rebuild the aura of dominance on their home floor.

But I can’t let the fans off the hook either. Clune had its lowest attendance for a Mountain West Conference game on Wednesday night. Saturday against Wyoming the excuses for poor attendance were the great weather, the three-day weekend and the great skiing conditions in the mountains. What was the excuse Wednesday night? For the second straight game, there was zero electricity from the fans at the start of the game.

- Saturday's game at Colorado State sets up as a major trap game. The Rams are 0-11 in conference but played TCU tough Wednesday night. Air Force can't afford to start slowly or look past this game at all or it will be in big trouble.

Wallerstedt on way to AFA

2008-02-19T17:09:00.004-07:00

Air Force will add former Kansas State assistant Matt Wallerstedt to its football coaching staff, academy associate athletic director for communications Troy Garnhart confirmed Tuesday.

Wallerstedt, who spent two years with the Wildcats, will fill the vacancy created when assistant head coach Brian Knorr accepted a position at Wake Forest last week. Knorr coached the Falcons’ inside linebackers.

Wallerstedt played linebacker at Kansas State from 1984 to 1987 and earned honorable mention All-American honors in 1987. He coached linebackers in his two seasons at his alma mater and also served as the Wildcats’ recruiting coordinator during the 2006 season and their special teams coordinator in 2007.

Before returning to his alma mater, Wallerstedt spent two seasons as Akron’s associate head coach, linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. His nearly 20-year coaching career also included a six-season stint at Wyoming (1997-2002).

Wyoming Review

2008-02-16T20:48:00.003-07:00

Dateline: Clune Arena, 6:44 left in the first half.

Wyoming’s Eric Platt has just made a 3-pointer, Wyoming is up 25-13, Air Force is reeling, Clune Arena is silent and the Falcons’ three-game losing streak is starting to look like just the beginning of a dreadful end-of-season collapse.

Admit it – no matter how big an Air Force fan you are, if you were watching the game you thought the same thing.

Things looked awful, didn’t they?

There was a good explanation, Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. The team was emotionally, physically and mentally drained – still – from its loss to UNLV on Tuesday.

Said Reynolds: “Coming into the game today, our staff was extremely concerned about whether or not we had left everything we had in Vegas. I told the guys the other day, and I really believe this, I mean it, I was fortunate enough back in 1981 to coach in the NCAA Tournament at James Madison University. And we played North Carolina in the first round, Michael Jordan’s freshman year, they went on to win it. The final score was 56-52, and up until the Las Vegas game the other night, I don’t know that I’d ever been involved in a game where both teams played that hard. We left it in Vegas. We started the (Wyoming) game out, we had no energy – no energy on the defensive end, no energy on the offensive end. And we were just walking in sand. And there’s really nothing you can do about that, the kids were emotionally and physically drained.”

So how in the world did they turn things around so dramatically and eventually go on to win 72-66?

“We made some substitutions, and we talked about, ‘Hey we’ve got to do something to get our energy going,’” Reynolds said. “And we brought the guys that weren’t a little leg-weary off the bench, and they sort of got going. We made one little defensive change, we just started trapping the ball on the first point-to-wing pass, and it created a little energy for us.”

And that little energy became a lot of energy. Air Force finished the first half on a 19-6 run to take a 32-31 lead into halftime. The Falcons then scored on eight of their first 11 possessions of the second half to take command of the game.

It was a dramatic turnaround.

And necessary.

Had the Falcons lost today, they would have taken a four-game losing streak into Wednesday’s game against a New Mexico team that blew them out earlier this year and now seems to be peaking. After that, a trap game at Colorado State. Then a trip to BYU.

Yikes.

Air Force needed to stop the skid before it got out of control. And it did.

Other thoughts:
-Andrew Henke is starting to have the impact on this team that many expected him to have.

I hate to go cliché on you, but Henke is “playing within himself.”

How’s he doing that?

1. He’s picking his spots carefully and wisely. Henke isn’t forcing up shots just to get them. He’s taking shots in rhythm and within the flow of the offense.

2. He’s begun driving the basketball more frequently. As Reynolds noted after the game, he has added the shot-fake-and-drive and shot-fake, one dribble and pull-up jumper to his arsenal. Teams had recognized how good a 3-point shooter Henke is and were doing everything they could to keep him from getting looks from the perimeter. Now that he has shown an ability to get to the hoop and score from mid-range, he’s opened up some more shots for himself from behind the 3-point arc.

3. He’s not passing the ball with reckless abandon as much. Henke sees the court and the game incredibly well – I’ve even floated the idea that he could play the point next year. But at times that leads him to throw passes that are open but that rate a 10.0 on the difficulty scale. He’s cut back on those, evidenced by his zero turnovers the last two games.

-So apparently the Falcons were feeling a hangover from the UNLV game in the opening 10-15 minutes on Saturday. What was the crowd’s excuse? I’d heard louder and more rowdy groups at chess matches. There’s a push to refer to the arena as “The Chamber.” During the first 15 minutes of Saturday’s game it was more like “The Library.”

And what’s up with Section 8? The only reason that name still works is because there are eight cadets up there for games.

-Good sign that Air Force was able to play so well against UNLV and beat Wyoming with – by his standards – subpar offensive performances by leading scorer Tim Anderson. In the two games, Anderson made just 7 of 23 shots from the floor.

-Evan Washington has run through the wall – if he ever really hit it in the first place. After going 3 for 24 and scoring just 12 points in a five-game stretch, Washington has made 14 of 23 shots in his last three games and scored 32.

Knorr Leaving

2008-02-14T09:12:00.001-07:00

Air Force assistant head football coach Brian Knorr is leaving the academy to take a job at Wake Forest, according to a source with knowledge of the move, who asked to remain anonymous.

Knorr, a 1986 academy graduate, also coached the Falcons’ inside linebackers this year and played a key role in recruiting. The 2007 season was his sixth overall at Air Force and his third since returning to the academy from Ohio University, where he coached from 1995 to 2004, the last four years as the Bobcats’ head coach.

Knorr, who lettered three years at the academy as a quarterback, will join Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, who coached at the academy from 1984 to 1994. Grobe and Knorr coached together at Ohio, and Knorr succeeded Grobe as head coach there.

UNLV Review

2008-02-13T19:22:00.004-07:00

By far the most intense and entertaining game the Falcons have played since the start of the conference schedule – and maybe the whole season.

Said Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds: “It was a heavyweight bout. We took their shots and punched right back and just missed some execution down the stretch. “

Air Force should be proud of the performance it gave Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Facing a team that has been extremely difficult to beat on its home court, the Falcons embraced the hostile environment and gave UNLV everything it could handle. Air Force played as well as it has all year, given the opponent and the circumstances, and trailed by just four until a desperation 3-pointer doomed them with less than a minute to play.

But this is – to channel Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins – Division I basketball. It ain’t intramurals. So no matter how well Air Force played or how hard it tried, the score doesn’t change: UNLV 58, Air Force 51.

That’s the harsh reality for this team. Anyone who watched Air Force bumble through a loss to Northern Illinois in late November or get blown out at Utah in early January knows the team has improved dramatically.

But they need something to show for it. They need a marquee victory - as opposed to the moral ones they’ve stockpiled in recent weeks – to give them positive reinforcement.

This next stretch, which includes winnable games at home against Wyoming (Saturday) and New Mexico (next week) before a road game at Colorado State, could provide the opportunity for that reinforcement.

Other thoughts
-Air Force slipped into seventh place in the conference with Tuesday night’s loss. If the regular season ended today, that would put the Falcons in a Mountain West Conference quarterfinal game against UNLV.

The Falcons are 1-1 against UNLV and they seem to give the Rebels fits. But I think Air Force would have a better chance to post its first Mountain West Conference Tournament victory if it faced San Diego State, Utah or New Mexico in the first round and the court truly was neutral. That probably means Air Force will have to creep back into fifth or sixth place by the end of the regular season.

-Reynolds told me at the morning shootaround Tuesday that Derek Brooks had been playing well in practice and had earned playing time. Sure enough, with 16:29 left in the first half, Brooks entered the game. He scored only two points but played 11 minutes and, given the opponent and the environment, acquitted himself very well. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact he makes the rest of the year.

-Andrew Henke began the season hot, scoring in double figures in seven of the Falcons’ first eight games. He was up and down from there and had scored in double figures only once in conference play before last Saturday’s game against Utah, when he posted 11.

Tuesday against the Rebels, however, he played as good a game as he’s played all year – a team-high 15 points, including four 3-pointers, six boards and three assists with no turnovers.

Those numbers – specifically the points and 3s – were even more impressive if you saw the kind of defense that UNLV was playing on Henke. The Rebels’ Curtis Terry was in Henke’s face trying to deny him the ball even when Henke was several feet behind the 3-point line. And Terry wouldn’t leave Henke to help out teammates.

Henke has gotten that kind of treatment for most of the conference season and that likely won’t change. But he’s done a good job of late of taking advantage of his limited opportunities and also not forcing too many shots.

-Tim Anderson also had no turnovers despite the amount of ball-handling he did in the face of aggressive, hands-on pressure from the Rebels, specifically Wink Adams.

Anderson has emerged as a scorer this year, and he always has been known as a good defender. But don’t overlook his court vision and passing. He has a knack for the backdoor pass, and that was never more evident than early in the second half when he threaded a bounce pass through traffic to Eric Kenzik for a layin.

-Not sure how it looked on TV, but if you thought you saw a cloud of smoke in the arena in the first half, it wasn’t your television playing tricks on you. The cloud was the remnants of the fireworks display in the UNLV pre-game introductions.

Only Vegas.

Utah Review

2008-02-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails from fans regarding Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds’ post-game comments to Jim Arthur on the radio. I didn’t hear them, but I gather they were very similar to what he said to the print and television folks in the media room.

Here are some excerpts of what he said to us.

“Utah was tougher than we were today. They were mentally tougher, they got to the loose balls and the rebounds and they were better prepared and better coached.”

“I felt our team played hard. That’s all I can ask them to do, they did that for me. … I felt like we played hard. I’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”

“I thought we distributed the ball very well. I thought we attacked the rim very well. As a coach I just was calling the wrong plays. "

“As a coach you wonder if you’re running the wrong system for the guys because we got good shots, and they just didn’t go in. As a coach you’ve got to make an adjustment. I didn’t make an adjustment. I can’t blame it on the kids, I did a bad job. Simple as that. They were better prepared, they out-toughed us. That’s my fault. Hard to swallow. "

I don’t pretend to know if Reynolds was trying to take the blame off his inexperienced players to protect them and try to preserve their confidence or if he really believed it was his fault or if it was some combination of the two.

I do know that Reynolds is as emotional and passionate a coach as I ever have covered – and that he’s wound tighter than just about any coach I’ve ever covered. I think that comes out at times in his post-game dealings with the media. I think he is extremely hard on himself and takes every loss like it was a loss in the national championship game.

His team was picked to finish next-to-last in the league, but I think he still feels the pressure of expectations created by the Falcons’ success the last few years. Especially because this is his first season.

Other Thoughts
- Back in football season, I remember some of the players saying after a loss that they couldn’t let it “beat us twice.”

That’s part of the task that faces the Air Force men’s basketball team this week.

Facing UNLV Tuesday on its home court, where the Rebels have been outstanding, will be difficult enough. So Air Force must make sure there’s no hangover from the loss to the Utes.

And that will be tough. Air Force seemed in control in the first half, but they squandered a 10-point lead quickly in the second half. It marked the first time the Falcons have been unable to follow a loss with a victory. And it came at home, where Air Force’s dominance seems to be fading.

I don’t necessarily think Air Force is headed for a downward spiral if it loses on Tuesday. But the Falcons at least need to play well to keep some semblance of confidence heading into a stretch in which they should be favored to win some games. They’ll face Mountain West Conference bottom-feeders Wyoming (at home) and Colorado State (on the road) as well as New Mexico (at home).

-Thought Andrew Henke played as well as he’s played all year in the first half against Utah. In the second he took just one shot before his ill-fated 3-pointer with about 25 seconds left. That was a shot that probably shouldn’t have been taken. But, again, that’s probably inexperience.

San Diego State Review

2008-02-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Air Force men's basketball coach Jeff Reynolds hates when his team is compared to the academy’s record-breaking 2006-07 squad.

For good reason. That team featured six experienced seniors, four of whom were starters who had played together for years and were the common thread in the academy’s resurgence.

But in the spirit of keeping things in perspective, consider this: Last year’s team, with all its talent and experience, was blown out at San Diego State by 21 points.

This year’s team lost by 11. But more importantly, the Falcons played with the most heart and tenacity I’ve seen this year. The defense was intense and in-your-face and made the Aztecs work hard. And I liked the team’s demeanor from the morning shootaround to warm-ups to the game. Focused, confident and all business.

Of course none of the above matters without some buckets.

Air Force struggled mightily to score Wednesday night against the Aztecs, making just 13 of 42 shots from the floor and just 4 of 18 3-pointers for 38 points – its second-lowest total of the year. So in four conference losses, the Falcons have managed 36, 44, 53 and 38 points on a combined 51-of-158 shooting (32.3 percent) from the floor, including 21-of-75 shooting (28 percent) from 3-point range.

That’s not going to get it done. Reynolds knows it.

“At this stage of the game, I think we’ve got to become better offensively if we’re going to make a push in the league,” he said. “We’ve got to do that. I think we’re sound and solid defensively, but when you score 38 points and you shoot 31 percent from the field (as the Falcons did against San Diego State), you’re not going to win a lot of games in this league.”

Reynolds also was disappointed Air Force didn’t get to the free-throw line more. The Falcons attempted 13, but “we never got into the bonus until almost the game was over,” he said.

It’s been said before, but junior guard Anwar Johnson has to find a way to finish around the rim. He is so gifted athletically and has made some incredible moves to scoot past defenders and contort himself to the rim. But then – almost as if he doesn’t know what to do once he gets there – he misses the layup or the dunk. He and freshman Evan Washington, who went scoreless for the second straight game after scoring in each of the Falcons’ first 19, combined to shoot 0-for-9.

So offense is a problem, but if you had told me earlier this year that Air Force would be 4-4 at the midway point of league play, I wouldn’t have believed you – especially after the debacle at Utah.

Air Force has a favorable schedule the rest of the way, playing five of its eight remaining games at Clune Arena. If the Falcons can hold serve at home and steal a game on the road, they likely won’t win the league, but they’ll have succeeded in shocking it – their goal all along.

Spring Practice Dates

2008-02-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, some Falcon Football news – Air Force’s spring practice dates.

The Falcons will hold their first practice on March 4 and hold seven more sessions before spring break. Air Force will reconvene on April 1 for the first of eight more sessions – the last the Spring Game on April 12.

Here’s the full list of practices. Air Force built in gaps between practices to allow for inclement weather.

March 4
March 5
March 7
March 8
March 11
March 12
March 18
March 19
April 1
April 2
April 4
April 5
April 8
April 9
April 11
April 12 (Spring Game)

In addition, the Air Force football banquet will be held Feb. 22 at the Broadmoor.

TCU Review

2008-02-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

I think it’s safe to say at this point that nobody should read too much into any one game the Air Force men’s basketball team plays this year.

The Falcons were blown out at Utah by 21 in their Mountain West Conference opener and boy, oh, boy did it look like it’d be a long league season. Until the next game when they knocked off UNLV – the team picked to finish second in the league in the preseason.

They were rocked by New Mexico at The Pit and the offense looked anemic. Until the next game when the Falcons scored 75 – tied for the second-most they’ve put up all season – in a victory over Colorado State.

They suffered their worst home loss since 2001 to BYU, and it looked like the beginning of the end with a tough stretch ahead. Until today when Air Force defeated TCU, 56-46.

It’s going to be that kind of year – up and down, up and down. That’s what we should expect, especially with an inexperienced team.

TCU Quick Thoughts:

-Overall, just a huge victory considering what’s up next. Even if the Falcons lose at San Diego State on Wednesday – and the Aztecs are very tough to beat at home – they’d be 4-4 halfway through the league season. Not bad, considering this team was picked to finish eighth in a nine-team league.

-I wrote below in my BYU Review/TCU Preview about Tim Anderson’s stellar defense. It was on display again today as he made two steals and, according to stats the Falcons keep, seven deflections.

Anderson again played like a MWC Player of the Year candidate today, lifting his game when it mattered most. After TCU went on a 10-2 run to close within a point late in the game, Anderson calmly drained a 3-pointer. Two possessions later, he drained another, and the lead was back up to seven.

And check out this three-possession sequence early in the second half:

TCU Ball: Anderson blocks shot
AF Ball: Anderson makes no-look touch pass to Keith Maren for a layin.
TCU Ball: Anderson makes steal

BYU’s Lee Cummard might end up taking the POY award, but Anderson’s got to be in the discussion.

-Air Force is very fortunate TCU's Henry Salter did not play.

-Not a great performance by the TCU student section. When your top cheer is "Air Force [rhymes with tux]," that's pretty lame.

-Anwar Johnson’s late-game dunk hopefully gives him some confidence around the rim – especially after being rejected on a dunk attempt earlier in the game and blowing the dunk late in the BYU game.

It was a pretty impressive dunk, though, as jams go. And just as impressive was Andrew Henke’s first-half dunk when he drove the baseline and threw it down with two hands.

BYU Review/Pre-TCU

2008-02-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I posted something on this blog.

My bad.

Anyway, I’ll be providing game reviews from here on out, so here’s a mini-BYU Review along with some additional thoughts going into a pivotal stretch for the Falcons.

As David Ramsey pointed out in his column after the BYU game, everything was set up for the Falcons Wednesday night – home crowd, star player of the opposing team under the weather and a week off to prepare.

And Air Force still lost. Disappointing for fans, for sure, but maybe that’s about what should have been expected.

The thing about this Air Force team is that when it’s shooting the lights out – which it’s capable of doing – and playing good defense, it can look very, very good. The problem is shooting is a big-time variable. And you can’t really rely on it to carry you all the time. Last year’s team is a perfect example. Look at the UNLV game in Vegas when the Falcons desperately hoisted 39 3s and lost by 10.

So here’s the point – those top-notch shooting nights that lead to quality wins probably raise expectations to unrealistic levels. No matter how good this team has looked on certain nights, there also have been dismal losses to Northern Illinois and Colorado and the escape (helped by a generous no-call and then call) against Radford.

An 8-8 season still would be a big-time triumph.

Some other quick thoughts:

-Tim Anderson has been scoring in bunches lately, so it’s easy to overlook the best part of his game: His defense.

Anderson’s hands always seem to be in the way or poking a ball out of an opponent’s hands. His feet are deceptively quick. And he has uncanny anticipation that allows him to flash into passing lanes and make steals. A case in point was his theft with just less than 7 minutes to play in the first half of the BYU game. He made an aggressive break, swiped an inbounds pass and went for a layin.

One conference coach told me last year that he voted for Anderson as the defensive player of the year in the league. He might get some more votes this year.

-Anwar Johnson is wonderfully athletic. He has made some jaw-dropping moves to get to the hole this year.

But.

Once he gets there …

Perhaps the ability to finish is an innate gift like having a nose for the ball (like Anderson has on defense). But maybe he can learn it. If he can, Air Force will have an important piece to its offensive puzzle.

-Tomorrow’s game is huge if Air Force wants to have any prayer of staying in the conference race.

Look what’s up after the Falcons face TCU, one of the only teams in the league that’s better this year than it was last year:

at San Diego State (where the Aztecs are tough to beat and last year clobbered Air Force by 21 points)

v. Utah (a team that blew out the Falcons earlier this year)

at UNLV (another team that’s tough to beat at home.

Is tomorrow’s game a must-win? Only if Air Force wants any part of the race for the league title.

New Mexico Review

2008-01-20T13:02:00.001-07:00

A couple of hours before Air Force’s game at Wyoming on Wednesday, I told a Wyoming radio station that the Falcons could be very good when they were making shots.

It sounded like an incredibly obvious point – like saying you need to score more than the opponent to win. And one of the hosts of the program called me on it. He said making shots was important to the success of every team.

And he’s right.

But it’s especially important for Air Force.

The Falcons don’t have a 7-footer to whom they can dump the ball and hope for easy post-up buckets. They don’t run much, so they get few baskets in transition. And they don’t have very many players who can create a shot or get to the rim and finish with regularity.

So, more than most teams, Air Force must make shots – outside shots, specifically – to be successful.

Check this out:

In two conference victories …
v. UNLV: 61.8 FG%; 47.4 3-P%
v. Wyoming: 44.0 FG%; 48.1 3-P%

In two conference losses …
v. Utah: 31.4 FG%; 31.6 3-P%
v. New Mexico: 27.5 FG%; 26.1 3-P%

Other thoughts
-One of my questions for coach Jeff Reynolds after Saturday's loss was why he stuck with his regulars until the final horn.

The last 10 or so minutes – with New Mexico comfortably ahead – seemed like the perfect time to get some of the younger players on the floor in a road conference game. Especially considering Reynolds often talks about the need to find another reserve or two who can contribute. And because one of the few criticisms of the coaching of his predecessor, Jeff Bzdelik, was that Bzdelik often left starters in games too long. That could have contributed, critics said, to the late-season collapse last year. And it left many of the players who had to step into major roles this year woefully inexperienced.

When I asked Reynolds about it after the game, he had a very reasonable explanation. He said that while, yes, he had considered emptying his bench, he decided to use the final minutes of the game as a teaching experience. He called two timeouts late – including one with less than a minute to play that elicited boos from the crowd at The Pit – so he could point out what Air Force would do at those times if the game was closer. This is who we would foul, this is when we would foul, this is the play we would run, etc.

“I just felt like we wanted to try to learn even though we were losing,” he said. “I didn’t think our kids gave in. I thought with three minutes to go in the game, I thought we got our legs. We were running our offense harder. And maybe that was the fact that they weren’t playing as hard. I think that’s just the way it went.”

Again, an understandable explanation. And I admire the never-say-die, never-quit attitude that is displayed by fighting hard until the final horn

But if the Falcons happen to lose Tuesday to Colorado State, I don’t want to hear about how it was their third game in seven days. I don’t want to hear about a long road trip. I don’t want to hear about tired legs and fatigue.

There was an opportunity to give some guys who have been playing hefty minutes a chance to rest Saturday – let alone give seldom-used reserves a chance to play. Starter Anwar Johnson, who still is recovering from a bout with pneumonia (they had an oxygen tank on the bench for him at Wyoming), played 36 of 40 minutes Saturday – a team-high.

Now, it might turn out that the lessons learned by the regulars in the waning minutes of the game will pay dividends down the line. Maybe they learned something about the offense, the defense or themselves that will make a big difference Tuesday or later in the season.

But the fatigue excuse is off the table for Tuesday night.

-Through two weeks of conference play, two things stand out.

One: As written earlier this week, the league is wide open. And the eventual champ could have three, four – perhaps five – losses.

Two: Last year’s Air Force team would have dominated this league. Funny how entire leagues go in cycles. Lot of talent gone from last year.

-New Mexico’s J.R. Giddens may or may not make it at the next level. But there’s no doubting he has the tools. The spin move he made to get to the basket in the first half Saturday was stunning.

Aloha, Mr. Rabold

2008-01-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

Air Force senior outside linebacker John Rabold recently returned to the academy from Hawaii, where he spent a week preparing for and playing in the Hula Bowl – a senior all-star game that acts in large part as a showcase for NFL scouts.

I spoke to Rabold this afternoon about his experience at the game.

Jake Schaller: What was it like at the Hula Bowl?
John Rabold: It was a great experience. I had a lot of fun out there. In the morning we had football practice and meetings and walk-throughs, but then by lunchtime we were done with the football aspects. We’d do community activities, sign autographs. But we were staying on the beach, so we got the opportunity to go to the beach almost every day.

JS: Where were you, exactly?
JR: We were in Honolulu, the Waikiki area. … It was great. The local people were really nice to us down there. We had all different types of food. But we had rice with about every meal so I’m laying off the rice a little now. We were having it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

JS: How did you feel you measured up to the other players?
JR: I feel I measured up equally with the guys up there. When we first went up there it went through my head that I had been playing at an academy and people were saying that the Mountain West was not one of the top conferences in the country. But after playing up there and playing with some Mountain West people, I felt we were just as good or better than the people at the bigger, known schools.

JS: What was your interaction with pro scouts?
JR: Scouts were out there, and I talked to some of them. … They said they’d keep an eye on me and everything. They said they liked what they saw in me out there. They said I was faster than what they had suspected. And I was faster in practice than they thought I was. Practice was the key part. They looked at you more there than in the actual game. I’ve got a two-year commitment and they all know that, so I have to serve in the Air Force first and hopefully something will come up.

JS: Your teammate, Drew Fowler, will be playing in the East-West Shrine game Saturday. Did you share your experiences with him?
JR: I kept in touch with him. We talked about every day or exchanged text messages. I gave him a heads up, told him what to expect practice-wise and at all the meetings.

JS: Were you more encouraged about your pro prospects after the game?
JR: I was. I felt like I had a pretty good week of practice and played pretty well in the game. I thought I helped myself out there, and hopefully they saw I’m able to play and I’ll be willing to put in the hard work and make it to the next level. I think I did nothing but help myself.

JS: Will you be back to Hawaii?
JR: Most definitely. It was a great trip. I love the beach, so it definitely will be a trip I take in the future to get back there.

Wyoming Review

2008-01-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Just got to watch Eric Kenzik’s game-winning basket this morning on ESPN’s "SportsCenter." It was No. 2 on the show’s Top 10 plays.

As always, I was surprised to see Air Force highlights on the Worldwide Leader. It doesn’t happen too often.

After I got over that shock, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Kenzik’s cut to the basket and even more impressed by the assist Andrew Henke made. Great vision, and there was some heat on that pass.

That was a pretty big victory for the Falcons. On the road. Against a rival. In an arena where Air Force had won just two of its previous 18 games.

For a team that has little experience and had found little success away from Clune Arena prior to Wednesday, it should be a big-time confidence booster.

Quick Thoughts

-Through three games, Tim Anderson is the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year.

He’s averaged 17.7 points in conference play (tied for third in the league) on 53.3 percent shooting from the field (fourth-best in the league). And he’s played outstanding defense. Five charges taken against Wyoming? That has to be some kind of record.

Best of all, he’s shown a knack for knowing when to take control (see his step-back 3-pointer with 4:26 left in regulation when Wyoming was surging) and when to let others make plays (see the game-winning play in overtime).

He’d have his opponents’ vote. When I spoke to Wyoming’s Brad Jones before the game, Jones said he had “the utmost respect for Air Force, especially Tim Anderson."

“I got to hang out with him at media day, and I think he’s a stand-up guy and one of the premier guards in the league.”

-Air Force has to improve its free throw shooting. The Falcons made just 7 of 14 attempts from the line Wednesday night, and it nearly cost them the game.

-The Falcons desperately need some more help from their bench. Anderson played all 45 minutes Wednesday night, and freshman guard Evan Washington played 43. Last year’s late-season collapse probably had something to do with fatigue. I remember Matt McCraw playing every minute of the Falcons’ first four contests.

Wild, Wild Mountain West

2008-01-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

Just got finished watching UNLV absolutely pound BYU, 70-41.

That’s UNLV, the team Air Force handled on Saturday, beating the defending conference champs. Badly.

And prior to that, TCU overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to beat New Mexico at the buzzer, 74-72.

Three things jump out:

One, it’s more than cliché this season when coaches talk about the importance of protecting their home courts. UNLV looked like a completely different team in Vegas than it did on Saturday at Clune Arena. More confidence shooting the ball, better defense, better intensity. The conference champ this season will have to be close to perfect at home.

Two, BYU’s Trent Plaisted had better figure out how to shoot free throws. One for 10? No matter how good he is in other facets of the game, that kind of percentage makes him a liability.

And three, this could be one wild year. You can drive yourself crazy by playing the “Team A beat Team B and Team C beat Team A, so Team C should beat Team B” game. But still, a look at scores around the conference seem to make Air Force’s prospects for shocking the league this season a whole lot more promising.

Anderson Named Player of the Week

2008-01-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

Air Force senior guard Tim Anderson was named the Mountain West Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week today for his performance in the Falcons’ 65-53 victory over UNLV on Saturday.

Anderson scored a game-high 27 points, including 21 in the second half, on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor and 9-of-12 shooting from the free throw line. Anderson, who scored 14 straight points during one stretch of the second half, also had two steals, blocked a shot and drew a charge.

This is Anderson’s second player of the week honor this year. He shared it with San Diego State’s Kyle Spain on Nov. 12.

UNLV Review

2008-01-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Amazing what a win can do.

Last week’s 22-point loss to Utah in Air Force’s Mountain West Conference opener seemed like a harbinger for a dreadful year. UNLV – the team picked to finish second in the conference – was coming to town and road games at two of the tougher venues in the league loomed thereafter.

An 0-4 start to conference play seemed possible – even likely – if the Falcons fell to UNLV, it said here in this blog.

But Air Force looked like a different team against the Runnin’ Rebels. Some of that had to do with playing at home, but more than that, it was the Falcons’ shooting and offensive execution. After the Falcons went 3 for 18 in the second half of their loss to Utah, Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said his players had open shots, they just didn’t make them.

After the UNLV game, I asked him whether the team’s success shooting the ball (Air Force shot a season-best 61.8 percent from the floor) could be explained simply by the team hitting shots or if the offense created better looks.

“I think it was a combination of we were a little bit more aggressive, but I think the flow of the game and the style of the defense dictated how we played, and we were fortunate to make some shots,” Reynolds said. “We made some tough shots and we made some open shots.”

Now, all of a sudden, players who had lost confidence – according to Reynolds – seem to be feeling pretty good. And don’t underestimate the importance of that for a team with little experience.

In addition, a quick look at scores around the league should brighten the outlook of Air Force fans. Wyoming is struggling and just got blown out by TCU (not sure what’s going on up in Laramie, but the Cowboys shouldn’t be playing this poorly – especially with the best backcourt in the conference). San Diego State lost earlier this week to Northern Colorado, a team the Falcons handled. And BYU was beaten soundly by Wake Forest.

Now, all that said, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I wrote in my Utah Review that despite how bad the Falcons looked, “it was just one game.”

Same idea works here.

Yes, Air Force looked very good Saturday, but it was just one game. I know UNLV was picked to finish second in the conference, but that was before the Runnin’ Rebels lost a pair of big men. Remember, UNLV lost four starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team – as many as Air Force lost. And the Runnin’ Rebels are the worst shooting team in the Mountain West.

We’ll know a lot more in a week.

Other Quick Thoughts:
-Good news/bad news on the crowd.

Good news: The announced crowd of 5,146 was larger than I anticipated, and fans got behind the Falcons big-time. “There were stretches in the second half where it was as loud as I’ve heard it in Clune Arena,” junior Andrew Henke said.

Bad news: Pretty lame turnout by Section 8. Lots of empty seats in that end of the arena.

-I thought the new unis were sharp. Reynolds said he’d like to add another alternate uniform – perhaps black, perhaps silver. But the Falcons are 1-0 in gray. Maybe save those uniforms for special occasions, like the Notre Dame football team does with its green jerseys.

-Big-time kudos to Anwar Johnson for a courageous effort. I limited questions to him after the game because he really was struggling to speak. I wonder if he’ll be able to play this week. It might get to a point where he just has to shut it down for a game or two so he can get back to 100 percent.

-They were overshadowed by Tim Anderson’s 27 points and Keith Maren’s standout all-around play, but Henke made a number of great passes – particularly a dish inside to Anderson for a layup and also a pinpoint bounce pass to a cutting Eric Kenzik. Henke might have the best court vision on the team. It leads him to take some chances that backfire – see the full-court baseball pass that went out of bounds in the first half. But it also helps him make some big-time passes.

Carney Update

2008-01-10T22:36:00.001-07:00

Before ESPN showed the replay of Shaun Carney’s gruesome knee injury that occurred late in the third quarter of the Armed Forces Bowl, announcers told viewers with queasy stomachs not to watch.

So those of you with queasy stomachs, skip the following quote.

“I was trying to plant my (right) foot and try to run over a linebacker,” Carney said of the play when he addressed the media today for the first time since immediately after the bowl game. “And at that time it was either a safety or a corner that hit my leg, and at the same time that linebacker that I was trying to run over hit me up top along with another defensive lineman from behind. So my leg went one way and my body went the other, and something had to give and it was my knee.”

The result of the collision described above, according to an MRI Carney received earlier this week at the academy, was a dislocated knee cap, damage to ligaments in the knee cap and ACL, MCL and PCL tears.

Yikes.

Carney said he knew it was serious immediately.

“When it happened, (trainers) were trying to do some tests on the knee … I just told them, ‘Guys, it’s gone. My knee is toast.’ I knew it,” Carney said.

Head trainer Tony Peck was fairly sure of the severity as well.

“Shaun’s a tough kid,” he said. “So you knew.”

Carney said Thursday he’ll have surgery on his ACL and PCL in about six weeks – though Peck said surgery for the PCL is not definite. The MCL heals by itself.

Peck said Carney – who came to today’s interview on crutches and uses a wheel chair to get to and from class – probably won’t be active for six or eight months. He said those rehabbing similar knee injuries typically don’t “feel like themselves” for about a year.

Carney said daily activities can be frustrating – though he’s had plenty of help from his family, fiancée and friends – and that it will be tough to stay off the golf course.

But the toughest part of the injury still was leaving the final game of his career before it was over.

“There was nothing more frustrating than leaving my teammates on the field and watching them battle Cal,” he said. “I felt like I definitely could have made a difference in that football game. It was hard to watch that lead slip away and that was the most frustrating moment I’ve had so far.”

Still, Carney will be able to finish school, graduate with his class and walk down the aisle for his June 28 wedding. Next year he’s slated to be back at the academy as a graduate assistant for the football team – which will benefit his rehab.

“I don’t think there’s any physical therapy staff in the country, in the Air Force, specifically, that can deal with me any better than these guys can,” he said.

As for that now infamous replay? Yes, Carney has watched it “a couple times.” His stomach didn’t turn over, he said.

“I don’t know why,” he said. “I remember sitting back at the hotel (in Fort Worth) with my brother in my hotel room and it was on SportsCenter. And I wanted to watch it again, I wanted to see what happened and how it happened. Everyone was like, ‘Ewww.’ And I was more like, ‘Really?’ Just trying to figure out what exactly happened.”

Ollis to Throw Hat in Ring

2008-01-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Add tailback Jim Ollis to the list of Air Force senior football players who hope to play professionally.

According to Bruce Ollis, Jim’s father, Ollis is looking for an agent.

An Air Force policy announced last year states airmen who want to pursue professional sports careers – or other careers that bring positive attention to the Air Force – “must have served on active duty for at least 24 months.”

After two years, a player can apply through the chain of command to either have his service suspended or to be granted an early release if he has a pro contract. A player granted an early release would serve six years of reserve duty instead of the three years of active duty left in his commitment.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, who spent four years coaching in the pros, said players could accrue leave “to still hit the minicamps and training camps and maybe play in some preseason games,” during their two years of active duty service.

Senior outside linebacker John Rabold, senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler and senior receiver/running back/returner Chad Hall all have expressed an interest in playing professionally. Rabold will play in Saturday’s Hula Bowl, and Fowler will play in the East-West Shrine game Jan. 19. Both games are senior all-star games that act as showcases for pro scouts.

Ollis, who spent most of his first three years at the academy serving as a backup quarterback, was moved to tailback by Calhoun prior to this season. He gained 682 yards (second-most on the team) on 106 carries (6.4 yards-per-carry) and scored six touchdowns. He ran for 138 yards, including a 71-yard score, in the Falcons’ upset victory over TCU. And in the Falcons’ final three games of the season, he rushed for 317 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries.

Back to Work

2008-01-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Air Force returned to practice Tuesday, but junior forward Anwar Johnson did not participate. According to coach Jeff Reynolds, Johnson is “fighting a bout of pneumonia.” Johnson played a career-high 40 minutes in Saturday’s Mountain West Conference opener against Utah. …

Junior forward Matt Holland said the Falcons “still are confident in what we’re doing,” despite Saturday’s 22-point loss to Utah.

“It was a tough loss, but we had a good practice today, and I still feel like we’re getting better every day in practice,” He said. “We’re not backing down.” …

Freshman guard Evan Washington had no turnovers against Utah, one game after making seven against Wake Forest. But Reynolds said Washington “was not as aggressive as we wanted him to be at Utah.”

“So we’ve got to find a medium.”

Utah Review

2008-01-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, it was just one game. Yes, it was on the road. And, yes, the opponent was a much-improved Utah team that could challenge for the Mountain West Conference title this year.

But today’s 58-36 loss to the Utes does not bode well for the Air Force men’s basketball team.

Here is what should concern Falcon fans:

-Air Force scored just 36 points, including just 13 in a second half in which it made 3 of 18 shots from the floor. No matter how good Air Force’s defense is, 36 points are not going to cut it. Air Force has shooters, and it has an offense that should create open looks. The Falcons should be scoring more points.

-The turnovers. There were 14 today, and while that might not seem like a lot when compared with how much other teams turn the ball over, one must keep in mind that Air Force – because of its style of play – has fewer possessions than most of those teams. In the first half, eight of the Falcons' 28 possessions resulted in turnovers.

-It’s been written in this space before: There just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of fire on the floor. Being fiery is not a requisite for being a good player – former Falcon Dan Nwaelele was as quiet and soft-spoken as anyone in the Mountain West last year and yet he earned first-team all-conference honors. But he was surrounded by Jake Burtschi and Matt McCraw and others who had fire and moxie in excess. I'm just not sure if Air Force has anybody to fill those energizing roles. I haven't seen anybody take the team by its collective throat and will it to play harder and better. I think my colleague Milo Bryant put it best when he said this group might just be too nice.

Again, all that said, it’s just one game. It’s early. And this team is young. And inexperienced.

But to grow up fast, this bunch is going to need some positive experience. And the schedule doesn’t set up well for that.

Next Saturday the Falcons face UNLV – a team that seems to have reloaded and again could challenge for the conference title. After that it’s back-to-back games at Wyoming and New Mexico – two of the toughest places in the conference to play.

That makes 0-4 very possible before the Falcons play host to Colorado State.

AF-Utah: Halftime Update

2008-01-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Air Force went to halftime trailing Utah, 29-23, at the Huntsman Center on Saturday in both teams' Mountain West Conference opener.

The Falcons held Utah – which came into the game hitting 50.2 of its shots from the field – to just 5-of-14 shooting from the floor. But the Utes converted 14 of 17 free throws, and the five baskets they made hurt. All five were 3-pointers, made by Utes senior guard Johnnie Bryant, who came off the bench to spark Utah.

Air Force again struggled with turnovers, giving up the ball eight times. Eight players scored for Air Force led by center Keith Maren, who scored six on a pair of 3-pointers.

Carney Update/Calhoun Thoughts

2008-01-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve gotten a few e-mails regarding the status of Shaun Carney after his injury in Monday’s Armed Forces Bowl.

Here’s what I know:

He’s in Cleveland with his family for the remainder of winter break. As is typical in cases of potential ligament damage to knees, he is being treated for pain and swelling.

When he returns to the academy, according to Air Force sports information director Troy Garnhart, an MRI will be taken of his knee to see exactly what happened – though trainers believe it is a tear of both his MCL and ACL. Then, once swelling has gone down enough, Garnhart said, he’ll have surgery.

According to Garnhart, both head trainer Tony Peck and Dr. (Maj.) John Tokish, the head team physician, believe that while Carney’s injury is significant, he should have a full and normal recovery and not miss significant time at school.

…

I wasn’t able to get a lot of what coach Troy Calhoun discussed the day after the game in my story that ran in Tuesday’s edition of the Gazette. So I thought I’d drop in some random thoughts from him below.

On when the returning players will begin workouts: “They’ll start with (strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan) next week when they come back to school. I just think so much is done there not only physically, but team chemistry-wise. The way we approach lifting, I just think there are some pretty good bonds that are built there. And I think you invest as a group, you get to know each other as a group. For them, he will put them through the flexibility part of it, the strength part of it – core strength included. And we can never do too much speed work at this place. That’s anywhere, but certainly at the Air Force Academy.”

On possibly playing two quarterbacks next year: “When I was at Wake Forest, what we did is we had a guy that was a senior, and we tried to pick spots – eight to 12 plays, a couple series – where a younger guy got in there. … It helps you develop depth. So once that guy became a starter, he’d played. So the game was never too big for him. … I’d like to get to that point.”

On improving the defense: “You look at it this year defensively – when we played against teams maybe where their quarterback had more than 10 career starts, then there were some tough days. Even San Diego State in the (regular season) finale, we relinquished over 500 yards. And we’ve got to develop on that side of the ball. … I think you’ve always got to go back and look not only at the way you game plan but also personnel-wise. We’re going to heavily invest on the defensive side of the ball – that’s the way we’re going to play. And get to a point where we’re a dominant defense. … Everything we do practice-wise, we’ve got to make sure it’s set up to greatly enhance our defense. Even what we choose to do offensively has to be there for the benefit of our defense just because that’s what they’re going to go against all spring and August. That’s going to be our approach. I’m not saying offense isn’t important, because it is. I’ve just always felt that to be a really, really good football team you better be outstanding on defense. I think our best teams at the academy that’s been the case. “

On why he stresses defense: “When you’re disciplined on defense, and when you’re very sturdy on defense, just morale-wise it’s huge. … To me, I just think there’s so much there spirit-wise and discipline-wise. We’ll make strides there.

On trying newcomers at defense first: “What we need to do, if we bring guys in and we try them on the defensive side of the ball first, I think initially that’s where most big guys ought to start, and if they’re not going to crack the two-deep, then we’ll move them over to the offensive line. We bring a guy in at our place that’s got some foot quickness, we need to see can he play corner, can he play safety. I just think that’s where we have to start. And we did that as soon as I got here. … If a guy’s going to play 30 snaps on offense and he’s going to play 20 snaps on defense, we’ll probably put him on defense.”

(Check in tomorrow for thoughts on the Air Force men's basketball team's conference opener at Utah).

Halftime Update

2007-12-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

Air Force leads Cal, 21-14, at halftime of the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Falcons went up 21-0 by scoring on their first three possessions, but Cal rallied behind backup quarterback Kevin Riley, a freshman.

To be honest, I’m pretty impressed and surprised that Cal mounted a comeback.

The Golden Bears entered the game having lost six of their previous seven, including three in a row. I figured if Air Force built an early lead Cal would put a stamp on this game and mail it in.

But the Bears haven’t. Riley has looked very good, as have his speedy receivers, and the Cal defense seems to have woken up.

Air Force will get the ball first in the second half. If the Falcons can mount a scoring drive, they might be able to re-establish control. But if they are forced to punt and Cal gets a chance to tie the game early in the third quarter, look out.

Game Time

2007-12-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

I am looking live at the field at Amon G. Carter Stadium, just a few minutes before game time.

It’s sunny – a bit chilly (game-time temperature 51 degrees) and windy.

Air Force’s captains are Chad Hall, Drew Fowler, John Rabold and Sean Carney. Fisher DeBerry is the honorary captain.

On the east side of the stadium, across from the press box is a sea of Air Force blue – and not so many Cal fans. Definitely will be a pro-Air Force crowd.

Air Force won the toss, deferred and will kick off.

I’ll check back in at halftime.

Rusty BlogDog

2007-12-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

When Air Force takes the field for Sunday’s Armed Forces Bowl, it will be playing for the first time since its Nov. 17 game against San Diego State.

That’s a 43-day layoff.

Pretty long. But nothing compared to what the BlogDog has endured.

He made his last pick the day before the San Diego State game (Nov. 16). He attempted his next pick on Christmas night. That’s 38 days between picks. But in “dog years,” that’s 266 days.

Two hundred sixty-six days!!! Practically an entire offseason.

The rust was evident. In front of a crowd of about 15 friends and family members, BlogDog showed no interest in making picks. Time and again, he walked right past me and the pieces of paper I was holding (one with the Air Force logo, one with the Cal logo).

I decided not to take that as an indictment of the Armed Forces Bowl. I think the crowd, the fatigue from a trip back to the East Coast and, of course, the rust all played a part.

I traveled to Fort Worth the next day, and the BlogDog stayed behind with the BlogWife at my in-laws’ house. I left the prediction in their hands/paws. Three days later, BlogDog begrudgingly made a pick.

(For readers who have had a long layoff between BlogDog posts, here’s a quick refresher: Since I am not allowed to predict the outcome of Air Force games, my dog, Norm, does it. Typically he chooses between mini-replica helmets of the two teams. But this time he picked between the Air Force logo and the Cal logo. It’s best-of-five. If Norm picks one team three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he goes for one team three times and the other team once, he’s thinking it will be about a 10-point game. If it’s three times to two times, he’s thinking barn-burner.)

According to the BlogWife, Norm went to Air Force twice in a row, then Cal, then Air Force. Not fully understanding the principles of the “best-of-five” series, the BlogWife had Norm pick again, and he picked Cal, even though Air Force had locked up the overall pick.

When I pointed this out to her, she told me I was lucky that she didn’t make Norm wear his “Ho, Ho, Ho” bandana or his Reindeer antlers for the photo below.

Good point. That might have taken away some of the credibility Norm has built in his outstanding rookie season.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Norm’s Pick: Air Force 38, Cal 30
Norm’s Record: 8-4

BlogDog shakes off the rust and picks the Falcons

Practice Report - Saturday

2007-12-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Air Force held its final practice in preparation for Monday’s Armed Forces Bowl today at TCU.

The Falcons used TCU’s indoor facility for about an hour and a half in the morning. The tempo of practice was high, but there was little contact and players had dialed it back a tad.

Players said they will be ready to go Monday after what will have been a 43-day layoff since the Nov. 17 regular-season finale against San Diego State.

“We’re looking good,” Air Force senior running back/receiver Chad Hall said. “And now we get to rest for a day and a half before the game.”

“Our guys will be ready to play,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “We’ll crank up, we’ll go, we’re just going to have to execute.”

Calhoun’s biggest concern remains adjusting to game speed and Cal’s speed early in the game – “That’s going to be a shock to us,” he said. He also is worried about ball security – “how well you hold onto the ball when you’re getting drilled.”

On-field notes: With linemen Peter Lusk and Caleb Morris both back to practice this week, and with Chad Smith seemingly running at full speed, Air Force is as close to healthy as it has been since the start of the season.

Senior outside linebacker Julian Madrid, who put off knee surgery to return to the field this year, said his injured knee is not giving him any trouble. He also said he’s putting off surgery until April to get some skiing in. …

Calhoun said senior tailback Jim Ollis and junior receiver Ty Paffett are two players on offense who emerged and impressed him late in the season. He praised sophomore strong safety Chris Thomas and senior inside linebacker Aaron Shanor on defense.

“Shanor has played really well at linebacker,” Calhoun said. “The last couple of ballgames he’s been outstanding.”

Off-field notes: When asked what they’ve enjoyed most about the bowl experience, most players have said spending time with their teammates.

“The funnest thing is being with the guys at night and here at practice,” senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler said. “You want to say it’s a normal practice, but it’s still different knowing you’re going back to a hotel. It’s like one big house that we’re living in. … I woke up on the 26th, and I was all mad because I got that normal, sick feeling. It felt like I was just going back to Colorado – my bags were packed. But once we saw everybody I had to tell myself, ‘We’re going to have fun, we’re not going back to school.’” …

The weather has gotten progressively better as the week has gone on. Today at Cal’s practice temperatures were in the 50s, and the sun – absent most of the week – finally made an appearance.

Practice Report - Friday

2007-12-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Air Force’s practices have been well-attended by potential future players from local high schools.

Today I heard about two other likely future Falcons who weren’t there. You may recognize the last name they share.

Ollis.

Yep, senior tailback Jim Ollis has two younger brothers, and both seem headed to the academy, according to their parents, Bruce and Jane, with whom I spoke at practice today.

Austin Ollis is at the academy prep school. He’s built about like his older brother and, like his older brother, can play both quarterback and running back. Jordan Ollis is a junior at Polk High in Columbus, N.C., where his brothers went and where his father coaches football. Like his older brothers, he’s a three-sport athlete (football, wrestling, baseball). But he’s a bit bigger – about 5-foot-10, 215 pounds. He played fullback this past season, but might move to quarterback as a senior.

According to Bruce and Jane, both Austin and Jordan are tough kids thanks to the brotherly influence of Jim.

On-field notes: Air Force’s practice was enthusiastic and high-energy for a third straight day. While the Falcons wore shorts, there were still plenty of pads popping throughout the session. The junior varsity players who made the trip did some extra work after the main practice and got after each other. …

The rust seems to be fading. Fewer dropped passes, fewer fumbles today.

“We were better ball-handling-wise than we were two days ago,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “And you just don’t have busts assignment-wise. We’ve got guys that are glued in to what we’ve asked them to do on both sides of the ball. … We’ve been a little crisper, and yet we never turn a practice away, so we’ll utilize tomorrow too.” …

The receivers played another round of their modified Harlem Globetrotters circle (see Thursday's post for an explanation). It was cut short when the receivers had to join a full-team drill. The final four were Chad Hall, Ty Paffett, Mark Root and Josh Cousins. …

Off-field notes: Air Force players looked sharp in the black-and-white warm-ups they wore to the team luncheon at the Texas Motor Speedway. … At the lunch Calhoun and Cal coach Jeff Tedford both received cowboy boots with the Armed Forces Bowl logo. … The approximately 42,000 tickets sold for the game beats the previous high of about 38,000 for the 2003 game between TCU and Boise State. … Calhoun said he’s been pleased with how his players have conducted themselves off the field. “We’ve done very well, and yet I don’t think we should brag about that,” he said. “That’s one of those things that I think we should do.”

Practice Report - Thursday

2007-12-27T20:59:00.001-07:00

It still is pretty chilly in Fort Worth, but that didn’t seem to bother Air Force one bit at its practice today.

The Falcons went for nearly two hours in full pads at TCU, and while the session included contact and plenty of intensity, the players seemed to be having an awful lot of fun too. There was laughter, cheering, smiles and a high tempo throughout the session.

That seems like the right mix for a bowl game. It’s a contest, to be sure, but the bowl experience is meant to be a reward for a good season. Finding the right balance between work and fun is a crucial element of these games. Air Force is doing a good job of finding that balance. So far.

On-field notes: Air Force went “live” – full speed with full contact – during several drills including kickoff coverage. Players flew down the field and there were a bunch of big collisions. Junior Ty Paffett made a particularly nice stop on one long kickoff. …

As I noted for tomorrow’s edition of The Gazette, rust was most noticeable in dropped passes. There were a handful early in practice by defensive backs and offensive players. …

Speaking of receivers, they went through a couple of pretty cool drills that, according to receivers coach Mike Thiessen, are designed to make them catch with their hands instead of cradling the ball to their bodies.

In one, the players laid flat on their backs and then leaned up slightly to catch balls that Thiessen rocketed at them. In the other, one player would stand behind a partner and wrap his arms around the partner’s waist. Thiessen would throw the ball at the player in front, and the player behind would have to catch it.

But my favorite drill the receivers have is a kind of modified Globetrotters circle. The receivers stand in a circle and throw the ball to each other. When a player drops the ball – or if one makes an off-target throw – he is eliminated. This, of course, leads to behind-the-back passes, no-look flips and all other sorts of surprise tosses. Fun to watch. …

Got a quick peek at Cal today. Only the first 10 minutes of the practice were open, so I didn’t see a whole lot, but I’ll say this – the players pass the eye test. They are big and very athletic. I understood immediately why they were No. 2 in the nation after five games. But it made me wonder even more why they collapsed so dramatically. I know they had injuries, but it had to be more than that.

Off-field notes: All the Falcons were clean shaven after getting that order from Calhoun. … The Falcons had dinner last night at Reata, a restaurant downtown that the locals say is very good. … Haven’t had too much time to check out the city, but the downtown area seems to have potential. Lots of restaurants, bars and people walking around. … Tomorrow night there will be a Madden Football Tournament (that’s a football video game for those that grew up without Segas and PlayStations) at a local establishment. I hear 10 players from each team will play in the tournament, but I’m still trying to find out who the Falcons are trotting out there. I wouldn’t be of much help. My video game prowess ended with Nintendo and Tecmo Bowl.

AFB Practice Report - Wednesday

2007-12-26T19:30:00.001-07:00

Some Air Force players looked a tad different Wednesday.

It was evident when they took their helmets off after the team’s practice at TCU, the first of four there in preparation for Monday’s Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

A bunch of the Falcons – always clean shaven at the Air Force Academy – were sporting some facial hair.

Junior receiver Ty Paffett had the beginnings of a goatee, junior outside linebacker Hunter Altman looked like he’d put the razor down for a few days and senior quarterback Shaun Carney had a beard.

But not for long.

When asked after practice when he would have to shave his beard, Carney said: “About five minutes. I told (Air Force coach Troy Calhoun) it took me 23 years to grow it. But it’s got to go.”

On-field notes: Calhoun was pleased with Wednesday’s session, which lasted about an hour and a half. Coaches were intense, demanding several times that players increase the pace of practice and getting after them for the inevitable sloppy mistakes they made after five days off. …

Senior guard Caleb Morris, who missed the Falcons’ regular season finale with a knee injury, was playing with Air Force’s first offensive line. Senior tailback Chad Smith, who severely tore his groin in the regular season finale, seemed to be running full speed.

Off-field notes: Air Force players left the locker room at TCU after practice on Wednesday pulling new rolling travel bags adorned with the Armed Forces Bowl logo. According to players, each also got a watch, a ball and a Slingbox, a product that gives them the capability of watching television on any computer or mobile device that has an Internet connection.

Players have been impressed by the treatment they have received at the bowl.

“It’s been amazing,” senior cornerback Garrett Rybak said. “This is just really cool to get treated like we’re getting treated – I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

…

Paffett said Calhoun has not installed a curfew for players.

“No, he let us curfew ourselves,” Paffett said. “We’ll get to bed, though, I think we know what time we need to be back.”

Greetings from Fort Worth

2007-12-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted – some projects and a trip back home for the holidays have kept me away. But that’s no excuse. So I’m back with a vengeance for Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Week.

Here’s the plan – daily updates on everything from the weather to the town to the teams. I’ll definitely post something after each practice. And, yes, the BlogDog will make a pick.

I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport late this morning. It was raining and chilly – 45 degrees or thereabouts. It’s warmed up a bit since then.

Noticed some flags advertising the bowl on my way out of the airport, as well as some ads inside the airport. More than 42,000 tickets had been sold as of a couple of days ago, according to bowl officials, so the game should be pretty well attended.

I am off to practice and will post later this evening.

Jake's Take

2007-12-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

No, not mine. Jake Burtschi’s.

Burtschi, who helped spearhead Air Force basketball’s renaissance, graduated last year. But he is back at the academy, coaching at the prep school.

Burtschi – who played in more games (125) than any other player in academy history and is the school’s all-time leader in steals and 10th-leading scorer – attended the Falcons’ 65-53 victory over Norfolk State on Thursday night. It was the first game he’s watched in person, as he had been in Europe playing with the All-Air Force basketball team.

After the game, he shared his thoughts with me on the 2007-08 Falcons.

Jake Schaller: What’s your assessment, overall, of your old team?
Jake Burtschi: Not bad. A little slow out of the gates, they take a little bit. They’re kind of like a diesel engine, it takes a little bit to get going, but once they do, they can be an explosive team. They’re still young, but they’re not bad. They’ve still got some growing to do, but hopefully by about conference time they’ll really be clicking and things will be rolling along.

JS: How do you see the offense running? Seems like it isn’t as smooth as it was last year – maybe because these guys didn’t play together as much as you guys did.
JB: That is one thing, that’s a big thing. Especially (against) a zone. Because I think man-to-man was working pretty well, they were getting shots. But whenever (Norfolk State was) in a zone, sometimes they were stagnant. That just comes from time, being with one another, knowing where guys are going to be at all times, knowing their tendencies. That’s just one thing that’s kind of involved. But hopefully a couple more weeks, couple more games, they start getting the feel for one another. They haven’t had the luxury, like we had the last year, to have guys that have been together for four years. But they’ll start clicking soon.

JS: Talking about the slow starts, I’ve mentioned to some people that this team seems like it needs a Jacob Burtschi personality to get it fired up.
JB: (Laughing) I don’t know if they need a Jacob Burtschi. That’d be more of a head case, if they got anything. No, I mean, it’s tough, that was just my personality, that was how I played. I think some guys are trying to figure out their roles still on the team. I think that kind of personality, that type of hard-nosed mentality, is going to come out in some of the guys soon. That’s the biggest thing, they’re just still trying to find their roles on the team. But I think come conference time you’ll kind of find out who the spark is going to be, who’s going to do those certain little things.

JS: How’s the prep school doing?
JB: They’re doing well. They’re 12-8. We’re lacking size, a 6-foot-6 guy is our center, but he’s mainly a 3-point threat. We’re small, but the guys are really resilient. They’ve got a lot of heart, and they battle. Like this past weekend we were down 18 with 3 and a half (minutes) to go, and we cut it to 3 with 30 (seconds) to play. Ended up losing by 4, missed a big shot at the end. Just a great group of kids, never a head case down there. It’s been a joy coaching them.

Bird, Hall Honored

2007-12-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

Air Force senior cornerback Carson Bird and senior running back/receiver Chad Hall were listed as honorable mentions on the Sports Illustrated.com All-America team.

Bird led the Mountain West Conference and ranked fourth in the nation in interceptions with 0.55 per game (six in 11 contests). He tied for second in the league in fumble recoveries (0.27 per game) and tied for third in passes defended (1.0 per game). He led Air Force in takeaways with nine, including an interception with 49 seconds left in regulation against TCU to force overtime. Air Force ended up winning that game, 20-17 in the extra session.

Hall, who was listed on the team as a running back, led the Mountain West Conference and ranked 16th nationally in rushing (117.9 yards per game). He also led the league and ranked tied for third nationally in all-purpose yards (208.7). He is the only player in the country to lead his team in rushing yards (1,415), receiving yards (488) and all-purpuse yards (2,504).

Hall earlier was named to the Rivals.com All-America third team.

Keeping Calhoun

2007-12-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

With Air Force coach Troy Calhoun being mentioned as a possible candidate for openings at several colleges, the academy is doing its best to keep the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year at his alma mater.

According to sports information director Troy Garnhart, Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh and Calhoun are discussing potential contract improvements.

Southern Methodist contacted the academy for permission to speak to Calhoun about its coaching vacancy, and multiple media outlets reported that Calhoun was a candidate for the Duke job. Calhoun was not interested in the SMU job.

Night Football

2007-12-07T19:42:00.001-07:00

Remember the scene from "Invincible" – the football movie staring Mark Wahlberg – when Wahlberg and his friends play in the rain on a muddy field at night using their car lights to light the field?

That’s what the latter stages of Air Force’s Friday practice looked like. Save for the car lights.

From the parking lot east of the field – maybe 30 yards away – you couldn’t see any players. But you could hear them hooting, hollering and loving every minute of practice.

Calhoun has said all season that one of the things that sets the 2007 team apart is the players’ love for the game. They even love practice, he says. That was apparent on Friday night as they battled the cold, a steady, sleety rain and darkness.

But nobody complained or batted an eye when Calhoun told the players they'd be outside in 30-degree temperatures and freezing rain.

“They just said, ‘Pad up, and here we go,’” Calhoun said. “That’s just our guys, attitude-wise. They’d rather be outside.”

“It was fun,” senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler said. “Just to get out here and play. It was kind of like backyard football there.

“It got tough there at the end. Everything was blending in with everybody.”

Not tough enough for Calhoun. “I wanted it to be a little darker,” he joked.

“As long as you’ve got some decent footing, I want to practice outside. I just think you get so much more done, and I think the elements are real in football. This isn’t a sport that you only play when it’s between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. I just think you’ve got to train that way.”

All-MWC All About Falcons

2007-12-04T15:16:00.001-07:00

Air Force’s dramatic turnaround season was rewarded Tuesday when the Mountain West Conference revealed its postseason honors.

First-year coach Troy Calhoun was named the conference coach of the year, and four Air Force players were named to the all-conference first team, including senior running back/receiver Chad Hall, who was named the conference’s offensive player of the year. The selections were made by the league’s nine coaches and a panel of media.

Senior center Blaine Guenther, senior outside linebacker John Rabold and senior cornerback Carson Bird all also were named to the first team, giving Air Force its most players on an all-conference first team since 1998 when five Falcons made the All-Western Athletic Conference first team.

Senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler, a first-team selection in 2006, and sophomore offensive lineman Nick Charles were named to the all-conference second team, while senior quarterback Shaun Carney, junior tight end Travis Dekker, junior defensive end Ryan Kemp and sophomore safety Chris Thomas received honorable mention honors.

Calhoun, who earlier in the day was named the American Football Coaches Association 2007 Region 5 Coach of the Year, is the first Air Force coach to win a conference coach of the year award in his first season and the second coach at the academy to earn such an honor. Former coach Fisher DeBerry won three.

Calhoun, who replaced DeBerry and took over a team that had suffered through three consecutive losing seasons, constructed a staff of assistants with academy ties, altered the team’s offensive and defensive philosophies, put a premium on in-season strength and conditioning and re-energized a program that had stumbled to a 4-8 mark in 2006.’

The result was a 9-3 record – the second-largest turnaround in academy history – a second-place finish in the league and the first invitation to a bowl since 2002.

“Really as a coach, your feet are on the ground and you realize it’s earned by staff members, the administration, players and coaches,” Calhoun said. “Whenever you identify a coach, it’s a reflection on an entire school, especially here at the Air Force Academy.”

Hall became the sixth Air Force player – and first non-quarterback – to win a conference offensive player of the year award.

He made the all-conference first team as a running back, but he made his contributions all over the field. The 5-foot-8, 180-pounder from Atlanta was the only player in the country to lead his team in both rushing yards (a league-high 1,415) and receiving yards (488). He also set academy records for all-purpose yards in a game, career and season in 2007, averaging a conference-high 208.7 all-purpose yards per game.

Guenther, who moved from tackle to center, was the lone full-time returning starter from the 2006 offensive line. He helped pave the way for the nation’s second-best rushing attack (298.5 yards per game).

Rabold ranked second in the conference with 16.5 tackles for losses and led the conference with four fumble recoveries. Bird led the conference and ranked seventh nationally with six interceptions and ranked second in the conference with three fumble recoveries.

UNLV linebacker Beau Bell was named the conference’s defensive player of the year. Utah place kicker/punter Louie Sakoda, one of a league-high 10 Utes on the all-conference first or second teams, was named the special teams player of the year for the second consecutive season. And BYU’s Harvey Unga was selected as the conference’s freshman of the year.

Calhoun Honored

2007-12-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was named the American Football Coaches Association 2007 Region 5 Coach of the Year today – and that might be just the first award he receives on the day.

The Mountain West Conference will reveal its all-conference teams and individual awards later today, and Calhoun – who in his first year engineered a five-game turnaround – is expected to run away with that honor.

A year after going 4-8 in Fisher DeBerry’s final year at the academy, Air Force went 9-3 in the regular season, its best since 1998, and will face Cal in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31.

The AFCA recognizes five regional coaches of the year in each of the association's five divisions: Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), Division II, Division III and NAIA. The winners are selected by active members of the association who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions.

The AFCA will announce its five 2007 National Coach of the Year winners at the 2008 AFCA Convention in Anaheim.

The other Football Championship Subdivision winners:
Region 1: (tie) Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia) and Jeff Jagodzinski (Boston College)
Region 2: Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State)
Region 3: Ron Zook (Illinois)
Region 4: Mark Mangino (Kansas)

So Who's it Going to be?

2007-12-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

Good question.

Saturday’s upsets threw the BCS into the kind of turmoil the system’s critics have been predicting for years, and Air Force's opponent in the Dec. 31 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl still is uncertain.

While everything hinges on tonight’s BCS selections, here’s how things look for the Falcons.

There are 10 BCS teams – six conference winners and four at-large selections. The at-large selections would seem to be an additional SEC team (Georgia), an additional Big 12 team (Kansas), Hawaii and then either an additional Pac-10 team (Arizona State) or an additional Big Ten team (Illinois).

If Illinois is pulled into the BCS, there will be enough bowl eligible Pac-10 teams to fill out the conference's bowl tie-ins. That would mean a Pac-10 opponent for Air Force – most likely reeling Cal.

If Arizona State is pulled into the BCS, Air Force would probably face a Big Ten team – possibly Purdue.

We’ll wait and see what happens tonight with the BCS selections.

Basketball BlogDog?

2007-11-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

The three questions I’ve heard most this week:

1) Do you think Bzdelik will get booed?

2) Who will Air Force play in the bowl?

3) Does the BlogDog know anything about basketball?

Answers:

1) Yes

2) There are way too many scenarios that all depend on this weekend, so all I can do is guess. Um, Purdue?

3) We’re going to find out.

Pressed into service by his fans – most notably Gazette columnist David Ramsey – BlogDog will be making some hoops predictions for selected games this winter. (For those unfamiliar with the BlogDog - it's my dog, Norm. He predicted Air Force football games this fall and compiled a stellar 8-4 record. Check the archives for any blog post with "BlogDog" in it to see his previous work).

They don’t get much bigger than tonight’s grudge match against CU, so we decided to start today.

Note: I went with pretty much the same selection routine that the BlogDog uses for football – I set out a post-it note with “CU” written on it and a post-it note with “AF” written on it. Whichever one BlogDog goes to first (best three out of five times), is who he thinks is going to win. Not sure if this will work for basketball, so the method is under review.

Anyway, BlogDog went to the CU post-it first, then the AF post-it, then the CU post-it, then the AF post-it twice in a row. So BlogDog is thinking the Falcons will fall behind early, trail at halftime but then prevail late.

By the way, scroll below his picture for some quotes from fans that didn’t appear in today’s paper regarding Bzdelik’s return.

Norm’s Pick: Air Force 59, Colorado 54
Norm’s Record: 0-0 in hoops; 8-4 in football

Basketball?

TO BOO OR NOT TO BOO?
That is the question facing the Clune Arena crowd that will greet former Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik tonight when he leads his new team, Colorado, against the Falcons at 7 p.m. Here are some thoughts from those who will be in attendance at Clune Arena.

“I usually just ignore the other teams, and I'll probably do the same this time. Although I just might give in and throw a few boos in for good measure. I’m with many of the fans that (Bzdelik) leaving wasn’t the worst part, it was the way he left that was just wrong.”
-Pam Burton, 42, Denver; Air Force fan who has attended games on and off for 20 years and held season tickets for six years.

“I will show respect to coach Bzdelik for his contributions to our basketball program. … Some say they are not happy with the way coach Bzdelik left Air Force and intend to show him their displeasure during the game. Others have no animosity and believe it’s merely the nature of the business where a coach chooses to do what he thinks is best for him and his family.”
-Roger Allison, 66, Colorado Springs; Air Force fan who attends most home and away football and basketball games.

“I think the crowd will treat Bzdelik as a traitor, but do not think there will be a lot of booing. If I had control of the Cadet Wing, I would give every cadet in Section 8 a sheet of newspaper and would have them hold it up in front of their face when the CU coaches are introduced. I would also make sure the cadets cheered loud for Jeff (Reynolds).”
-Ted DeRousse, 67, Colorado Springs; Air Force fan

“I dislike booing in all sports and will not boo him. I’ll politely clap when they comment on him being the former coach, then I'll yell like heck for our Falcons and against the Buffs.”
-Rick Pialet, 52, Monument; Air Force graduate and fan.

“I am not in the habit of booing opposing teams or their coaches unless they do something which is dirty or offensive or are obnoxious (I even clap when they are introduced). But I probably will go with the flow and no doubt will clap for coach Bzdelik and also will boo him at the same time when he is introduced, while yelling, “Show me the money!” And, as the game progresses, I will join the cadets in Section 8 in getting all over Bzdelik as often as possible. I respect him as a coach but I do not like the way that he treated the academy.”
-O.K. Niess, 72, Colorado Springs; Air Force fan who has attended many Air Force football and basketball games since 1964

"I know there will be people booing him, but I don't think that is appropriate. I have heard that some people may wave dollar bills at Coach Bzdelik, but I don't believe money was the only reason he went to CU, so I won't do that either. If I have the opportunity to speak to him, I will welcome him back and wish him well.
-Tori Miller, 43, Colorado Springs; Air Force fan.

“I’m sure it’s going to be crazy in there. They’ve always had good fans, so I’m sure the atmosphere will be crazy. But we’re going to go out and play our hardest, try to execute our stuff and hopefully get a win. That’s all we can worry about.”
-Colorado freshman guard Levi Knutson, who was recruited to Air Force by Bzdelik

Light from Losses

2007-11-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Air Force fans should feel better about their young and inexperienced men’s basketball team after two losses the past two days than they did during its 5-0 start.

Immediately after Sunday’s 71-62 loss to No. 9 Washington State at the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge in Spokane, Wash., Falcons coach Jeff Reynolds said the game “was not a moral victory.” Players also shied away from that term.

Maybe that’s a good thing. No reason to try to feel good about losses.

Still, there were things about which the Falcons could feel good. On Saturday they stormed back from a 23-point second half deficit, pulling within one of Montana before losing, 59-57. On Sunday, in front of a hostile crowd, Air Force gave the nation’s ninth-ranked team its toughest test of the tournament.

For a team that lost an Oct. 31 exhibition game to Brock – a Canadian university with no scholarship players – that’s what you call progress. Big-time progress.

Now, there still are some significant concerns – most notably the Falcons’ depth. Not including reserves Eric Kenzik and Andrew Henke (a de facto starter), Air Force’s reserves have scored just 24 points this year – 5.5 percent of the team’s total output.

Reynolds is searching for some more dependable bench players – specifically guards who can ease some of senior Tim Anderson’s burden. Anderson, who played all but two minutes of Sunday’s game, is averaging 34.6 minutes per game. That's a pace that could wear him out mid-way through conference play.

In addition, there should be some concern that Air Force plays to the level of its competition – and that’s great against Washington State, but it could come back to bite the Falcons later in their non-conference schedule.

But this past weekend – especially Sunday – should give fans more hope for the season.

“I think we played hard,” Henke said. “I guess we can’t be too disappointed in ourselves because we knew we played our butts off the whole game, played hard the whole game and pushed a very, very good team to the limit.”

Look Again

2007-11-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Spokane.

My first time in the city.

First impression on the cab ride into town? I wasn’t a big fan. A bit run-down, cold and dated, I thought. Though some of that, to be sure, might have had to do with the frigid temperatures and gray skies.

But after seeing some of the new restaurants and cool, old hotels downtown, walking through Riverfront Park and taking a bridge over the picturesque Spokane River, I started coming around a bit. Actually rather charming. Kind of has the feel of an Eastern European city.

Or maybe I’m just going insane due to the massive amount of turkey I inhaled yesterday and an early flight today.

Whatever, the point I’m trying to make is you sometimes need to look past your first impression.

Which brings me to the Air Force men’s basketball team.

My first impression of the team was its dreadful exhibition loss to Brock of Canada. And I creamed it in this Blog.

But the Falcons have won five games since and shown some flashes – here and there – of potential. Andrew Henke has shot the ball as well as anyone could have hoped, Anwar Johnson is playing great defense, Keith Maren and Eric Kenzik are combining to give the Falcons solid post play, Evan Washington isn’t looking like a freshman and Tim Anderson has done a little bit of everything without having to carry the team by himself.

So that’s the good news. The second impression, if you will.

Tomorrow and Sunday, however, it gets tougher. Air Force’s opponents thus far have been pretty much Division I dregs and a Division II team. Tomorrow the Falcons face a tough Montana squad that has speed and size. The next day it’s a date with unbeaten and ninth-ranked Washington State – a fast, athletic team with a few great shooters.

In other words, let’s wait until after the third impression. We’ll know a lot more about the Falcons after this weekend.

Bzy's Buffs

2007-11-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

With Jeff Bzdelik’s return just more than a week away, I rolled up to Boulder for the Colorado-Colorado Christian game on Tuesday night to check out the former Air Force coach’s new team.

Initial impressions of the Buffs?

They’ve got more athletes and more size than the Falcons – but what else is new?
Colorado Christian gave them more of a fight than they probably wanted in the first half, though the Buffaloes put the game away early in the second half.
Marcus Hall is a pretty nice player. The 6-foot-1 senior guard made 8 of 11 shots, including 4 of 6 3-pointers, and scored a team-high 21 points. He seemed like the best player on the floor.
Senior Richard Roby looks like he’s regressed, big time, from his sophomore year. Roby considered going pro after that season but came back for last year’s strange, lame-duck campaign under Ricardo Patton. He averaged 16.0, 17.0 and 17.3 points in his first three seasons. This year he’s averaging 13.2 and he just looks a little lost.
Part of that might be because he and his teammates haven’t quite picked up on the offense Bzdelik has implemented. Sophomore guard Dwight Thorne told me as much after the game. Air Force’s new players are having the same problems at the academy.
Levi Knutson – a player Bzdelik recruited to come to Air Force – made his first start and played fairly well: nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
On paper – though certain people at CU will tell you differently – the Buffaloes seem to have an edge. But the game will be at Clune, and something tells me the Air Force players will be up for it.

Plenty more thoughts on the CU-Air Force game to come.

Hope everyone who checks in on the blog has a happy Thanksgiving. I’ll check in from Spokane, Wash., on Friday.

Confidence Builder

2007-11-19T23:22:00.001-07:00

The crucial victory for the 2007 Air Force football team came in Week 2, when the Falcons made a goal line stand to seal a win over Utah, a team none of the players on the team ever had beaten.

It showed the players that they could make big plays in big situations, and it gave them a taste of winning.

Yes, we can do this.

Monday night’s 52-47 overtime victory over Radford might do the same for this young Air Force men’s basketball team.

Now, I don’t expect the Falcons to have surprising success akin to the football team’s. While the football team is stocked with experienced seniors, the basketball team has just one player (Tim Anderson) back from last year with any significant playing experience. And Air Force likely will struggle when it faces some of the more difficult teams on its schedule – look no further than the upcoming trip to Spokane.

But Monday night was a step in the right direction.

The moment that seemed to make Air Force believe came when Evan Washington splashed two rainbows through the net with 3.1 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. That’s a freshman on the free throw line in front of 6,008 fans. And when he came through, the burden of doubt seemed to lift.

Washington’s smile said it all:

Yes, we can do this.

“We definitely came into that huddle after Evan hit the free throws and kind of looked at each other and said, ‘All right, let’s take this one from them, let’s take this one,’” junior Andrew Henke said. “And we came out and hit shots early in overtime.”

Give the coaching staff credit for encouraging its players to keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting with confidence. And that had to have been tough after Air Force missed 20 of 24 shots in the first half (including all 14 3-pointers), the worst half of shooting since a March 2, 2000 game against BYU.

“I think it’s a mental thing with shooters – you either quit shooting, or you continue to shoot,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “And we kept telling them in the huddle, they’re gonna drop, they’re gonna drop. Just keep believing.”

The players did. Henke hit a pair of 3-pointers after missing his first six. Anderson hit one in overtime after missing all six of his regulation tries.

But the Falcons did not just wait until their shots started falling. They also took the ball to the basket more aggressively, played tougher defense and did whatever else they could to get back in the game.

“Any time you face adversity and you respond to it, it shows the character of a team,” Henke said. “Whether it was Tim hitting shots in overtime or me or Anwar getting to the free throw line to kind of help us get back into the game, it shows those younger guys what it takes – that resilience to win the game and to keep pushing and keep pushing no matter what the situation. We faced that adversity and we responded well to it tonight.”

Yes, we can do this.

Ollis Earns Honor

2007-11-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

They won’t have to name the award after Chad Hall after all.

Air Force senior tailback Jim Ollis was named the Mountain West Conference’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for his performance in the Falcons’ 55-23 victory over San Diego State on Saturday. Hall, Air Force's receiver/running back/returner, won the award three times in a five-week span earlier this year.

Ollis, who rushed for a career-high 163 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, shared the honor with BYU quarterback Max Hall. Ollis had touchdown runs of 54 and 31 yards and seven of his carries went for first downs.

Bryant and BlogDog

2007-11-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

My colleague, Milo Bryant, is too much of a gentleman to gloat and say ‘I told you so.’

But I’m not. So I’ll do it for him.

He told you so. While most magazines, radio and TV shows and newspapers were predicting a difficult re-building year for Air Force – most I read and heard called for the Falcons to win about four games – Milo said the Falcons would go 8-4, and he put it in print. Check it out – it’s right here.

Nobody thought they’d win that many (and when I say “nobody,” I don’t include the members of the team or the team’s fans – they’re supposed to think their team will win that many). Some of his fellow journalists thought he was nuts, but he stuck to his guns.

His first inclination was to say 9-3, but he eventually backed off of that – and I take some of the responsibility for that because I told him emphatically I thought a nine-win season was just about impossible.

Then again, I don’t make predictions in print. I leave it to my dog, Norm.

In his first year as a certified football prognosticator, the BlogDog has been nothing short of brilliant. Not even Milo could have foreseen the success that he’s had. Heading into the final week of the regular season, the BlogDog is 8-3 and has posted five consecutive correct predictions.

What I like best about the BlogDog’s work this season is that, like Milo, he hasn’t been afraid to go out on a limb. He took the Falcons when they were eight-point underdogs at Utah, and he thought they would blow out CSU in Fort Collins when they were three-point underdogs. He was right both times.

He’s taking a chance and thinking outside the box again this week. Air Force has won five of its past six games and is an 11-point favorite at home Saturday against San Diego State. But BlogDog likes the Aztecs.

(Norm chooses between mini helmets of each team. If he picks the same helmet three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he chooses one three times and the other once, he’s thinking the game will be decided by about seven to 10 points. If he chooses one three times and the other one twice, he’s predicting a close game.)

This week, Norm went to the San Diego State helmet first, then the Air Force helmet, then the San Diego State helmet two more times.

Norm’s Pick: San Diego State 31, Air Force 23
Norm’s Record: 9-3
Who does Milo like in this game?

Anderson named Player of the Week

2007-11-12T14:29:00.001-07:00

Air Force senior guard Tim Anderson was named the Mountain West Conference Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week along with San Diego State junior Kyle Spain on Monday.

Anderson, the lone returning starter from last year’s record-setting Falcon squad, helped lead Air Force to the 2007 Air Force Classic title with victories over Dartmouth and Northern Colorado.

Anderson, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored 13 points and added three steals, two assists and two rebounds in the Falcons’ 67-38 semifinal victory over Dartmouth. In the championship victory over Northern Colorado, Anderson scored a career-high 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 6-for-12 shooting from 3-point range.

Trifecta?

2007-11-11T21:37:00.001-07:00

So how does this sound: An Air Force Mountain West Conference Trifecta.

Troy Calhoun, MWC Coach of the Year.

Chad Hall, MWC Offensive Player of the Year.

John Rabold, MWC Defensive Player of the Year.

Let’s break them down one by one, from most likely to least likely.

Hall
He's just about locked it up with the most impressive stretch of offensive performances in academy history. In the last seven weeks he’s averaged 244.9 all-purpose yards per game, rushed for 1,135 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.

He leads the conference in rushing yards per game (114.9) and all-purpose yards per game (203.0). He ranks ninth in receptions per game (3.91), third in punt return average (12.3) and ninth in kickoff return average (23.6).

No single player is more important to any team in the Mountain West Conference than Hall is to Air Force. It should be a lock.

Toughest Competition: I think the New Mexico skilled position players (quarterback Donovan Porterie, receivers Marcus Smith and Travis Brown and running back Rodney Ferguson) all are candidates, but they’ll probably take votes from each other. So Hall’s biggest competition is his namesake – BYU’s Max Hall, who has averaged 310 yards passing in nine games. But that might say as much about the BYU offense as it does about Hall.

Calhoun
If Air Force wins Saturday, he’s got a great case. The Falcons will be 9-3 and 6-2 in the league (which will be – at worst – tied for second). That’s a five-game turnaround. And Calhoun’s done it without an influx of talent.

Think about it: Inside linebacker Aaron Shanor is back after sitting out last year to boost his grades. And freshmen Reggie Rembert, Savier Stephens and Andre Morris all have played some. But none of the members of the Class of 2011 has made a huge impact. And, of course, there have been no impact transfers.

In fact, the argument can be made that Air Force lost more talent in the seniors that graduated from last year’s team than it added in freshmen.

It’s a point that most of the folks at Air Force won’t make out loud because it can be interpreted as a swipe at former coach Fisher DeBerry. But it cannot be ignored. Calhoun has taken a team that won four games last season and has doubled that total with one game to play.

His assistants deserve a lot of the credit, but assistants usually get a piece of head coaches’ coach of the year awards.

Toughest competition: Utah’s Kyle Whittingham. The Utes have won six straight to improve to 7-3. He kept his team from quitting despite a 1-3 start and a slew of injuries – most notably to standout quarterback Brian Johnson. Right now, Utah might be playing better than any team in the conference (see the Utes’ 50-0 drubbing of Wyoming yesterday). If Utah can knock off BYU, Whittingham might be the choice. Then again, if BYU goes unbeaten and wins a second straight crown, Bronco Mendenhall would be a natural choice too.

Rabold
One could argue that inside linebacker Drew Fowler, strong safety Chris Thomas and cornerback Carson Bird are playing just as big a role for the Falcons.

But you can’t argue with Rabold’s stats. He’s made 70 tackles, including 15.5 for losses, forced three fumbles and recovered three – including one he took for a touchdown against Notre Dame.

He’s been a bit unsung this year, which could hurt him in voting, but for all-around defensive performance, few if any have been better than Rabold.

Toughest Competition: Defense is always harder to read. UNLV’s Beau Bell, the conference’s leading tackler, BYU’s Jan Jorgensen and TCU’s Chase Ortiz all probably will be in the mix.

Below the Radar BlogDog

2007-11-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

On my flight to Chicago this afternoon, I was watching ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. Both of the show’s hosts – Mike Wilbon and Bob Ryan – gave Air Force a better-than-50-percent chance of winning tomorrow’s game at Notre Dame in the show’s oddsmaker segment.

Now, I think both Wilbon (who said there’s an 80 percent chance) and Ryan (who went with 68 percent) were basing their predictions more upon what they know about Notre Dame than what they do about Air Force. And that’s fine. Because they probably have no idea what Air Force has done this year.

That’s neither of their faults. Most people who don’t actively follow Air Force or the Mountain West Conference have zero idea that the Falcons are 7-3. They have no idea Air Force has a first-year coach that likely will be the league’s coach of the year and – with two more wins – should be in the discussion for national coach of the year. And they are clueless that Air Force has a player who – all kidding aside – probably at least should be mentioned in Heisman Trophy chatter. Honestly, is there any player on a bowl-eligible Division I-A football team that means more to his squad than Chad Hall?

So why doesn’t anybody know about this stuff? At least part of it has to do with the conference’s much-maligned television contract. It’s great that so many more games are televised than in the past and – more selfishly than anything – I love that games are (mostly) on Saturday afternoons instead of Monday and Tuesday nights.

But outside of fans of Mountain West Conference teams who actively seek out the games – nobody is watching. My parents wanted to watch Air Force’s game against New Mexico, but they don’t have Versus on their satellite package (they found this out after I explained to them that “Versus” was indeed an actual network).

What made me think about all this was the feeling of utter shock that I got when I saw Air Force highlights on PTI. While Wilbon and Ryan were talking, several plays were shown, including a Chad Hall touchdown run against New Mexico and Jimmy Ollis’ fourth-and-1 touchdown run against TCU.

I was legitimately stunned seeing the Falcons on the Worldwide Leader.

Earlier this week, I was talking to somebody at Air Force about this and he told me that on the morning after Air Force’s huge, thrilling OT victory over TCU, there was one highlight of the game on SportsCenter. Just Ryan Harrison’s game-winning field goal. Not Carson Bird’s key interception – with discussion about TCU’s decision to throw the ball instead of setting up for a field goal. Not Ollis’ run. Just Harrison’s kick.

Now, certainly some of this is a backlash to the Mountain West leaving ESPN to go it alone. Naturally, the network is going to give a little more love to conferences and sports with which it has agreements. Fair? Probably not. But the fact remains – if you ain’t on ESPN, people just don’t know about you.

Ask the NHL.

Speaking of not getting enough TV time, where’s the love for the BlogDog? Norm has nailed four straight games to improve to 7-3 and guarantee a winning season. But I don’t see any pundits talking about the BlogDog – even on The Mtn. I think Norm, at 7-3, deserves his own show.

Maybe that would convince the satellite providers to add the channel.

Since I do not have a Notre Dame helmet, Norm picked between a piece of paper with “AF” written on it in blue and a piece of paper with “ND” written on it in blue and gold. (Remember, if Norm picks the same team three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he chooses one team three times and the other team once, he’s thinking the game will be decided by about seven to 10 points. If he chooses one team three times and the other one twice, he’s predicting a close game).

This week Norm went to Air Force, then Notre Dame twice, then Air Force twice.

Norm’s Pick: Air Force 27, Notre Dame 21
Norm’s Record: 7-3

I'm taking the Falcons. Now where's my TV contract?

Enemy Lines Revisited

2007-11-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

Had a reader ask if I could contact my friend who covers Navy for The Washington Post, Christian Swezey, to get his take on the Notre Dame-Navy game. “It amazes me that Navy can lose to Delaware one week and beat ND,” the reader wrote. “Is Notre Dame that bad, or is Navy bi-polar?”

Swezey and I traded e-mails on this blog prior to the Navy-Air Force game, and he was kind enough to send one more with his thoughts.

Here’s his take:

Navy matched up better against ND than it did against Delaware, for a couple reasons.

1. Delaware has a pro QB; scouts from at least 12 NFL teams have gone to watch the kid practice. It’s one thing to send scouts to a I-AA game, but these guys aren’t going to Newark, Del., on a Wednesday afternoon unless they are serious about somebody. The QB put real pressure on Navy’s depleted secondary (the Mids were down to their fifth-string safety in that game).

2. Notre Dame’s strength is its defense. The offense is very ordinary. The Irish are starting their third QB this year, i.e. their third-string guy. They have very few playmakers on offense – they ran the ball 40-plus times against a small Navy defense on Saturday, but their longest run was 14 yards. No wonder they were so desperate to get Arrelious Benn, who spurned them for Illinois.

One other thing to consider: My theory has been that Navy's defense is no different from a lot of other young defenses, especially those that have had some success in the past – namely, the players tend to pick their spots. They were a lot more lively for Air Force and the second half of Duke, i.e. name teams, than they were for Ball State and Delaware (two losses). So there’s no question they were going to show up big-time to play ND, which they did.

I’m afraid that Navy may have been like the rock band that trashes a hotel room, then leaves the bill for the next occupants. ND is going to be ready for AF. It should be an amazing game.

Hall, Harrison Earn Honors

2007-11-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Air Force senior receiver/running back Chad Hall and junior kicker Ryan Harrison were named the Mountain West Conference’s Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively, on Monday for their performances in the Falcons’ 30-10 victory over Army on Saturday. Harrison shared his award with San Diego State punter Michael Hughes.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Hall, who earned the honor for the third time this year, broke the school record he set three weeks earlier by rushing for 275 yards and a score. In addition, Hall hauled in three passes for 19 yards and returned three punts for 39 yards, and his 333 all-purpose yards also broke a school single-game record.

Hall already has the most all-purpose yards in a season in Air Force history (1,961), and he needs 373 rushing yards to break the school single-season mark of 1,494 set by Beau Morgan in 1996.

Harrison, meantime, made all three of his field-goal attempts – from 35, 56 and 40 yards. The first-year starter, who is 14-for-22 on the year, is the only player in the nation to have made three field goals of 50 yards or more this season. Harrison also averaged 42 yards on two punts and kicked off seven times with four touchbacks.

Big-Time BlogDog

2007-11-02T20:05:00.001-06:00

The BlogDog didn’t show much interest in this week’s pick.

And I think I know why.

Typically, when he makes his prediction, he chooses between two mini-replica helmets. Whichever one he goes to (best three of five times) is the team he thinks will win.

But this week, with Air Force playing Army, I had to have BlogDog choose between a piece of paper that had “Air Force” scribbled on it and a piece of paper that had “Army” scribbled on it.

Why? Because I only have the helmets of teams from the Mountain West Conference. Sorry, BlogDog, I would love to have all 119 Division I-A schools here at the BlogHouse, but I don’t, OK?

And guess what? Paper was fine when he made his first ever choice (Air Force v. South Carolina State). And it was nooooo problem at all when Air Force played Navy and he was still in the first month of his career. But now that he’s predicted a career-high three straight games correctly, he gets in a huff when he has to choose between pieces of paper instead of helmets.

Well he better get used to it. Because unless I paint a TCU or CSU helmet gold by next Friday, he’ll have to do the same for Air Force’s game with Notre Dame.

Here’s how this week’s pick unfolded (remember, if Norm picks the same helmet three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he chooses one team three times and the other team once, he’s thinking the game will be decided by about seven to 10 points. If he chooses one team three times and the other one twice, he’s predicting a close game): Norm went to the Army paper first. Then he went to the Air Force paper three straight times, progressively tearing it to shreds.

Norm’s Pick: Air Force 34, Army 17

Norm’s Record: 6-3

What? No helmets?

Less Than Confidence Inspiring

2007-10-31T23:49:00.000-06:00

Well, on the positive side …

I liked the new scoreboards at Clune Arena.

Other than that?

Yikes. There weren’t too many positives to draw from the Air Force men’s basketball team’s 66-63 loss Wednesday night to Brock University, a team from Canada that does not have any scholarship players.

Yes, it was an exhibition. And, yes, Air Force is very young and inexperienced.

But the Falcons didn’t exactly play like it was an exhibition – only nine players were given significant minutes. And they couldn’t claim it was the first time they’d played together because they had the benefit of a five-game trip to Canada in early September and two weeks of practice before that trip.

Here are some other disconcerting observations from the game:

Brock didn’t have much size – a pair of kids listed at 6-foot-7 who didn't seem that big and didn't seem that athletic – but it still managed to grab as many rebounds as Air Force (29).
Even though Air Force knew Brock would shoot a bunch of 3-pointers, the Badgers still were able to make 17 of 31. Was that an unusually good shooting performance by the Badgers? Yes, Brock’s coach admitted as much. But Air Force should have done a better job defending the 3.
It didn’t take Brock long to figure out how to defense Air Force – run a box-in-one defense to neutralize Tim Anderson. The Falcons will be in big trouble unless Anderson gets some help.
A general lack of emotion, except for when Andrew Henke yelled at his teammates mid-way through the second half.

All that said, however, maybe Air Force needed something like this to make players work harder and understand the value of playing hard and with intensity every minute of every game. The players from last year’s team understood that. Maybe the guys on this year’s team need to learn it the hard way.

"Just because we lost this game, that’s not predicting the season," Anderson said. "Starting off on this kind of foot just says we need to work on our defense more and learn how to play as a team more.”

Indeed. And all of a sudden, a less-than-attractive out-of-conference schedule looks like the best thing that could happen to the Falcons.

Food for Thought

2007-10-31T11:24:00.001-06:00

It seemed like a typical Tuesday press conference. Coach Troy Calhoun talking about the upcoming game – this week it’s against service academy rival Army – and the state of his team.

Then, on the heels of an answer to a question about whether Army would have an advantage Saturday because it had a bye last weekend, Calhoun slid in this juicy tidbit:

“I think there’s some advantages to being independent, now. I mean really,” he said. “You look at it for a service academy, one, you have complete command of your schedule. Your byes. Now all of a sudden you can go out, and it’s something we probably need to look at big-picture wise for our school, being able to go out and secure bowl berths before a season even starts. That’s something Army did last year with the Poinsettia Bowl. Now they didn’t get to the mark, but it’s something we have done here at the academy. We played in some Liberty Bowls when we were still involved in a conference. And yet those things were done up front.”

Wow. Did he say what we thought he said?

After some questions about captains and food poisoning, the conversation was steered back toward independence.

“I’ll say this big picture – here’s something that I do think you have to be able to do. I think service academies are a little bit unique. And when it comes to vision for our football program, when it comes to scheduling, when it comes to securing bowl berths prior to a season, when it comes to being able to pinpoint byes at certain places throughout the year – if you want them, now you may not want them some years, depending on the makeup of your squad. When it comes to being able to put games in place for the long haul. We had some pretty good years where we weren’t affiliated with a conference. Now do I love being in a league? Absolutely. Unequivocally. We’re fortunate because you look at the Mountain West Conference, you get to play against some very talented football teams that are extremely well-coached. And that means something to you. … But I think it’s something that we’ve got to take a look at.”

Now, according to the Mountain West Conference office, leaving the league is “an institutional decision.” Air Force isn’t locked into the league for a five- or 10-year contract. The academy would just have to give enough notice to allow the conference to adjust (in other words, it couldn’t get out by next fall. By the next year, yes).

But shortly after Calhoun’s press conference, Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh made it clear the academy has no intention of leaving the Mountain West. He praised the conference, its commissioner, Craig Thompson, and said Air Force has had “a great, great association” with the league.

My take? I think Calhoun probably doesn’t want to leave the league (at least not yet), but he does see some obvious benefits to becoming an independent – not the least of which, as he mentioned, are having more control over the schedule and being able to arrange tie-ins to bowls.

Air Force’s annual games with Navy (always in late September) and Army (always in early November) often make for quirky schedules – last year having two byes in the first three weeks and this year having no byes. And, as Mueh pointed out, Calhoun might be getting concerned that this year’s team – even with a strong finish to the season – could miss out on a bowl game because Air Force has the reputation of not “traveling” well to away games.

But does independence make sense? Army and Navy are independent in football, as is Notre Dame. I guess there are some pros and cons. Air Force, technically, could schedule anyone it wanted. And, ostensibly, the Falcons could try to continue longtime rivalries with teams like BYU and Colorado State. Plus, some of the other academy teams that have struggled in recent years while playing in the Mountain West – baseball comes to mind – definitely could benefit.

Still, scheduling for football and basketball would be far harder than it is now. Mueh even said going independent is “a roll of the dice.”

I think what Calhoun would love to see is Air Force stay in the conference yet get some sort of additional bowl tie-in similar to what Navy has this year with the Poinsettia Bowl (six wins and the Midshipmen are in) and to what the three service academies had with the Liberty Bowl nearly 20 years ago (an outright Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy winner that is bowl eligible gets an automatic bid). That’s something Mueh said he thought was a good idea, as long as the conference was in favor of it. Conference representative Javan Hedlund said the league always is looking for ways to get its teams to bowls, but that Air Force would have to talk to Thompson about such an arrangement.

“You think of those years we went to the Independence Bowl in ‘83 and ‘84, those were done in advance,” Calhoun said. “The Liberty Bowl, in 1989, ‘90, ‘91, ‘92. Now are there a couple of bases in – I can start naming cities in this country where Air Force personnel are located in the area that I think would be attractive.”

If nothing else, it’s makes for interesting debate. So I’ll open the floor and ask what others think. Should Air Force declare independence?

Uh oh from Albuquerque

2007-10-25T17:45:00.000-06:00

It apparently wasn’t food poisoning that sent Air Force senior receiver/running back Chad Hall to the hospital Tuesday.

It was some sort of stomach bug, according to Air Force sports information director Troy Garnhart. And some of the other players are experiencing symptoms similar to what Hall felt.

Starting cornerback Carson Bird and starting right tackle Chris Monson are feeling the worst, Garnhart said. They were brought to University Stadium in Albuquerque early tonight so they could receive intravenous fluids. Both are considered game-time decisions.

At 6:15, Bird was not among the defensive backs warming up on the field.

Dadgum BlogDog

2007-10-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

At first glance, the BlogDog doesn’t seem to have much in common with former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry.

Fisher’s from the South. BlogDog’s from Canada.

Fisher’s married. BlogDog’s single.

Fisher gained national fame by employing the triple-option. BlogDog’s patented snag-the-recently-folded-laundry-and-run move has barely garnered regional acclaim.

Fisher’s retired. BlogDog is in his first year as a prognosticator.

Fisher’s a human. BlogDog’s a dog.

But the more you look at it, the more you realize they have in common.

Fisher began his first season as Air Force head coach 5-3. BlogDog is 5-3 in his first year predicting Air Force games. Both have the endearing ability to make you laugh without meaning to.

And both believe that college football games should be played on Saturday afternoons.

A Thursday night game – and the short week of preparation that preceded it – threw off the BlogDog earlier this season. After correctly picking Air Force’s first two games of the season, he misfired on the third – the Falcons’ Thursday night game against TCU.

BlogDog brings another two-game winning streak into tonight’s contest, and this time he likes the home team.

(Quick refresher course for those new to this blog: As a beat writer, I am not allowed to predict the outcome of games. So my dog, Norm, is doing it.

Here’s how: I put a mini-replica Air Force helmet and the mini-replica helmet of the opponent the Falcons are facing that week in front of Norm. Whichever one Norm goes to first – best three out of five times – is the team he thinks is going to win. If Norm picks the same helmet three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he chooses one team three times and the other team once, he’s thinking the game will be decided by about seven to 10 points. If he chooses one team three times and the other one twice, he’s predicting a close game)

This week, the BlogDog went to the New Mexico helmet first, then Air Force’s twice in a row, then New Mexico’s twice in a row.

Norm’s Pick: New Mexico 28, Air Force 24
Norm’s Record: 5-3

BlogDog’s bite is more telling than his bark. He likes the Lobos.

Hall to play

2007-10-24T13:36:00.000-06:00

Air Force senior receiver/running back Chad Hall, who missed practice Tuesday due to flu-like symptoms brought on by food poisoning, traveled with the Falcons to Albuquerque today and is expected to start and play in Thursday night's game against New Mexico, Air Force sports information director Troy Garnhart said.

Hall, who leads the Falcons in rushing yards (750), receiving yards (341) and receptions (32), was taken to the academy hospital Tuesday where he was given fluids and allowed to rest before being released in the early evening. At practice that day, coach Troy Calhoun said he wasn’t sure if Hall would play or even make the trip to New Mexico.

Hall has led the Falcons to three straight victories with a combined 592 rushing yards – the second-highest rushing total in three consecutive games in academy history. He has scored nine of Air Force’s 15 touchdowns the last four games.

Gone Bowlin'

2007-10-22T22:27:00.000-06:00

Air Force tailback Jim Ollis pointed out Monday after practice that the Falcons are only bowl “eligible.” They haven’t earned a bid yet.

True. But one more victory puts Air Force in pretty good position to get to a bowl. And two more? The Falcons would be a lock.

So the question is, where? The Mountain West Conference has tie-ins with four bowls. Here’s a look at each.

As pointed out earlier today, the Poinsettia Bowl is out if Navy gets to six wins. The Midshipmen have an automatic tie-in if they become bowl eligible, and the Poinsettia Bowl will not host a rematch. And you can pretty much bet the Midshipmen are getting six with the soft remaining schedule they have.

The Las Vegas Bowl has the first choice of bowl-eligible Mountain West Conference teams. It is encouraged by the conference to take the league champion but is under no obligation to do so. If Air Force wins its final two conference games – Thursday at New Mexico and Nov. 17 against San Diego State – and BYU loses two of its final five, Air Force would win the conference. If Air Force wins its last two games and BYU loses one of its final five games, the Cougars and Falcons would share the title.

In either scenario, I think the Las Vegas Bowl takes the Cougars. The simple reason: BYU sells tickets. Air Force has a reputation for not “traveling” well to bowl games.

So that leaves either the New Mexico Bowl or the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth.

The New Mexico Bowl will be played in Albuquerque, and Kirtland Air Force Base is located in southeast Albuquerque. Plus the drive from Colorado Springs to Albuquerque is doable.

The Armed Forces Bowl makes sense for an obvious reason – its name – and because Air Force will not have played yet in Fort Worth this season. Bowls like to award bids to teams that will be playing in their respective cities for the first time that year. Air Force plays in Albuquerque Thursday night.

There is a wild card in the mix – a bowl inviting an at-large team because a conference cannot supply enough bowl-eligible squads. In other words, if a conference has tie-ins with six bowls but only five of its teams have six or more wins, then the sixth bowl would have to choose an at-large team. This scenario is possible but unlikely.

So I wouldn’t quite book your plane tickets yet, but if Air Force wins one or two more games, it looks like they’ll go bowling in either Albuquerque or Fort Worth.

Practice note: Air Force was outside on Monday after practicing inside on Sunday. The Falcons were on their turf field because their grass fields still were covered with snow. They had a split practice – offense first, then defense. Still, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was pleased with his team’s work.

“Good solid practice,” he said. “Crisp. Good tempo. Physically, I liked the way our guys have bounced back. In 48 hours we’ve had two quality practices.”

No re-match

2007-10-22T10:45:00.000-06:00

It would have been fun. But it's not gonna happen.

Forget about an Air Force-Navy re-match in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Bruce Binkowski, the bowl’s executive director, said it's impossible because the teams already have met.

“We will not have a re-match of a regular season game,” Binkowski said Monday morning, putting an end to speculation that the rival service academies could meet in the game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Dec. 20. “I know some coaches like it, some coaches don’t. We decided early on, even in the Holiday Bowl (the sister bowl of the Poinsettia Bowl) that if you play during the regular season we will avoid that re-match.”

Navy beat Air Force, 31-20, on Sept. 29.

Poinsettia Bowl representative Weldon Donaldson attended Air Force’s 20-12 victory over Wyoming on Saturday and said a re-match was possible if both teams agreed to it. That ignited speculation, and on Sunday, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun campaigned for a re-match, saying it could be “one of the absolute gems of the postseason.”

Binkowski said the bowl often does “consider” the wishes of a team when selecting an opponent. But if Navy becomes bowl eligible by winning six or more games, it receives an automatic bid to the bowl. And Air Force would not even be considered as an opponent.

“If Navy is bowl eligible, we will go in another direction,” Binkowsi said. “If Navy is not bowl eligible, we would certainly look at Air Force.”

It seems likely the Midshipmen, who are 4-3, will get to six victories. They have games remaining against Delaware of the Bowl Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA), Notre Dame (1-7), North Texas (1-6), Northern Illinois (1-7) and Army (3-5).

If Navy is eligible, the Poinsettia Bowl will select its opponent from the Mountain West Conference. The bowl gets the second choice of Mountain West Conference teams (after the Las Vegas Bowl, which typically will take the Mountain West champion).

But it would not pick Air Force.

“Air Force is going to land somewhere,” Binkowski said. “They’ve had a great year.”

Guess who's back?

2007-10-19T15:21:00.000-06:00

Drove to Subway today with the BlogDog riding shotgun. When rapper Kanye West’s “Stronger” came on the radio, BlogDog got fired up.

N-n-now that that don’t kill me

Can only make me stronger…

BlogDog was nodding his head to the beat.

Rap is the BlogDog’s music of choice – he’s mostly a Biggie Smalls kind of dog – but I think these lyrics had special meaning for him.

Heading into last weekend’s game, BlogDog had missed three of four picks, including two straight, after nailing his first two. There was talk that BlogDog was washed up. To quote Biggie:

Your reign on the top was short like Leprechauns ...

But that tumultuous time obviously only made the BlogDog stronger.

Last week, Air Force was a 3-point underdog and playing on the road in Fort Collins – a place it hadn’t won since 1997. But that didn’t stop the BlogDog from picking Air Force to win by 22. The Falcons won by 24.

Guess who’s back?

Back again?

BlogDog’s back

Tell a friend

(Note: For those of you reading this blog for the first time, Here’s a quick background on the BlogDog. As a beat writer, I am not allowed to predict the outcome of games. So my dog, Norm, is doing it.

Here’s how: I put a mini-replica Air Force helmet and the mini-replica helmet of the opponent the Falcons are facing that week in front of Norm. Whichever one Norm goes to first – best three out of five times – is the team he thinks is going to win. If Norm picks the same helmet three times in a row, he’s thinking blowout. If he chooses one team three times and the other team once, he’s thinking the game will be decided by about seven to 10 points. If he chooses one team three times and the other one twice, he’s predicting a close game.)

This week, BlogDog went directly to the Air Force helmet on his first two picks. Then he went to Wyoming helmet on the next two. On the deciding one, he went to Air Force, then wouldn’t let go of the helmet (see picture below).

So here’s how I’m interpreting it. BlogDog’s thinking Air Force will roar out to an early lead, Wyoming will rally and tie the game or take the lead, then Air Force will win late in dramatic fashion.

Norm’s pick: Air Force 27, Wyoming 24

Norm’s record: 4-3

BlogDog's been smooth since days of Underoos

Wild, wild (Mountain) West

2007-10-18T22:04:00.000-06:00

Cleaning out the old notebook after Wednesday’s Mountain West Conference basketball media day.

I am not permitted to take part in the media poll per our paper’s rules, but I think my fellow scribes and the TV folks did a pretty good job with it. As BYU coach Dave Rose pointed out, BYU probably got a lot of first-place votes because it is the defending champ and there really is no clear favorite. Rose termed the league “as wide open as I can remember it being.”

I also agree with San Diego State coach Steve Fisher that six teams could win the league – BYU, UNLV, New Mexico, Utah, San Diego State and Wyoming. Yes, I’m leaving Air Force off that list for now, although I think the Falcons have a chance to be a pretty solid team.

Some quick-hit thoughts on the teams …

BYU: Certainly the favorite going in, but the Cougars are vulnerable. They lost the league’s Player of the Year (Keena Young), along with Austin Ainge – a clutch performer who brought a lot of confidence and moxie to the floor – and sharpshooter Mike Rose. Big losses.

UNLV: The Rebels will be inexperienced and rely a lot on guard Wink Adams. Watch out for 6-foot-8 forward Lamar Roberson, a transfer from the University of Houston who sat out last season.

Utah: One of the league’s most experienced teams with four returning starters. Could make noise, but much will depend upon the play of 7-1 center Luke Nevill. At times he’s dominant, other times not nearly assertive enough. Save for BYU’s’ Trent Plaisted, there aren’t a whole lot of guys in the league that can match up with him physically. So is this the year he takes charge?

New Mexico: Perhaps the most intriguing team in the conference in part because of the big-name first-year coach (Steve Alford) and in part because the Lobos have arguably the most talented player in the league (J.R. Giddens). Alford said Wednesday that Giddens has been great, and Giddens is saying all the right things. Will that be true halfway through the season?

San Diego State: They lost their top two players – including Brandon Heath, the league’s all-time leading scorer – and they’ll be small. But the Aztecs always have talent, and Fisher said Wednesday this team is deepest he’s had in his nine seasons at the school. The loss of talented but troubled Jerome Habel? That might well end up being addition by subtraction for this team.

Wyoming: I would not be surprised if this team wins the conference. I like the new coach, I love the two guards (Brandon Ewing and Brad Jones), and the talented Joseph Taylor has had a good offseason, from what I have heard. Plenty of talent, lots of swagger.

TCU: Four starters back from a team that won three of its last five games last year, including the upset of Air Force that likely burst the Falcons’ NCAA Tournament bubble. And yet … I guess everyone will believe it when they see it.

Colorado State: Rebuilding year. Big time. Ten guys gone from last year.

Air Force: There is a lot of potential, and a relatively soft non-conference schedule could help build confidence. But the inexperience will be tough to overcome, especially in places like The Pit and Wyoming’s Arena-Auditorium. Air Force fans were spoiled last year with a bunch of seniors that were very talented but also very experienced and poised. Jake Burtschi, Matt McCraw, Nick Welch, Dan Nwaelele – those guys oozed confidence. Tim Anderson, the team’s lone returning starter, is among the league’s marquee players (he probably belonged on the preseason All-MWC team, if only for his defense). So much depends on how former role players (specifically Anwar Johnson and Andrew Henke) handle increased burdens.

I’ll throw this out there for comments: Who do you guys think should be the preseason favorite? And where do you think Air Force should have been ranked?