Tag: Ram-Falcon Trophy

Air Force Football 2024: Genesis

Air Force Football: Genesis 2024 Can Air Force Keep Thriving with a Roster Overhaul? Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire We’ve got an updated schedule pic.twitter.com/nbW0xG7F1j – Air Force Football (@AF_Football) July 1, 2024 The last time we saw the …

Air Force Football: Genesis 2024

Can Air Force Keep Thriving with a Roster Overhaul?

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

 

The last time we saw the Air Force Fightin’ Falcons in game action, they wore out the James Madison Dukes by a score of 31-21 in the Armed Forces Bowl, back in December. A lot has happened since then.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED

A quarter of last year’s starters on defense are presently on NFL rosters, Falcon Stadium has undertaken a spectacular renovation, more than 3,600 yards from last years offense graduated in the spring, along with the entire offensive line that was one of the best in the nation. And that is only covering the changes this team is experiencing at a very high level. So you get the picture, it’s a new season, and a very new team.

Noone is going to cry for Air Force though, nor should they. A very experienced coaching staff has excelled at developing players through their program that has navigated such changes with little to no turbulence. In fact, they tend to thrive in the given circumstances. If you want a detailed breakdown of the talent turnover and just how good of a coaching staff resides in Colorado Springs, Nittany Falcon wrote an excellent piece which you can find here.

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT

Anytime you lose generational talents like Trey Taylor, Bo Richter and a deep experienced offensive line unit, a drop off is going to be expected. The schedule does not allow for a slow immersion for a team of majority new starters. After their week one FCS Opener against Merrimack, the rest of the schedule is relentless starting with their week two Conference opener against San Jose State. This is a Spartan team now led by someone very familiar with Air Force in long time Navy coach, Ken Niumatalolo.

After that, the Falcons head to Waco, Texas, where Baylor will be seeking retribution for the thumping Air Force handed them a two years ago at Bowl Season. This is their schedule in a microcosm, week to week matchups with familiar opponents, bitter rivals and of course the Beavers who for some reason are still in the Pac2. Or is it Tupac, because ‘Life Goes On’? Either, way, the 2024 schedule is quite interesting week to week.

For the second year in a row, Troy Calhoun and crew will be breaking in a new starting quarterback, who in all likelihood will be John Busha. Last year saw this team come blazing out of the gates behind Zach Larrier. But this years team doesn’t have the experience surrounding Busha that Larrier did. Namely an entire offensive line of All-Conference performers, basically. While Busha won’t be flanked by an entirely new backfield, they will have to replace 2,000 yards of rushing production from John Lee Eldridge III, Owen Burke and Emmanuel Michel.

This is what makes college football beautiful though. The year to year transition of players and roster composition are always there, and the best programs have learned to navigate it. Troy Calhoun and the Air Force Falcons certainly have managed it quite well. So don’t fret, there is plenty to be excited about. Where there may be critical player losses, new stars will emerge.

For starters, Steed Lobotzke is the King Midas of offensive line coaches. It seems like he is turning out gold at every turn with his players. And that is not by luck, there isn’t a better coach at the position in the country. The ball carriers behind the new offensive line are going to be fine as well. Dylan Carson was just a hair under 500 yards for the season last year, averaging over seven yards per carry, while splitting carries with two other fullbacks.

 

Defensively, it’s easy to focus on massive losses by volume and talent as mentioned earlier. But returning are two of the best players in the conference at their positions in Payton Zdroik and Camby Goff. Many are quick to forget, Camby Goff was an All-Conference player before a week one injury ended his season last year.  This is a guy who played as a freshman and is a three-year starter bouncing between the secondary and that hybrid spur position. Sticking with the secondary, it is the one area that the Falcons return plenty of game experience. Zdroik down in the trenches is an absolute game wrecker and will help settle a lot of new pieces in the front seven.

The most experienced unit at Air Force has to be special teams. They return all of their starters from last season and are two deep with experience at kicker and punter. With a Lou Groza Watch List kicker in Matthew Dapore.  They may have to break in a new kick and punt returner to confidently put their hand in the air to signal a fair catch though.

nice to see

One of the things that I am most excited about has to be the surfacing of prominent recruits from recruiting classes of the past rearing on the roster. Full disclosure, we all know the roster which Air Force shares isn’t necessarily an indication of who you are going to see on the field. But a lot of the underclassmen, and those who went to the prep school sort of vanish from sight for a year or two to either never be seen again or in some cases surface as playmakers.

Here are some the guys for those who have been following the Falcon recruiting classes the past few years should be excited about as newcomers to the roster, or prime to take a leap in contributions.

OFFENSE

Alec Falk (OL), Tre Roberson (WR), Kade Frew (RB), Kaden Cloud (RB), Henry Rickels (OL), Bruin Fleischmann (TE) and converted quarterback Kemper Hodges (FB).

DEFENSE

Houston Hendrix (DB/LB), Kyle Chen, Lincoln Tuioti-Mariner (DB), Dallas Daley (LB), Blake Fletcher (LB), Luke Meyer (LB), Jack Curtis (DE), Zach Juckel (LB) and Hiroshi Carr (DB).

UP NEXT

Next week we will have our first season preview for Air Force as they prepare to take on Merrimack for their opener. While your waiting for the Falcons to kick off the season, take in some of the week zero offerings as New Mexico, Nevada and Hawai’i all play this week!

 

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College Football 25: The Mountain West Conference

CFB25: The Mountain West Conference According to EA Sports College Football 25, Nevada and Boise State will play for the Mountain West Conference Championship. Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire Just three empty Saturday’s stand between us and Week …

CFB25: The Mountain West Conference

According to EA Sports College Football 25, Nevada and Boise State will play for the Mountain West Conference Championship. 

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

Just three empty Saturday’s stand between us and Week Zero’s slate of games to kick off the NCAA Football season! I know, I know, it’s been a long off-season and we are all yearning for some game action. Well, there is some good news.

Two weeks ago, EA Sports finally released the College Football 25 video game after a decade long absence for their signature franchise series. To say this has been a much-anticipated return would be a colossal understatement. EA Sports sold over 2 million copies of their premium edition, which granted gamers access three days in advance of it’s announced July 19th standard release date.

As a long time enthusiast of this games series, I was one of the 2 million who secured early access. While there is no replacing a Saturday (or the myriad of other days that games are now played on) of Mountain West action, CFB25 provides a nice bridge to the official start of the 2024 season.

Recognizing that not every college football fan has, or will purchase the CFB25 game, we want to share some of the fun with everyone. So here is what we’ve done.

WE’VE SIMULATED THE 2024 SEASON

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Using the Dynasty feature on the CFB25 game, we’ve simulated the entire 2024 football season. In case you’re wondering, Jacksonville State did make the playoff in our simulation as the lone representative from the Group of Five. As if being snubbed from the playoff wasn’t bad enough, the MWC fans aren’t going to be happy to learn that BYU didn’t just make the college football playoff but earned a bye week as well.

So sure, the introduction of the new 12-Team College Football Playoff is exciting, but we’re here for the Mountain West Action! Even though no Mountain West Conference team made the playoff in our simulation, there were plenty of interesting yields from the season.

HOW THE (MOUNTAIN) WEST WAS WON

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Probably not surprising to many, the Boise State Broncos were your Mountain West Conference Champions. Who did they have to defeat to win the championship? Nevada. That’s right, the Nevada Wolf Pack weren’t just Bowl eligible, but were nearly crowned Conference Champs in our simulation.

Joining Boise State and Nevada in Bowl eligibility were Air Force, Fresno State, San Diego State, New Mexico and Hawai’i.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

One of the first things that stood out was the New Mexico Lobos surrendered the fewest points defensively. One of the reasons for the strong defensive showing was their defensive end, Gabriel Lopez who recorded 15.5 sacks on the year. Lopez was third in voting for the Nations Best Defensive End award. It didn’t hurt that Tavian Combs was tied for the Conference lead in interceptions too.

The All-Conference First Team was littered with Broncos, as seven players from Boise State earned spots. Brayden Schager represented Hawai’i well, as he was the recognized as the top quarterback in the Conference. Somewhat shocking, Ashton Jeanty was not the first team running back, nor was Tory Horton an All-Conference nominee at all. However, Jeanty was on the second team, while Horton actually sustained a season ending injury on the simulation. Injury is the only thing that could keep that guy from snagging passes.

It was also interesting to see that three Mountain West quarterbacks threw for 30 or more touchdowns. Malachi Nelson (38), Brayden Schager (32), Devon Dampier (31) and Spencer Petras (30) all cleared 30 tudd’s and 3,000 yards on the year! And not surprising at all, Air Force’s Dylan Carson led the Conference in Rushing yards. Video game or not, get acquainted with that name.

SNUBBED

It was a lot of fun running this simulation and seeing how some of our favorite teams and players fared. But the level of disrespect for the Mountain West was undeniable. No teams in the playoff. Noone ranked in the top 25. And there wasn’t a single player from the Conference recognized as a consensus All-American.

Coaches across the Mountain West may want to print this and hang it up as motivation for the season. Our EA Sports College Football 25 season may have slept on the Mountain West, but we know better. We just can’t wait for the actual season to kick off and do the fact checks!

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The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21

The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21 The Falcons Nuke the Dukes Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire After going winless in the month of November, following an 8-0 start to the season, Air Force corrects course …

The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21

The Falcons Nuke the Dukes

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

After going winless in the month of November, following an 8-0 start to the season, Air Force corrects course by winning the Armed Forces Bowl in convincing fashion. The Falcons wore out the Dukes by a score of 31-21.

Entering the contest, the Dukes of JMU were favored, and for good reason. They just capped off a 12-1 campaign, and feature one of the top passing attacks in the country, and what was statistically the stoutest defense against the run nationally. Air Force said hold my beer.

JMU learned early on what many do the hard way; Air Force is built different. There aren’t any teams on the Dukes schedule that pose the kind of problems that the Falcons do, in particular in the run game. James Madison was averaging just 2 yards per carry allowed, and 62 yards per game on the ground for the season. Senior fullback, Emmanuel Michel pounded the Dukes for over 200 rush yards and two tudd’s on his own.

It was a great way to end the season, winning their 9th game of the season over a very good opponent. The Air Force seniors really showed up and impacted the game; from an unblockable Bo Richter being a menace and disrupting the Dukes offense all game long, to John Lee Eldridge III and Emmanuel Michel shredding JMU’s vaunted defense, Jonathan Youngblood’s interception and Zach Larrier’s flawless execution of the offense behind the road grading Diesel’s, the senior stars shined the brightest.

The Air Force Fightin’ Falcons have won their fifth consecutive Bowl Game, and are Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Champions!

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Air Force Football: The Falcons Drop the Colorado State 30-13

Air Force Football: The Falcons Drop the Colorado State 30-13 The Falcons Run Their Win Streak to 7 against the Rams Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire If you were to describe the Colorado State – Air Force game in one word, it should be ‘snowball’. …

Air Force Football: The Falcons Drop the Colorado State 30-13

The Falcons Run Their Win Streak to 7 against the Rams

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

If you were to describe the Colorado State – Air Force game in one word, it should be ‘snowball’. Yes, there was precipitation, and the student section for CSU you had a little too much fun with it, lobbing snowballs on the field and at the Air Force bench, causing a 15-yard penalty at one point.

But ‘snowball’ is a microcosm of what happened to the Rams. Air Force just kept gaining momentum offensively and defensively as the game wore on. Ultimately, the defense kept CSU completely in check the entire second half. Outside of a 13 point second half counter-punch by CSU, Jay Norvell’s squad really had no answers. The result was a clear establishment of the class of the state of Colorado.

Braden Fowler-Nicolosi threw for nearly 300 yards, but this is why you can’t rely on a stat line to tell the story. The game went to halftime tied, but was one sided affair as the Falcons rushing attack got churning and their defense sheered the sheep. Air Force keeps the Ram-Falcon Trophy for the seventh year in a row, winning 30-13 in Fort Collins.

Next up for Air Force is Army. This is their biggest game of the season as they will play at Mile High Field in Denver for the right to retain the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

Colorado State has a rivalry match of their own, as they head North to take on Wyoming in Laramie.

 

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Air Force Football: The Falcons Down Utah State 39-21

Air Force Football: The Falcons Down Utah State 39-21 The Falcons Improve to 3-0 on the Season Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire Something about the Blake Anderson era Aggies seemed to have the Falcons snakebitten in the previous two years. Well, …

Air Force Football: The Falcons Down Utah State 39-21

The Falcons Improve to 3-0 on the Season

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

Something about the Blake Anderson era Aggies seemed to have the Falcons snakebitten in the previous two years. Well, that all changed in a big way on Friday Night’s Mountain West Conference opener. This game was all but over at halftime, as Air Force soared to a 32-7 lead.

Maybe lessons were learned from the past, maybe the Aggies don’t have the same firepower or perhaps Air Force still has one of the nations elite defensive units? Elements of truth exist in each of those considers. The defensive unit smothered Utah State, forcing two early turnovers, five sacks and ushering a quarterback change from Cooper Legas to Freshman, McCae Hillstead.

Hillstead flashed at moments throughout the game, but much of that came at a time where the game was out of reach. Were it not for a lot of uncharacteristic drive extending penalties, Utah State may not of scored a point in this game. This was the complete and dominant Conference performance we have not seen levied on their rivals from Logan in three years.

After a lackluster output last week, I think Falcon fans can breath a bit easier when it comes to the offense. Pair that with a defense that has been lights out, let the Conference Contender hype train speed towards Colorado Springs.

Air Force travels to San Jose, to take on the Spartans next week in another Friday night matchup. The Aggies will try to get back into the win column back at home, against James Madison on Saturday.

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Air Force Football: The Falcons Defeat Sam Houston 13-3

Air Force Football: The Falcons Defeat Sam Houston 13-3 The Falcons Win at NRG Stadium To Go 2-0 Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire Air Force won a close defensive battle against the Sam Houston Bearkats on Saturday. The Falcons entered the 4th …

Air Force Football: The Falcons Defeat Sam Houston 13-3

The Falcons Win at NRG Stadium To Go 2-0

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

Air Force won a close defensive battle against the Sam Houston Bearkats on Saturday. The Falcons entered the 4th quarter tied at three, before pulling away late in the game.

Both defenses played well all game, but it was the Air Force bunch that was able to really suffocate the opposition. While the Bearkats scored their first points in FBS competition, they are going to have to wait for their first touchdown or victory.

Fumbles continue to be a concerning theme for the Falcons, as they put the ball on the ground three more times, which makes six times already in the young season. They have only lost a pair of those fumbles, but it is becoming a concerning pattern.

The offense is going to have to chip in more points if they want to beat Utah State. They have yet to beat a Coach Blake Anderson coached Aggies team, but they’ll hope to reverse those fortunes Friday’s Conference opener.

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Air Force Football: The Falcons Defeat Colorado State 24-12

Air Force Wins Their Sixth Straight Versus The Rams The Falcons Are The Kings of Colorado- Again! Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire WE ARE THE KINGS OF COLORADO!!! https://t.co/FSU7GqvwZb – #GoAirForce (@AToastToTheHost) November 20, 2022 Air Force …

Air Force Wins Their Sixth Straight Versus The Rams

The Falcons Are The Kings of Colorado– Again!

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

Air Force continues their dominance over in-state rivals, Colorado State, defeating the Rams 24-12. It looked like the Falcons were going to engineer a complete blowout after they took a 24-0 lead, following their first possession of the second half. Such was not the case though, as the visiting Rams battled back behind some gutsy play from their quarterback Clay Millen, and his standout receiver, Tory Horton.

Two costly mistakes were catalysts to Colorado State hanging around in this game. A muffed punt in their own territory led to a touchdown surrendered. Then an intentional grounding penalty with possession near the Rams 30 yard pushed the Falcons back for a long 50+ yard field goal attempt, that was unsuccessful. This too led to a touchdown pass to who-else, but Tory Horton.

These counter punches were too little too late though, as the Falcons still controlled the ball and the clock for most of the game. Aside from those two scoring drives, Air Force really got after Millen, sacking the CSU quarterback seven times on the night.

Without registering a single pass yard, the Falcons secured their eighth win of the season behind 359 yards on the ground. The victory keeps the possibility of consecutive 10-win campaigns alive, while also keeping the Ram-Falcon Trophy, awarded to the winner of this intrastate matchup.

Next up is their season finale against San Diego State. It’s been a very long time since the Falcons have beaten the Aztecs. Keep an eye out for our game preview of this game in the coming week.

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