2008 Mountain West Football Year in Review: Air Force Falcons

First off appologizes need to be given to the Falcons, I believed they would fall off after losing nearly 98% of their offense in Chad Hall. The projections here had the Falcons winning only 5 games and finishing in the bottom third of the league. Here is how my projections were back in August:

• Lock it up… Southern Utah
• 50/50… @Wyoming, @Houston, Utah, Navy, @San Die2go State, @UNLV, New Mexico, @Army, Coloradao State
• No Chance… BYU, @TCU
• Projected Record: 5-7

The Academy awarded Troy Calhoun with a five year contract extension, because of his second bowl appearance and bringing back Air Force to the upper half of the league. Air Force switched quarterbacks early on and finally settled in with Freshman Tim Jefferson. Now this is rare for the Academy to have a Freshman at the quarterback position, or for many positions for that fact. Jefferson took over for Shea Smith and ran the Falcon option offense very well and took the team just on the cusp of the top 25.

The Falcons got off to a very good start by having an 8-2 record before falling to BYU, TCU, and then a loss to Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. The offense of Air Force was there, but they had little or no passing yards at all this season, and in one game completed zero passes and won. The Falcons also had eight total games with less then ten attempts, and won most of those.

The running game as usual lead the Falcons and this year there was not one player who lead the team, but overall the team accumulated 3,470 yards and 27 touchdowns. Early on the year the Falcons had trouble with special teams and turning over the ball, both of which hurt them in the Utah and Navy game both of which the Falcons lost.

The other losses were just to better teams in the BYU, TCU, and Air Force loss. Overall this season was much better then expected for the Falcons.

Up Next... BYU Cougars

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