Falcon Schedule Analysis

With the release of the new Mountain West schedule and the Navy game completed, I can now turn my attention to a first look at the rest of the schedule for the Falcons. here is the full remaining schedule (all dates are still tentative until the TV schedule is done):

• October 24 - at San Jose State
• October 31 - Boise State at Falcon Stadium
• November 7 - at Army
• November 14 - at Wyoming
• November 21 - New Mexico at Falcon Stadium
• November 28 - Colorado State at Falcon Stadium
• December 5 - at Utah State

The Falcons end up with one fewer conference game than the rest of the conference, outside of San Diego State and Boise State. December 12 is the start of finals week at the Academy, so Air Force nixed playing on that day. The only team they play from the West is San Jose State, which is about the best draw they could have. The hard stretch of the schedule comes right after the San Jose State game with Boise, Army, and Wyoming.

The good news for the Falcons is that they have a significant advantage over the rest of the league in practice time. They have needed it to get all the new starters up to speed on execution. They also have one game under their belt, in which they were able to banish their jitters and come away with a lot of confidence. The San Jose State game should be winnable, and an opportunity for the inexperienced secondary to gain experience and confidence against excellent receivers and a strong passing game.

After the Spartans, the Broncos will come to Falcon Stadium for the most difficult game of the season for the Falcons. The Broncos have a balanced attack that will create multiple problems for the inexperienced Falcon defense. The good news is they could come in 2-0 with a lot of confidence, and low expectations from the experts. Expect the Falcons to pull out all the stops, but a win is somewhat unlikely.

The next two games are on the road at Army and Wyoming, two teams that are extremely familiar with the Falcons and have lately exhibited strong defenses against the Falcon offense. Army has played pretty well this year and will probably be favored, Wyoming will also be favored despite losing some players to opt outs and injuries.

After that, all games for the Falcons should be winnable, so my guess would be a 5-3 record. Stay tuned for more in depth analysis as the games arrive.