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The Air Force Falcons were given some help by the United Services Automobile Association which paid for the teams travel to Annapolis, Md., to be able to play Navy on Saturday, and ultimately lost 28-10 in the first leg of the Commander-in-Chief trophy.
The loss does drop Air Force to 1-5, and that could possibly be their record for the 2013 season. The government shutdown is still in effect, and had an issue on Saturday's game as Air Force was only able to bring one person from their athletic training staff.
Next up on the schedule for Air Force is a home game this upcoming Thursday against San Diego State. However that is still in question, and the school's athletic website said that all future games after Saturday's contest against Navy would be the last, for now:
"As of now, this will be the last game of the season played for the Air Force Academy, as the service is currently operating without a budget."
One would think that a home game would be easier to get done, but that is not the case since some of the training staff and stadium officials are government employees and on furlough. The reason Saturday's game was a go is because Navy does not use any government funds to support the football.
Back in 1995, the last time there was a government shutdown, Air Force was able to host Notre Dame during the three-week shutdown by getting help from Colorado State employees, but this time around that is not likely.
There is a silver lining though because both Air Force and San Diego State have a bye on Oct. 19, so a makeup game could be easily arranged.
If this game is not played there is still no publicly known plan by the Mountain West to handle the game, so there could be a no-contest or possibly a forfeit by Air Force. The league is taking it day-by-day and monitoring the situation.