There’s an obvious reason why Air Force should avoid residing in a conference with Navy or Army.
Other conference teams will be forced to prepare more diligently and more fully for a run-based option attack. Yes, I know the three service institutions don’t run exactly the same option.
But it’s easy to see how the Falcons will suffer if they join up with Navy and Army. (And, yes, I know Army has all but said it will remain independent, which is the easiest road to take in college football. You could say traveling the indy route is … No, I’m not going to go there.)
If Navy plays, say, Louisville before Air Force plays Louisville, the Midshipmen would probably roll to 300 yards rushing while the Cardinals tried to figure out the option. When Louisville’s defense faced Air Force, the Cardinals would be ready. I’d predict the Falcons’ rushing output would drop by at least 100 yards. Precision is a big part of Air Force’s rushing success, but so is novelty. Defenses can’t stop what they don’t understand.
And this sequence would be true in reverse. Air Force would flourish if it saw a team first, and then Navy would suffer.
Jumping to the Big East is a bad idea for several reasons. Reason No. 1 is it’s not certain the conference will even exist in a couple years, and that might be an optimistic number.
Two, Air Force student/athletes would be forced to take long journeys two time zones away for games. There’s no way these epic trips will aid these student/athletes in their studies or their training as officers. Said it before; will say it again: geography matters.
Three, many devoted fans will feel abandoned by this long journey to the wrong destination. They will face major obstacles in attending games.
Four is a purely football problem. Joining the Big East with the Midshipmen would drain the novelty of Air Force’s option attack.
Will return this evening to offer pregame prediction and thoughts about Air Force-San Diego State game at Falcon Stadium. Hope you’ll join me.
I’m on Twitter. Hope you’ll join me there, too. @davidramz
Big East? The geography is all wrong.
Nice theory..and there is an element of truth to it..but its far from decisive. Your theory will be proven wrong tonight as AFA will be SDSU’s 3rd option team of the year – with a coach who is familiar with AFA, and I bet we gouge them for 500+ yards of offense. We still might lose – but it wont be because SDSU has learned how to stop the option.
Dave,
I agree with the Navy philosophy. It hurts AF some to be in the MWC and those guys get to see AF year after year. Navy only plays folks for a few years and then they move on to someone new. Big advantage for Navy and smart.
TCU spends a lot of time preparing for AF and they see it every year.
Look at Oklahoma last year, they were shell shocked after seeing our offense. It would be tough if those athletes saw it ever year.
I dont understand the economics of moving and that would be an administrative thing but what you are saying has some merit.
I hope we can talk about how good we played tomorrow!
I for one am just so relieved that Mr. Mueh said “NO” to the Big 12!!!! Bravo!!!!
Dave,
Your comment about the many devoted fans who would be unable to attend games is one I question. The games with CSU and Wyoming are really the only ones that attract a number of AFA fans from Colorado Springs. And those games will be retained, no matter what happens with the conference because CSU and Wyoming are AFA’s oldest rivals with whom Air Force has played the most football games. So, those fans who drive to away games only really drive to two destinations, and those will not be eliminated with a change of conference.
I don’t think many of the locals who sit in Falcon Stadium on Saturdays understand how many of those fans around them are from long distances. There are more fans that fly to Colorado Springs for games than there are fans who drive to CSU and Wyoming for games. The explanation for the number of out-of-state fans is partially explained by the large percentage of military and airline pilots that are Academy graduates. Graduates who are not in aviation sometimes make a family trip or two during football season to see a game, also. If you don’t believe this, just walk around the pressbox buffet before a game and randomly ask people where they live. You would be surprised. Also, as my son noted Thursday night, one reason for the light crowd was probably the inability of many of those who come from out of state to be there on a weekday night. While the number might not be huge, I think that group is much larger than the small number of fans who travel to nearby “away” football games.
I mentioned that particular crowd because it will be willing and able to travel to West Virginia and some of the other locations. And if SMU is one of the destinations, there is already a huge contingent of Academy grads in the DFW area. That group will be thrilled to keep a conference mate of Air Force in the DFW area despite TCU’s defection.
It’s just my opinion, but that’s what this column is, right?
Oh, I forgot to mention that my son and I are flying to Boise Friday night from DFW for the game and will meet with a ’74 grad and his family who are coming in from Phoenix. See you there.
As a retired flight attendant I am able to fly to many of our away games such as Army, Navy, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Minnesota with no cost to me. Yet I also am able to drive to Wyoming, New Mexico and CSU. I enjoy the Mountain West Conference for the closeness of our rivals and hope we remain in our geographical area for football and basketball games.