Air Force Falcons vs Navy Midshipmen Football Recap

There’s a really good reason that after Saturday afternoon’s football game concluded in Colorado Springs, a slow-dancing 1961 song blared over the public-address system at Falcon Stadium.

Yes, after two groups of military men had finished slugging it out on the gridiron for 60 minutes, Etta James’s song “At Last” finally played over the loudspeakers at the ballyard on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy.

It sounds weird… until that is; you realize what the winning team overcame on a sun-drenched day.

The Air Force Falcons finally got the monkey off their backs. For the first time in eight seasons, the Falcons defeated Navy, subduing the Midshipmen 14-6 on a one-yard touchdown run by Tim Jefferson early in the fourth quarter. The win also snapped Navy’s 15-game service academy winning streak. With the win, Air Force improved to 4-1 and is well positioned to earn a bowl invitation. Navy dropped to 2-2 in a season that has already fallen well below preseason expectations for one of the more overachieving programs in college football over the past seven years.

Coming into 2010, Navy had high hopes that it would be considered a darkhorse national title contender, and that its do-it-all quarterback, Ricky Dobbs, would be a populist choice for the Heisman Trophy. After Saturday’s loss, the Midshipmen find themselves just 2-2 (with both losses coming by a touchdown or less). Defenses are relentlessly keying on Dobbs, and that focus showed on Saturday. Dobbs carried the ball 18 times for just 43 yards and 18 of those yards came on a single run. When Dobbs was forced to pass he fared no better, completing just 33 percent of his passes and throwing two interceptions. The Midshipmen will need to sharpen their offensive execution if they hope to maintain their postseason streak.

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Air Force is a field goal (against unbeaten Oklahoma) short of being undefeated. The Falcons’ continued improvement showed on Saturday. The offense was sparked by running back Jared Tew, who carried the ball 17 times for 111 yards. He has now gone over the century mark rushing in back to back games. In short-yardage and goal-line situations, the Falcons rely on their own do-it-all quarterback, Tim Jefferson, to do the work. He did his fair share on Saturday, rushing for two touchdowns (one from 50 yards out).

The Falcons are also getting consistent play from their defense, which held the Midshipmen to just 5-of- 15 third-down conversions, intercepted two Dobbs twice, and did not allow a touchdown on the day. If they continue to get this kind of play from their defense, the Falcons will be a contender late in the season for the Mountain West Conference title.

By: Mark Ennis
DFN Sports Staff Writer