Air Force Falcons @ San Diego State Aztecs Football Recap

San Diego State 27, Air Force 25

Yes, even though players and coaches might reside at a service academy, they're still just as human as the rest of us, still as prone to flaws and failures as any other flesh-and-blood mortal who has ever walked the earth. That's the main takeaway from a surprising Saturday night in San Diego, as the homestanding Aztecs shocked the Mountain West - and also the college football world - by bumping off the athletes from the Air Force Academy.

It seemed hard to think that San Diego State - which is still being remade into the image coach Brady Hoke would prefer to see - could stand toe-to-toe in the trenches with an Air Force outfit that ran for over 350 yards on the road against Oklahoma... yes, the same Oklahoma team that's currently No. 1 in the BCS standings. Air Force had been sensational throughout the first half of the 2010 season. The Falcons didn't always finish drives, but with the lone exception of the Oklahoma game - which they narrowly lost - coach Troy Calhoun's boys hadn't lost. They figured to overwhelm the Aztecs with their triple-option offense; yet, that's just not how things played out at Qualcomm Stadium. It has to be said that the kids from Air Force are just as human as anyone else.

The Falcons, plainly put, were looking ahead to TCU last Saturday. Even though they come from one of America’s service academies, the boys from the United States Air Force can still forget to tend to the present moment. Air Force had been so sharp and focused through the first six weeks of the season that its 27-25 loss at San Diego State should be viewed as an aberration, and not as a true sign of this team’s quality. It’s human nature for a Mountain West Conference club to emphasize a date with TCU on the schedule, and to ignore (and underestimate) San Diego State in the process.

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The unfortunate part of the whole situation, though, is that Air Force now has no margin for error in Mountain West play. The game at TCU is a must-win, not an optional win, because of this flawed and frail performance against an up-and-coming opponent from Southern California.

What will eat away at Air Force just as much as this "look-ahead loss" (and the ambush which accompanied it) is that the Falcons plainly failed to manage the game in an appropriate manner. With better decision making, this game could have been - nay, SHOULD have been - ticketed for overtime.

Calhoun – with his Air Force team trailing San Diego State 17-12 in the third quarter – went for two points following an AFA touchdown. When the Falcons watched San Diego State tack on a fourth-quarter field goal to make the score 20-12, Air Force had to go for two to tie in the final minutes, down 20-18. When that 2-point try failed on a play that was overturned in the replay booth at Qualcomm, the Falcons were already placed in a position of pronounced peril. When the Aztecs then scored a touchdown on a 44-yard burst by running back Ronnie Hillman to get a 27-18 lead, the Falcons were down by nine points - in other words, two scores - and were therefore placed at an even more severe disadvantage. When Air Force scored one last touchdown with 18 seconds left, the harsh truth of the matter was that the Falcons should have been trailing 27-26 with a chance to kick a PAT for the tie. Yet, because Calhoun mindlessly chased an extra point in the third quarter, the boys from Colorado Springs were saddled with a loss when they failed to recover a last-minute onside kick.

So, Air Force's players looked ahead to TCU. Air Force's coach couldn't manage a game properly.

Yes, this loss will sting throughout the week for service-academy players and coaches who are just as mortal as you and me.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer